Ivy- Its Benefits, Disadvantages, and How to Kill it
Farm house covered in well kept ivy
However ivy really isn't all it is cracked up to be, it grows almost virulently, is extremely difficult to remove, and can cause all manner of damage to the things that it chooses to grow on. Yes it can look wonderfully aesthetic, but given half the chance it will inevitably grow out of control, becoming ragged, overgrown and wild looking. If you do wish to have ivy growing in your surroundings then at the very least you should be looking to perform maintenance on it bi-annually to prevent it getting out of control.
The two main areas that ivy is usually grow on are brick walls, and trees or forest land. These are discussed below along with the best courses of action to take if you wish to remove the ivy:
Effects of Ivy on Trees
Removal or Maintenance of Ivy on Trees
Effect of Ivy on Brick Walls
Removal of Ivy From Brickwork
Permanent Removal of Ivy
Effects of ivy on trees Back to top
Ivy is commonplace within woodland areas, sometimes with the whole woodland floor consisting of an Ivy carpet. Such low locations are useless to the Ivy, the shade of trees keeps the light levels low, reducing photosynthesis; additionally pollination and seed dispersal is difficult. Ivy needs to establish itself as high as possible within the canopy and is programmed to achieve this through climbing. Once established on a tree, ivy offers a home for many insects and nesting places for many birds. However, it can also be the cause of many problems and may even lead to the total demise of the tree. Ivy is an evergreen, producing leaves all year round. Once located around the trunk of a tree, its leaves prevent any light from reaching the tree bark and thus prevents activation of any dormant buds. This does not necessarily represent a problem and in some cases may even be desirable. It does however become a problem when ivy grows into the trees crown and prevents the development of new and existing buds. Buds produce leaves and leaves produce food for the tree through the process of photosynthesis; without adequate supplies of food the tree starts to suffer.
Ivy growth around the tree trunk can produce a localised humid microclimate which wood decay organisms enjoy; such a climate may increase the rate of decay on already damaged areas. Tree Inspection becomes difficult with possible hazards being hidden from view and for these reasons it is normally recommended that the ivy be killed and removed and the tree be inspected again.
Removal or Maintenance of Ivy on Trees Back to top
It may be prudent to prevent ivy from growing onto trees altogether unless this is essential for some aesthetic reason. If this is the case then ivy growth should be limited to the tree's trunk only, with it being regularly trimmed back as it begins to enter the trees crown. If the ivy is already established then it can be either removed or simply cut at the base. Removal is a messy business, as any tree surgeon will tell you, dust, dirt, dead leaves, bird nests and insects invariably end up down your neck, in your mouth and in your hair. The easier method is simply to cut each and every Ivy stem around the tree trunk at around waist height. This will kill the ivy above the cut, causing its leaves to first turn brown and then fall; this could take 1-2 years. Eventually the ivy stems will rot, disintegrate and fall way from the tree branches; this may take anything from 3-10 years depending upon the diameter of the stems.It is possibly to pull the ivy off of the trees at any stage, however it is much easier once you have killed the ivy and let it dehydrate for a while. Also there is less chance of you damaging the tree if you pull of dead ivy, as it is less likely to cling to the bark and pull said bark off with it when you remove the ivy. If a tree is stripped of too much bark it may become sick and die.
Effect of Ivy on Brick Walls Back to top
Despite its often beautiful appearance on building work, pruning this fast-growing plant is necessary in order to keep it away from wooden house parts (window frames, roof eaves, siding, etc.) or else it can ruin finishes and works its way into the house. Ivy does not cause mortar to crumble unless that mortar if it already unsound. It does not harm fired, clay bricks. Think of all those ivy-draped, romantic-looking English structures that have been standing for centuries. There are other advantages to having ivy grow on your walls:
1. It adds a very effective additional insulating layer for keeping heat in, thus reducing your overall heating bill (something that might be quite significant in an old country house). See also energy saving tips for other (better) ways to cut your heating bill.
2. Ivy provides accommodation of birds and wildlife, and so provides a natural habitat for animals in your garden.
3. It can be an effective way of covering up or blending an unsightly wall into the surrounding area.
4. There is evidence that the ivy helps keep walls dry. Although both the ivy and masonry can thrive if the masonry and mortar is of very high quality, periodically the ivy may have to be removed (pruned back to the ground) to limit root penetration and excessive growth, to inspect the condition of the wall, or to allow building maintenance. Typically this is done in winter or early spring when ivy leaves don't block your view and add weight.
