That invasive bittersweet vine took me 2 full weekends to pull out from behind my garage

I thought I could just yank it out in an afternoon but the roots had wrapped around the foundation and under the concrete slab. Ended up digging for like 14 hours total with a pry bar and loppers before I got the last piece. Has anyone else had vines actually damage their house siding or was I just unlucky with this one?

2 comments

2 Comments

paul2331mo ago

Honestly, you got off lucky if the roots just wrapped around the foundation. Ngl, I had a bittersweet vine actually push its way under a vinyl siding panel and start peeling it up from the inside out. Took me a full day with a flat bar just to pop the panel off without cracking it, then another hour digging out the root that was wedged in there. The roots will literally find any tiny gap and just keep expanding, so keep an eye on that area for a few months. Tbh, your best bet now is to check behind the siding every spring and just snip anything new before it gets a good grip again.

rileyjones1mo agoMost Upvoted

Hard disagree on the spring checkup thing. That's good advice in theory but most people forget by April and then you're back in the same mess a year later. Better to just apply a good root barrier along that foundation edge right now while the dirt is still exposed. Couple inches of some heavy plastic sheeting or even landscape fabric buried a foot deep will stop most vines before they ever reach the siding. Digging out roots every spring is just giving yourself a recurring chore that you'll eventually skip and regret. The time to stop the problem permanently is while you've already got the tools out and the area dug up.