Wild cucumber vine (Echinocystis lobata) is native to Wisconsin. I’d never really noticed it before but sure did come to notice it over the course of the summer. The vine itself has pretty white flowers and maple-like leaves. In the early fall, its cucumber-like fruit becomes more noticeable, especially as it is covered with prickles.
A vine had come to take over our cattle fence by the barn and much of the pasture area behind the fence such that I gave up on walking back there once the warm weather began. During our last walk over Labor Day weekend when we were trying to visit the apple trees in the pasture, I noticed that the vine had engulfed an entire apple tree (and not a small tree either); it had taken over and carpeted an area approximately the size of a football field.
I’ve since researched the vine online and found a comprehensive article from the Wisconsin Master Gardner website. The rapidly growing vine can grow between 25-30 feet per year! Given its rapid growth rate and the fact that the vine had taken over our pasture, I was sure that it would be an invasive species; it turns out that it is not.
I’d hoped that the abundant “cucumber fruits” would be edible; but they are not. Apparently, the entire plant is poisonous and can cause stomach problems.
The vine will die back over the winter. If we do want to control the vine’s growth next year, all we will need to do is pull or cut the small plants in the spring. Because I like to walk in our pasture from time to time, I will likely pull some (but not all) of the vines before they get carried away.
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