# basic questions about growing vines



## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

I have a chainlink fence around my backyard which I hate. It's your typical 4' or 5' high, gray, old school chain link fence.


I am clueless when it comes to most landscaping/plant questions, so I wanted to know if this is viable:
Could I grow dense vines on the fence, to both make it look nicer and give me more privacy in my back yard?


I just noticed there were some wispy vines running with the fence but they looked dead. I'm sure this *can* be done, but would I be able to get good results? (and by good results I mean a dense/semi-dense coverage, not just some strands running through the fence).





Sorry if it's a dumb question, I have no clue on a lot of landscaping/planting things, and just thought I may have come up with a solution to solve both my lack of privacy out back and the ugly fence.


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## HiFi (Jul 27, 2007)

DEpending upon ur climate U can choose a good Vine which is possibilily dense enough for U to be feeling private.It all depends upon the climate and the way U water it.


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## Dusty (Aug 9, 2006)

Vines would grow up that type of fence with almost no effort. You plant, they grown and grab whatever is handy. I think you said you were in FL you so probably have your pick of things you can grow. Really, the beauty of that type of fence is it lets the light through so whatever you plant on your side of it can grow well.

If you are looking for privacy though, think about bushes too. With vines you will either be limited by the height of the fence or will have to add trellises to allow the vines to go higher. With bushes, they can go as high as the bush is meant to go.

You might want to take a look around a garden centre and get some recommendations and do a combination of vines so you have things either flowering or in leaf all year as well as some bushes and tall grasses or other plants. If you give it a year or two you will start to notice that fence vanish behind lush vegetation.


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Great thanks for the tips guys! And yes, I am in FL. To anyone who wants to read more on FL vines, here's what I've been reading

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/MG097


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Now, there's actually 2 or maybe 3 different vines already growing on some areas of my fence, and I wanted to know two things here..

can I move a vine that's already wrapped through a fence w/o killing it?


can I propagate more vines from the ones I already have?


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

joeyboy said:


> Now, there's actually 2 or maybe 3 different vines already growing on some areas of my fence, and I wanted to know two things here..
> 
> can I move a vine that's already wrapped through a fence w/o killing it?
> 
> ...


You can probably cut the vine a foot or so above the ground and replant the root stock and it will grow again, I can't imagine that you are referring to trying to unravel a vine throught the fence and replant it. Most vines will propagate from a cutting, cut a piece from fresh growth, and put it in a container of water or potting medium to see if it grows. In FL ,you should have no trouble with something like jasmine or trumpet vines devouring a fence in a couple of summers.


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

haha yeah I actually was thinking I could unravel it, it isn't that big so I didn't see why that wouldn't work :huh: 

That's good that I can move it though, I'll do that with the base. As far as cuttings, you say put a cutting in water or a growing medium to see if it grows (I imagine that I just wait to see if little roots start coming out, and then if so, move to the ground, right?). What parts of the vine do I cut? Just any little chunks? Sorry about these amateur q's, I'm pretty clueless with plants


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## troubleseeker (Sep 25, 2006)

Take a cutting from near the ends where there is active new growth. Once it has established a decent sprouting of roots, you can put it in the ground. Be sure to keep fresh planting of any kind supplied with ample water and either water with a diluted liquid fertilizer of sprinkle about a spoonful of slow release granules into the bottomof the transplant hole.


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Thanks for the advice troubleseeker.

I have begun (and will finish by the end of the night) transplanting vines from areas I didn't want them to my back fence, spacing them about 1' apart. 


Someone in the thread earlier said not to (or that it's a bad idea to) just unwind them from where they are, and re-string them on the fence - why is this? I've been doing it with ~1' long strands that have decent rootballs, I guess I'll see how they fare.

Troubleseeker - why do I need to grow the cuttings out separately in a container, then transplant? Why can't I just put the cuttings staight into the ground? (that's how I was doing part of it today - the woman next door doesn't speak english much, but is a gardener, and was showing me what to do. I'm not saying she was right or wrong, as I'd have no idea what her level of vine knowledge is lol, but we were basically just digging little holes, putting in a good soil mix (peat moss + compost), putting in the root ball or cutting, and then covering with the soil mix + native sand.



Sorry to keep pumping questions out, but how would I go about knowing whether the vines I'm using are annual or perrenial? (perrenial means only seasonal I believe, and I really don't want my fence to be 'dead' for half the year)


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## Concordseeker (Aug 5, 2007)

My experience with vines, until this spring, has been in Southern California, where like in Fla things grow all year long. I had great luck doing just what you want to do. You have the luxury of year round growing so just go for it!


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

Concordseeker said:


> My experience with vines, until this spring, has been in Southern California, where like in Fla things grow all year long. I had great luck doing just what you want to do. You have the luxury of year round growing so just go for it!


Not entirely true, at least as far as I've seen (again, I'm a newb with landscaping, so I dunno....). It still seems that in FL, there are seasonal specimens. For instance, pretty soon my bermudagrass won't be able to tolerate the winter, and it will go dormant (until next spring), and in the interim I will be doing rye grass to keep my lawn green during our 'winter' (lol I have so much trouble calling the 'winter' months 'winter' here in FL, having just moved here from MA. *Those* are winter months!!)

But it still seems that the summer/winter fluctuation here is enough to warrant different plants at different times of the year.






BTW, about the vines, I basically found good spots where they were growing naturally, ripped them out of the ground (good root balls exposed), and replanted them about ever 1' along my back fence. Some of my specimens were short (~4-5"), and some were longer (5'). To place them, I dug holes, put in a peat moss/compost blend, mixed it with the native sand, and then put the rootballs in appropriately. I then laced them through the chain link fence. So far, the leaves look like crap, like they're dying, we'll see I guess. 

I've found that I actually am a landscaper! I just bought a bunch of small pots and am going to try propagating many specimens from my property, this stuff is pretty cool!


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## joeyboy (Apr 10, 2007)

(update on the vines I moved, their leaves don't look good, withering up a bit. Although a palm I moved before lost its leaves after I moved it, I never got around to taking it out, and next thing I knew it was growing again, so who knows... I'll post pics if they do start getting lush!)


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