Do vines kill trees?
Vines can definitely kill trees. The added weight of the vines can be detrimental to trees especially if you are in an area where heavy snow weighs on the vines. This weight from the vines can topple the trees. Vines can also kill trees by choking and shading them. Vines can entangled trunks and boughs and prevent trees from getting enough sunlight and water. Trees and vines can coexist but a vine can completely shade out a tree or shrub while adding a great deal of weight and constricting the trees growth.
There are many invasive vines that were introduced to the United States that are detrimental to trees. Some were introduced from Asia more than 100 years ago. They have crept across much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic regions. In some cases vines crowd out native species and kill any native trees they happen to cover.
Vines such as Asiatic bittersweet, porcelain berry, english ivy can weaken and eventually kill trees. Bittersweet vines want to increases in girth every year so they basically fight with the tree because both the tree and the vine want to get bigger. Asiatic bittersweet can climb to the top of the tallest hardwoods. Porcelain berry which prefers small trees and shrubs can kill them off. Both of these vines were brought to the United States from Asia for use as ornamental plants. At some point some highway departments planted Asiatic bittersweet along embankments to prevent erosion. Ivy wants to establish itself as high as possible within the tree canopy and is made to achieve this through climbing. Once ivy establishes itself on a tree it can become a nesting place for birds and many insects. If Ivy is located around the trunk of a tree its leaves can prevent any light from reaching the tree bark. Ivy can grow into a trees crown and prevent the development of new and existing buds. The vine growth around the tree trunk can produce a localised humid microclimate which can foster wood decay.
One area where there is a large problem with vines killing trees is Westchester County in New York where trees are killed by vines along the Saw Mill River Parkway and the Bronx River Parkway. The New York State Department of Transportation developed a program to control the bittersweet vines on a section of the Saw Mill parkway. It established a group of citizen-pruners, who call themselves Vinecutters and even have a Web site www.vinecutter.com.
