Sorry to repost this here fully, but I am too tired/lazy to find my old post. It is not that long anyway. For a most systematic approach to the vines, most people having trouble (without lucky logic) should try the following. Instead of starting out with the commonly touted "all 6 of one type of vine" (as you can spend more time than you need to, if the type you start with you happen to need none of at all), start with 0-0-0-0-0 and work up.
Quote:
1. Collect all 30 vines. Find your clearing. Drop all vines into the neatest piles you can, from left to right as they are presented for least confusion.
2. Start with Icky Vines first. Add one. Click the background message. It will tell you have too few. Add one at a time of only Icky Vines, checking the message inbetween adding each one. Stop adding when the message changes.
3. Add Rotting Vines one at a time, checking the message inbetween adding each one. If your message changes to a less favorable one than before, discard the vine you just put on that created the unfavorable change.
4. Repeat in this same fashion for Crumbling Vines, Gross Vines, and Decaying Vines. Stick with one type, adding one at a time, checking the message inbetween. It should gradually become both stronger and longer. If at any point along the way the message changes unfavorably, discard the last vine you added.
5. For example, I needed 5 Icky, 4 Rotting, 0 Crumbling, 0 Gross, and all 6 Decaying to make it long enough and "fairly" strong. Even just one Crumbling or Gross made my rope weaker. After this, I simply went back to start, again adding one at a time across the board. It happened I only needed 1 more Icky (total of 6-4-0-0-6) when I finally solved the step.