How to Grow Fallopia
Also known as Russian Vine and 'Mile A Minute Plant'
Key Points; Pros and Cons
Fully Hardy
Quick growing up to 4m per annun
attractive creamy white flowers
Will grow in sun/shade
tolerant of any soil.
Covers an area quickly
Despite all the cons, it remains popular,
Considered invasive
Will out-compete adjacent plants
Plant with caution
Very very vigorous
Its tendrils can grow into cracks and crevices, damaging buildings and structures
A relative of Japanese Knotweed...
How to Grow Fallopia baldschuanica, the Mile a minute Russian vine
Where to Plant
Fallopia prefers sun where it will flower best, but it is also tolerant of semi-shade. Well-drained soil is ideal, but the fact is it will grow in any soil, including poor soils. Planted in rich soil it tends to produce more leaves than flowers, so don't bother with any expensive compost. H7 hardy. From this, you can rightly guess it will grow pretty well anywhere.
It is self-supporting by its tendrils. When newly planted, like all new plants, water it well to ensure it does not dry out. It will grow up to 12m.
How to Prune
Pruning group 11 should be pruned early in Spring, during February or March. As with all pruning, this is best done on a frost-free day. Cut it back as necessary to try to keep it to its allotted space. Because it is so vigorous you can hard prune it.
However, it would be optimistic to think that regular annual pruning would keep a Russian Vine in check. They are not enough pruning hours in the day. It makes Wisteria look timid. Its size and fast growth mean that it is a climber that you only plant if you really need this type of plant. I inherited a Fallopia which grew over a not very well-maintained outbuilding, into which the vine quickly forced its tendrils, and within a short time the building became even less well-maintained.
The Russian Vine, in common with some other vigorous, climbing plants, can cause damage to structures. It can easily grow into and force its way through cracks and, by this route, enter the fabric of a building and cause damage. Equally, if you have a structure that you want to hide, although deciduous, the Russian Vine will quickly do this. It is a woody climber which once established has very significant roots and thus is not easy to remove if you decide it's the wrong plant.
Still fancy planting it in your garden. You can buy online from Suttons who have several pot sizes available.
Still looking for the ideal climbing plant? Take a look at Climbing plants for ideas on all sorts of climbing plants, including detailed advice on Clematis. On this and other pages, there are images and growing advice for many popular climbing plants such as Wisteria, Honeysuckle, Passion flower, Ivy and many more. Ivy is one of the best climbing plants to attract, and host pollinators and insects.
About Fallopia baldschuanica, the Mile a minute Russian vine
Fallopia baldschuanica is very easy to grow, so easy that you cannot stop it, and it is invasive. This climber is very vigorous. Ideal if you have a large space you want to cover, but it comes with a gardening health warning, as it grows quickly and can easily outgrow its welcome.
On the plus side, as the images show, it has lovely, delicate flowers and attractive foliage. It is a deciduous climbing plant, which means it drops its leaves in the autumn. It looks good trailing over walls, as shown in the image.
It is so invasive that it will out-compete anything in its way, scrambling its way to the top. It also has shoots that will not only twine but can force their way into cracks and spaces. This means Russian Vine, if grown over a structure, such as a shed, it can find its way into the building and can cause problems.
Just how Quickly Fallopia /Mile a minute /Russian vine grows
To illustrate just how vigorous and smothering this vine can be, I have two images taken in 2015 and 2022. In 7 years, the Russian vine has gone from trailing nicely over the wall, to smothering the wall and adjacent building which happens to be empty, hence the vine has been left unchecked.
Russian Vine growing over a wall in 2015
Here it looks well behaved
Same vine same place 2022
In this image, you can see the Russian vine has covered the wall, travelled across the gap and up into the adjacent (empty) building and is all over it climbing onto the roof. It has completely taken over the space and is likely to be in the structures.
How to get rid of Fallopia the Mile a minute plant/Russian vine
If you inherit a "Mile a minute plant" and want to get rid of it, there are two basic ways. If you garden organically, it is the hard work route, firstly chopping it down and removing all traces. Then you have to dig out the root completely to stop it from coming back.
The alternative is to try to kill it with a weedkiller. Previously, that would have been a weed killer typically containing Glyphosate, which used to be found in many weed killers such as "Roundup". As gardeners, we strive not to harm our environment. There is a respected body of research to show that Glyphosate is directly damaging to pollinators and our endangered bees, it can kill the earthworms in the soil and cause damage via the water table. . Either dig out the vine, or take a look at the various glyphosate free products.
RHS Award of Garden Merit
RHS Award of Garden merit indicates plants tried and testing by the RHS and are usually good varieties to purchase. The variety F.baldschuanica has the RHS garden merit award.
It can Look good trailing over a lwall
Green wheelbarrow plant
It should be Green heelbarrow plant because it is so easy to grow, but its thuggish nature and constant pruning have downgraded it to red. s