Treating with a pre-emergent killer will prevent the seeds from germinating. Most post-emergent weed killers will control it but you have to be very careful about the desirable plants it may be covering.....in which case pulling it is safest.
Ohhh, my deepest sympathy on this one. dare i say... round up, a blow torch or a nuclear event? DON'T let it reseed, DON'T brush your bare arms against it or hands/legs skin of any kind either, If you can't do round up (spot spray carefully) get some armor on and pull it. This stuff is nasty. a pre emergent works on anything that hasn't germinated yet, so I do say give it a try to hopefully keep it under control this year if you had some go to seed last year. if it is a stray seed blown in carried in or bird-bombed in you may not have a problem with it. nasty vile stuff.
Are you talking about Cypress Vine ? Mile a Minute vine is its common name. Has little trumpet shaped flowers that hummingbirds love ?
www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pepe1.htm This is the mile a minute weed I am referring to... an invasive nasty painful weed, not contact dermatitis like poison ivy but painful abrasions. This weed had barbs on the vine which appear like mint... on a square stem. On each corner are a line of recurved barbs which cause abrasions on your arms, hands, legs etc.. as you brush against it. or in your hands if you pull it... it has a small whitish-pink flower that makes black seeds. triangular foliage similar to bind weed. "bind weed" is not "mile a minute weed" which is also difficult to control, but not in the same growth manner. the under ground stems/rhizomes are virtually impossible to eliminate by pulling. any stems become roots if they grow under objects between the soil surface and the object. any small broken stem or root becomes a new plant. the only manual control is continual tilling or turning over of the ground as new growht appears. otherwise... roundup or 2,4-d, perhaps vinegar, but I don't think this will control it only kill the top of the stem where as the round up and 2,4-d are systemic action killing the roots, too.
Clay, these two links to our plant data base might help you decide which plant you are concerned about. Common names are very confusing most of the time and even common names are not used for the same plant in all locations. The first link is to the plant most commonly called Mile a Minute but evidently there are others that have the same growth habit that have been given that common name too. Persicaria perfoliata (Mile-a-minute Weed, Asiatic Tearthumb) Ipomoea quamoclit (Cardinal Creeper, Cypress Vine)
I had one go commando on me a few years ago, each spring more and more came up. Persistent pulling before they could bloom was the safest way for me and in the last 5 years there have been no more.
