Stink Vine (Paederia foetida) is an invasive weed in Florida landscapes, and it can be extremely difficult to control.  It is a fast growing, aggressive vine that both crawls across the ground and climbs into trees and bushes, eventually blanketing all with it's dense root system, tendrils and foliage.

Stink Vine (also called Skunk Vine) was introduced to Florida from Asia in the late 1800's as a potential fiber crop.  It quickly adapted to our climate, and within 100 years of it's introduction to our state, it was named to the Florida Noxious Weed List.  As if it's growth habit wasn't bad enough, it emits a pungent odor when crushed, hence it's fitting name of Stink Vine, or Skunk Vine.

Stink Vine is easy to propagate, starting with a simple seed dispersed by wind or bird, or even a small cutting left behind when trying to remove it.  Once a seedling is rooted, It crawls across the ground with little notice, entwines itself on the trunks of bushes, A/C units, gas lines, or anything, and before you know it, it is everywhere.  Even in your grass.  As it crawls across the ground, it roots into the soil at it's nodes, which then spider out to create new vines, of which they then repeat the process over and over again.  If left unchecked, Stink Vine will eventually choke the life out of your landscape plants by covering the desired foliage and inhibiting photosynthesis.

To control it, you must start with physical control....pulling it and tracing the vines back to the rooted tendrils and "mother plants".  Fortunately, the thin baby vines are white and easy to see, and they are rather tough, so they don't snap easily when pulled.  When you track them back to the source, you might find a larger trunk like the one in the above picture on the left.  If you can pull it, or dig it up with a hand shovel, try to get as many roots as possible, such as the photo on the right.  Once you are confident that you have pulled all of the runners, you can take a breather.  And, then wait for them to grow back, for your second wave of attack.

It won't take long for the new baby seedlings to emerge from the mulch or soil. It is at that point that you need to spray them with a weed killer that kills to the root.  Most systemic weed killers work by applying the herbicide to the leaf of the plant, so it won't serve any purpose to spray the tendrils or soil.  During our growing season of May-October, you may have to spray the weed killer several times, while watching for any runners that escape your attention and grow.  Those you will have to pull.

With a thorough initial clean up and removal of the Stink Vine, and follow up applications of a weed killer, you can control this insidious weed.  But, it does take diligence and perseverance!