Oldest U.S. grapevine saved from errant herbicide

What began as a simple attempt to rid power line poles of brush nearly killed the country's oldest grapevine. The Mother Vine, in Manteo, N.C., was planted about 400 years ago, most likely by Croatan Indians or Sir Walter Raleigh's settlers, David Zucchino reports for The Los Angeles Times. In May, a power company contractor spraying herbicides on power poles accidentally hit some of the vine, causing the sickness to spread through the plant. Jack Wilson, right, an 84-year-old retiree who owns a house where the vine grows near the edge of Roanoke Island, "pruned dead leaves and vines, only to watch the weedkiller outrace him, pumping poison from the ends of the vine toward the roots," Zucchino writes. (LA Times photo by Zucchino)

"Plant experts rushed in from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture," Zucchino writes. "A viticulture specialist from North Carolina State University was dispatched to Manteo for consultation." The power company, Dominion Virginia Power, upon learning it had caused the problem hired Virginia Tech University weed scientist Lloyd Hipkins to tackle the problem. "When I was told a 400-year-old grapevine had been sprayed with herbicide, well, it wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear," Chuck Penn, a Dominion spokesman, told Zucchino. "We were distraught. You're talking about an historical icon." The vine's canopy, 32 feet by 120 feet, is supported by an elaborate set of posts, some carved out of locust trees decades ago.

Hipkins' prescribed treatment was prune, water and fertilize, which appears to have saved the plant. "It looks like hell," Hipkins said of the vine's damaged section, "but the injury to the plant was really localized." Rodney Blevins, a Dominion Power vice president who visited the Wilsons recently to check on the Mother Vine's health, said the company is working with contractors to ensure nothing like this happens again. For now, the Wilsons say the vine appears to have weathered the storm. "If she's made it 350 years, or 400 years, I think if we keep taking care of her, she'll survive," John Wilson told Zucchino. "She's a tough old bird." (Read more)