RoundUp will kill it. Find the largest of the roots and sever them - at least 1" gap. Paint the lower portion with RoundUp - full strength! Repeat in 24 hours. Spray the rest of the leaves with standard strength (6 ounces per gallon). It'll take a week, but as the plant dies, you'll be able to just yank it off the wall.

I've been fighting with mine for six years, but we seem to have reached a stalemate - me and the plant. There are few vines that will cover a wall that don't require some form of maintenance and that won't become a long term problem. Ficus repens is one of the worst and I would never use it again nor recommend it to anyone as a plant in their garden or landscape.

Fawn,

Thanks for the tips. Could you name some other vines that will just lightly cover the wall and not become a jungle?

Rr

I've always favored Allamanda - lots of different colors to choose from.

I am no help to you but I will tell you that I may slit my wrists for planting this plant. The relatively minor problem is that once a year my yard is covered with hundreds of figs that drop from the oak tree that this plant took over.

This link might give you some good ideas .
The Pink Jasmine sounds nice - the write up says well-behaved .
Tailor the vine to your conditions .
Ask GWs what they think of your vine choices before you decide .
There may be horror stories out there about some vines on this list !

Here is a link that might be useful: Flowering Vines for Florida

Thanks - I didn't know creeping fig eventually produces figs! I have now researched it on line - not believing the sweet vines I am trying to grow all over my concrete block house walls (yes - I may be sorry later)do produce figs. Someone on our forum once posted pictures of his two story home covered with the vine - he was (at the time) quite pleased with it. I started this in order to not have to treat the walls with chemicals in prelude to painting because the surrounding plants would be ruined in the process. So I am hoping to have full coverage with the vine. Downside so far is having to trim it short of the eaves every few months... and eventually I'll have to get a taller ladder.

There really isn't much that will grow up concrete without support. You can try confederate jasmine. It's beautiful, blooms in the spring and smells great, and is a pretty dark green the rest of the year. It fills in rather quickly, but I've never heard of it being invasive.

Anything with the name "ficus" stays out of my yard! I've never seen a ficus, vine or tree, that wasn't trouble if you don't have a free acre or so to grow it on.

I have a ficus on my (north facing) house here in California and I love it; I manicure it every week but it breaks the "harshness" of the stucco; most any vine is going to have to be supported; the common potato vine with its ever blooming white flowers is my favorite vine (I have many around my house) and will even tolerate come shade.