Removal of Ivy From Brickwork Back to top
If you ever want to remove the ivy, be very cautious as you can easily pull the mortar off with the ivy. You may want to consult with a mason, who can help you evaluate the consequences of removing it or leaving it alone.
1.Cut the stems: Working in late winter or early cut the ivy stems as low down to the wall as you can manage. If you have some ivy-killing herbicide then paint this onto the exposed cuts parts of the ivy that connect to the root system, this will help prevent the roots from re-growing, note this will only help prevent the roots from re-growing, see 'Permanent removal of Ivy' for more details on how tokill ivy completely.
2. Prune Aggressively: As with removing from ivy from trees it is best to leave the cut ivy to die for 1-2years before attempting to remove from the brickwork. However it is not so beneficial to wait as the ivy tends to come away from walls easier, and there is less chance of it pulling the material that it is clinging to away with it.So either immediately or after a period of time simply prune, cut and generally pull the ivy off the brickwork. Whatever the state of the ivy, be prepared for this to behard-work!
3. Scrape off Tendrils and Suckers: Use a stiff-blade scraper to remove the part of the vines that remain fastened to the wall. Work slowly and scrape at a relatively low angle (about 20 to 30 degrees) to minimize scratching brick, and wear gloves to protect your scraping hand. If you are working from a ladder, make sure your ladder is on firm, level ground; keep one hand on the ladder and don't overextend your reach.
4. Scrub or Burn off Residue: If some plant material remains, you may be able to scrub it off with a moderately stiff brush (wire brushes and even very stiff brushes may scratch brick), use a paint scraper (with a small amount of paint remover for stubborn areas) or use a propane torch to burn it off. Caution: If you use a torch, remember to wear goggles, and keep it well away from any wood or cracks. Remember that there's more flame than you may be able to see, especially in strong sunlight. Test in an inconspicuous area to make sure using the torch won't permanently scorch the masonry.
Permanent Removal of Ivy Back to top
If you do wish to permanently kill ivy then you have a lot of work ahead of you! It is very difficult to kill the entire ivy plant, and can only be done with a lot of hard work and persistence.
Generally it is very difficult to kill an entire ivy plant by use herbicides alone. The two major factors that protect the ivy plant are its waxy leaves that prevent the uptake of the herbicide, and the other is its almost phenomenal resistance to most toxins. It is certainly possible to brown out foliage, and in some cases it will appear to have controlled the ivy plant permanently. However generally, over time, green shoots will appear out of the dead foliage. Timing of treatment is a factor, too. Different mixes of herbicides and surfactants applied at different times of the year seem to have different levels of effectiveness, the strongest herbicide that Whatprice have identified is sold by Crocus.
Skill and experience of the individual applying the herbicide also seems to have an effect. The best way to apply herbicide is to paint it onto fresh cuts in the plant stems. The alternative to herbicides is to use good old manual labour. Simply remove all the ivy shoots from your trees/fences/walls as described above, and then attack the roots! Chop the roots down as far as you can with pruning knives, axes, pruning-saws, or whatever you have handy, and then try to pull up or dig up as much of the root system as you can. If you do this thoroughly enough then you may be able to kill the ivy plant completely. Unfortunately it is rarely the case that you can attack and remove the roots completely. They may well grow under brick walls, or across your wonderfully turfed garden which you do not want to dig up completely. Therefore in most cases you will want to do a combined attack to kill the ivy. This involves cutting the ivy plant back as much as possible, and then painting any remaining exposed roots or stems with a concentrated herbicide. You may find that you have to do this several times a year, and possibly have to experiment with different herbicides before you finally kill the entire ivy plant. GOOD LUCK!
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Date Added: Friday 30th October 2009
"Very useful article and nicely written with a touch of humour."
Ambi
Date Added: Monday 28th September 2009
"I have just pruned the ivy growing on our wooden fence. The t-shirt I was wearing has come out of the wash covered in small dark brown stains - I presume these have been caused by the sap or ivy dust. Can anyone help me remove these marks? "
Ann
Date Added: Thursday 20th August 2009
"Great! I have just read lots of comments and feel quite depressed - I have the rotten stuff growing up the side of my house and it has even come through the wall into my living room! I have one little stem clinging to a beam for dear life. I thought I could tackle it myself but the suckers make it near enough impossible. I am going to employ someone to rip it off (hopefully) and pour some strong weedkiller everywhere (not in the living room though)!"
