...in the leaf mulch yesterday afternoon. Was a very therapeutic thing to do. I started on Sunday, and more yesterday, between rain showers. Working in the 100% humidity, with my shovel and a bucket, making my way through the trees, digging up those smilax tubers. It was very satisfying - to pull back the layers of leaves, and dig down to get up those aggravating little bulbs. Some the size of the head of a corsage pin or smaller, some bigger than the palm of my hand. And some even bigger.
I know if I can get the small ones up, they won't grow into huge things that will send vines twining up into the tree tops, where they will bloom, make seeds and spread like kudzu. So I do try to get the little ones that only have a leaf or two as evidence of where they have germinated under the mulch of years of fallen leaves. But it is so much more satisfying to get down under one of those big ones that have been there for years, growing in secret, sending out thorny vines to catch the innocent passer-by.
I want to get rid of them: an endless task. I guess they are spread by birds as well as from the tree canopy when they go to seed. So I have been out under the trees for the past two days, digging and putting them in a bucket. I empty the bucket in the trash, and will eventually tie the bag up and put it out by the street to insure they won't be sneaking back in at my house. I often put tree trash, sticks, limbs in an area behind the house, filling in a slough. But these tenacious little tubers are going to be transported/relocated to get them far, far away and prevent regrowth.
Sadly, I don't always have 100% success with digging them up, so there will be some that will come back in the same spot, from the original mother tuber. I'm doing my best to see that they won't be returning to my yard, reaching out to snag my pants, or bare skin in the future. Every one that goes in the trash is one that won't be attacking me.
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