Thanks so much for the follow up!!! I have dosed it heavily with insecticidal soap, but the infestation is so bad, I am not sure it is working, I will try again tomorrow. Where do you purchase a Neem Oil product? Is this the stuff that is supposed to keep them from laying their eggs and help prevent their return? I may try ambush...how toxic is that stuff? I have a dog, but I would prevent her from coming into the area... This may be a dumb question...once all the dead leaves are gone (which is most of them)...will they regenerate this season at all? We are in Zone 3, so we should be expecting our first overnight frost sometime in October.

Hey Songbird, I found a great resource online a few years ago for seed starting. Some seeds need darkness to sprout (like when they're buried in the ground) and some need light (like they're laying on top of the ground). Some need warmth and some need coolness. So I found several websites that had copied a document Thompson and Morgan used to print, with a long table of plant species and what their light and temp requirements are. One version of it is at the link below. Also, I started sprouting my seeds by putting them between two moist paper towels and sealing them in a ziploc bag. Sometimes they sprout overnight this way! But of course, some take longer. If they need warmth, I pile several ziplocs on top of a heating pad (usually set on low, but put a thermometer on it to make sure it doesn't get too hot!). If they need dark, I put them in a drawer. You have to watch them every day, because if they sprout fast and you don't plant them right away, their little roots can start to penetrate the paper towels and will break when you pull them out (that doesn't necessarily kill them -- depends on how much broke off). Actually, I have a long post on this at my personal garden blog. It has photos, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Seed sprouting lists

Sandra, did you read any of the previous responses? They should have successfully answered your question. VC or any other very vigorous vine, if allowed to grow up into the tree canopy, can shade out the growth to the extent that it will not be able to photosynthesize and heavily affected branches can die off. It happens here in my area with English ivy!! As Tom noted, the vine doesn't actually strangle the tree but just deprives it of necessary light. If a very dense patch of vine, like the ivy is typically found here, it can also compete with the tree for moisture and nutrients. And if allowed to grow unchecked, the vine can also make the tree top heavy and more prone to wind damage. It is best to cut and remove.

It's a native plant, but not native to Texas. You can't really train it, although it grows so fast it seems alive and at some point it might start trying to train you...It will climb trees and fences, but it doesn't twine, it grabs on with those little sticky feet thingies so it needs a surface to climb on. If you let it go it will cover everything in your yard and it also reseeds freely (and fiercely) and will come up everywhere. It spreads by seeds, rhyzomes, roots and magic. I had some that climbed a 45' tree and the ends of the vines were dangling in the wind at the top. I planted it by my well house and it completely covered the house and started up into a nearby pecan tree. It engulfed my bicycle. It grows so fast you may not be able to stop it once it gets going. My dog used to like to take naps in that flowerbed, but we haven't seen her in a while...just kidding. But it is a rampant garden thug and much like English ivy, very difficult to irradicate once you have it. It also bears such a striking resemblance to poison ivy, both in shape and habit, I don't like to mess with it just in case I mistake it. On the good side, it does look pretty, and the leaves turn red in the fall. Reminds me of a cartoon I saw once: God and all the angels were sitting around debating whether He should create babies. On a large white board they had two lists, the Pros and the Cons. Under the Cons list were: Noisy, Demanding, Unruly, Messy, Disruptive, Expensive, Fussy, Hungry all the Time, Uncooperative, Croupy, Persnickity, and Smelly. Under the Pros List was: They're Cute. Cheryl