Sue Price
Date Added: Sunday 2nd August 2009
"Thanks for your article. I have pulled the ivy from my fence and now will try cutting at the roots and painting with herbicide. WHAT A JOB....."
v.turner
Date Added: Saturday 25th July 2009
"I hate ivy. Its without doubt the most destructive stubborn weed and yes it is a weed as it grows like wildfire, you can't call it a plant as plants know when to stop growing! I have spent 3 hours hacking and chopping ivy off my neighbours garage wall on my side of the fence having just discovered for the past 8 years that it was rooted on my side of the fence. I have severed the roots from the branches now how long do I need to wait before removing the rest?"
Graeme
Date Added: Tuesday 14th July 2009
"I used a $16 bottle of bleach mixture used in hot tubs on a small area of ivy to test it. It worked ok. The problem is it is near a driveway which will cause rust problems on the cars driving by. The Miller Pipeline Co. cuts the ivy and it dies quickly in some way for the Co. to quickly do their pipeline work. I have emailed them for info. on how they kill the ivy. No response yet. millerpipeline.com"
kiki
Date Added: Monday 13th July 2009
"I have ivy all over a wall which im in the process of removing, it seems to root all along its length drawing moisture out of the wall all along the length of tendril, the only way is to painstakingly remove every darn centimetre !!"
bonzo
Date Added: Tuesday 30th June 2009
"I BOUGHT AN OLD HOUSE COVERED WITH THE STUFF WALLS AND GROUND. i COVERED THE WHOLE LOT WITH ROCK SALT. EVEN SOME OF THE ROAD GRIT WILL DO , HAVE MANAGED TO CLEAR ALL BUT A LITTLE PATCH AROUND A TREE. AND THATS IN JUST 1 YEAR. GIVE IT A TRY. IS CHEAP AND EASY TO DO . MY THOUGHTS WERE THAT IVY DOESNT GROW BY THE SEA!!!! "
SHEILA STEVENS
Date Added: Sunday 17th May 2009
"Thanks.....I have Ivy all over one side of the outside wall......have cut all the stems at about 12 inches from the ground some six months ago but its leaves are still rockin and green....so how long do I have to wait before the leaves give up. Can I then just leave the branches on the brickwork or should it all be pulled off. As someone else said Thought it would be a Sunday morning job and a glass of wine. any help please to... thanks "
norman
Date Added: Sunday 3rd May 2009
"I have removed all the ivy from my house (brick) wall but the dead 'suckers' are still attached to the wall and are unsightly. I have tried to wire brush them off with a wire brush attached to my power drill but this is not completely successful. I think I need some liquid/chemical to loosen/melt the suckers from the wall. Any suggestions? "
alan
Date Added: Saturday 2nd May 2009
"Ha! The ivy on the next door wall is trying to grow through our half of the wall, I have been hacking it back from their side for years but it seems to encourage it! The article above have depressed me so much I think I am just going to have to work on the owners because we will never crack it on our walls on our own!"
Ann Creasey
Date Added: Sunday 26th April 2009
"I HATE IVY its the worst plant on earth"
ivy hater
Date Added: Saturday 18th April 2009
"I have the problem that the Ivy is coming from the house next door, which has been empty for three years, and I had a shed at that side of the garden. I'm sure it's under there somewhere... I spend hours trimming the branches back to the wall twice a year, but they grow back very fast. I was hoping I could poison it from my side somehow."
It looked great when I moved in...
Date Added: Thursday 26th February 2009
"How long does it take for ivy to get so woody? We are fighting it in a local nature reserve and it's killing trees. We have 9 1/2 acres to contend with. Help."
Judi Benson
Date Added: Wednesday 4th February 2009
"Please remember that bats may be hibernating or roosting behind behind or within the ivy. Bats are very strictly protected by law. Birds may also nest within the ivy & all nesting birds are protected by law. Most of us prefer to protect our native wildlife & obey the law"
Trina
Date Added: Saturday 24th January 2009
"Hi - I have been informed that you can drive copper nails into the offending ivy and this over a matter of time will kill the stuff. Up our drive we have about 20 trees, some of the oak trees range from at least 100 to 3/400 years old and one has already died. As these do not belong to us, I am loathe to fork out for an expensive tree surgeon, but would like to tackle the problem myself for my love of trees. Does anyone know if this works?"
Hampshire Hog
Date Added: Saturday 3rd January 2009
"Thankyou for this information. I just knew it would come down to hard labour in the end."
