North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

I need to kill a couple of grapevines that are close (8 - 10 ft.) to 
other trees and vines. If I cut off the vine and poison the cut end, do 
I have to worry about damage to the roots of any of my nearby plantings?

I've got some brush-killer (Ferti-lome Brush Killer/Stump Killer, which 
is apparently /triclopyr/). I know it works very well, but I haven't 
used it since I started planting fruit trees. I think it sticks around 
for awhile. I've also got RoundUp, but I don't know if that will work 
when applied to a cut trunk.

Basically, I'm just worried about causing unintentional harm to other 
trees and vines through root contact. Do I need to worry about that at all?

FYI, I'm just getting rid of a couple of grape varieties that ripen at 
the same time as my Concord grapes. I'm just swamped with grapes then 
(since I have two Concord vines), and I don't like these much, anyway. 
One is a Caco grape, which I've had for several years (planted on a 
whim, before I was interested in fruit, when I saw a "grapevine" on sale 
in a local nursery). It grows great, but the grapes are always too sour. 
My Allwood grape is just a year old, but unlike the others I planted, 
this doesn't ripen early. And - this year, at least - the grapes just 
tasted... bland.

I might plant another early grape, though. A year ago, I also planted 
Jupiter, Swenson Red, and Kay Gray, and they were wonderful this year. 
They ripened one after the other, which was really nice. And I got 
grapes when I was especially hungry for them. While I'm posting here 
anyway, does anyone have a suggestion for a very early table-grape (even 
earlier than Jupiter, if that's possible - otherwise, just something 
different)? I like a variety of tastes. And seeded or seedless is fine. 
My only remaining location is shaded in the morning, if that matters 
(I'm trying to reserve SOME sunny spots for my garden).

Yeah, I really don't need to plant any more fruit,... but it's 
addicting, isn't it?  :-)

Bill
Lincoln, NE (zone 5)

--
Human beings are born equal but cultures are not. They are human-made 
and for the most part man-made. There is nothing sacred about cultures 
and nothing blasphemous about reforming them. - Irshad Manji