Garden Fairy
Date Added: Friday 7th November 2008
"I've been killing ivy for some time now. I find that a combination of axe and crowbar is the best method. But you have to be very careful not to ringbark the tree. I believe in lunar planting, one fullmoon when the sap is high I cut around an oak tree that was being smothered. Within two weeks the tree was surrounded by a green carpet of ivy leaves and the ivy plant never recovered and died down to the root. I live in North London but can travel if you need any help. angmcdonald@hotmail.com"
Andrew
Date Added: Tuesday 28th October 2008
"I got the ivy off our house by cutting the stems and waiting til it died, then pulling it of by wrapping a rope round it and pulling with the car, if you cant get a car up to the house i suggest six strong men. Now i have to tackle the roots."
lucky me
Date Added: Thursday 16th October 2008
"I killed this stubborn plant with diesel fuel. Its not very enviormental but it worked. Ive been ivy free for 1 year."
Dennis
Date Added: Monday 1st September 2008
"I have fouind a product called Crossbow that seems to work fairly well. After cutting as much of the plant as I can, I paint Crossbow undiluted on the stems. This has worked as long as I get to the main trunk of the ivy"
Mike
Date Added: Friday 22nd August 2008
"Date Added: Sunday 10th August 2008 "The link to the firm named as CROCUS is dead. PS watch the grammar and spelling! Thanks for the article, very helpful but a bit morre chemical detail would be good." Terence Heath- Gloucestershire How pompus, aint my spelling good anough for ya either? If this is all you have to moan about then your life must be nearly perfect. I thought the whole article was very helpfull. Thank you to the author. "
A gratefull reader.
Date Added: Tuesday 12th August 2008
"Bugger! and i thought it was gonna be a sunday afternoon job!"
Ed
Date Added: Sunday 10th August 2008
"The link to the firm named as CROCUS is dead. PS watch the grammar and spelling! Thanks for the article, very helpful but a bit morre chemical detail would be good."
Terence Heath- Gloucestershire
Date Added: Wednesday 6th August 2008
"The borax solution to kill ivy - Does it work as a foliage spray, or only as a soil treatment to kill the ivy?"
Aussie M
Date Added: Monday 2nd June 2008
"We just purchased a home with Ivy, we peeled the Ivy off & behind it was stains from the vine. If anyone knows how to get this stuff off my house please let me know..PLEASE!"
Ivy haters
Date Added: Monday 2nd June 2008
"Your link to crocus does not find the product to kill ivy - maybe they have changed the link"
Sue Lock
Date Added: Wednesday 23rd April 2008
"My Ivy I'm trying to kill is on a Sassafrass tree. I tried pulling if off, as best I can, but it's hurting the bark and I'm afraid of hurting the tree further. I have severed alot of lifelines, but I have 2 HUGE ones left. Any Ideas??"
Vanished
Date Added: Sunday 6th April 2008
"Is is possible to smother ivy with acombination of herbicide and landscaping fabric?"
Anita P.
Date Added: Saturday 5th April 2008
"There is an easier way to get rid of ivy... Recipe for Borax control of ground ivy (Caution: apply over recommended area to avoid toxicity symptoms) To treat 1,000 sq. feet: * 10 oz. Twenty Mule Team Borax * dissolve in 4 oz. warm water * then dilute in 2.5 gal. water apply liberally and apply 3 times about 2 weeks apart!"
Terri U
Date Added: Monday 3rd March 2008
"My daughter has just moved in to a flat, ground floor, London. Ivy is growing from property behind over and up the wall running round the gutters and up the down pipe. We have no access to the root base and it is hard to get at. Should I be concerned? What do we do??? any solutions please email allisonbbrown@hotmail.com"
allison
Date Added: Saturday 1st March 2008
"very helpful thank you."
the gardener
Date Added: Friday 29th February 2008
"I'm in the middle of ripping mine down. I cut every part of the ivy that touched the ground, everything. It had no contact with the roots, and i did it last year. Within a couple of months it was growng at ninety miles an hour. No roots and it was groing at ninety miles an hour. At the moment i'm ripping it all down by hand."
Dennis
Date Added: Thursday 25th October 2007
"Has anyone ever tried flaming the darn stuff with a propane torch and then hitting the new growth with concentrated Roundup? I might give that a try as winter comes along and fire danger goes low in N. California."
k6el@comcast.net
Date Added: Wednesday 24th October 2007
"Thank you that was most helpful"
Guy Cottam
Date Added: Tuesday 25th September 2007
"I have removed all the ivy from my house a few years ago, however a lot of the little suckers and vines have stayed attached to the brickwork. Any idea how i get these off? I've tried a stiff wire brush, but they are stuck on pretty hard!"
Brian Hoover