Is your property being overrun by ivy? Unchecked, ivy is an aggressive invasive species that wreaks havoc on whatever structure it decides to grow on.
If you are a property owner wondering how to get ride of ivy on your trees, walls, or other structures, this short article identifies several ways to kill and remove ivy.
Ivy is a classic woody vine landscaping plant that is beautiful and easy to maintain, and is used in many landscaping proposals. It is versatile enough to be used as a traditional wall covering or planted for ground cover, and it becomes more beautiful as it ages.
Ivy can also be aggressively invasive, and, if it is not meticulously managed, it can quickly grow in any direction that it wants.
Ivy will grow over any surface that it touches, can quickly cover and start to smother existing plants, trees, and grass in its way, and can block gutters and drains, and even starts damaging masonry.
What should you expect? For any property owner dealing with runaway ivy, the time comes when enough is enough! Ideally, the ivy is up and off your property quickly, before it has done any serious damage or disease sets in, and it is dead and unable to re-establish itself.
About ivy
Hedera helix, the common or English ivy, is a tough, evergreen climbing plant that is frequently chosen for its pleasing appearance as a climbing plant on walls, fencing, or trellising material.
It is rapid-growing, and it spreads through tiny adherent rootlets that grow along the plant stems.
As it develops and matures, it can provide dormancy and radiant warmth for a range of wildlife, such as insect and birds.
It is a popular plant found in many US gardens, but it is a non-native plant that can be considered invasive in California and the northwestern states.
How to quickly kill ivy
You can rapidly control the growth of ivy with some elbow grease and, most likely, a herbicide solution.
Be sure to wear protective clothing to protect your eyes, hands, skin, and breathing from chemical exposure and from any irritants contained in any sap the ivy releases while you handle the plant.
These are the key steps:
1. Sever the main stem
You can facilitate the hand removal of ivy from your property by cutting the ivy growth off at the base stem using sharp cutters.
When the plant dies off, it becomes easier to remove from the growing surfaces.
2. Detach the ivy from the surfaces it is growing on
You won’t be able to get out of getting in there and physically pulling out the ivy and its tiny roots and tendrils that stick and embed themselves into surfaces.
Be sure to wear long-sleeve clothing and gloves and simply pull the ivy off wood, brick, and tree trunks.
Be careful, as the adherent roots can damage plaster or brickwork as you are pulling them off.
Once you have your surfaces exposed, you can scrape and scrub your brickwork and wood to clean those hairy tendrils and roots.
You can even use soap and water to help loosen roots or burn them off bricks with a flame.
Works Best – You need to tack ivy that is growing on land by brush cutter or shears, mowing down through its root and sucker network and lifting vegetation off.
Again, when this is all completed, you need to be careful in your process of removing ivy from trees as you can damage the bark.
As you get the ivy underneath the trees carefully, use very sharp shears to cut off the ivy that is the lowest on the ground by its roots.
3. Dispose of the ivy carefully
Ivy is fast-growing and will regrow if not physically removed from your property.
The easiest way to get rid of the ivy is to bag it up and throw it away with your household rubbish.
If you compost the ivy, it will continune to grow in even if you shred it.
Composting ivy is not impossible, but for the ivy to compost properly it must be killed first, and usually that is by storage in a plastic bag for a long time or completely drying it out in the sun.
A smoke-free alternative 100% effective method to get rid of ivy is to burn it and then you can add the ashes into your compost bin.
4. Apply a herbicide to the areas where the ivy has been removed
The traditional approach to removing ivy is to apply a topical herbicide treatment to the areas where it has been removed in order to discourage it from growing back.
It should be done as soon as possible after removing the ivy.
Herbicides are toxic chemicals that are hazardous both to you and the other plants. They have an extremely poor profile in terms of human and environmental safety.
So you should be careful to prevent yourself, or other plants in proximity, from exposure to these chemicals.
The right weather is also needed for herbicides to be effective, usually temperatures in the 60 to 90°F (15 to 30°C) range and very little wind.
Heads Up! You may also need to apply multiple times since it is difficult for the herbicide to penetrate in something that has a wavy cuticle like ivy.
5. Herbicide alternatives can be used
There are fact that herbicides can be very harmful to humans, pets and the environment. So, sticking to safer or organic methods is by far the best way to keep your garden free of ivy.
You can kill ivy without glyphosate or other herbicides with one of these effective alternatives.
- White vinegar: On a warm sunny day, spritz the area where the ivy was cut off down with white vinegar. Keep reapplying every few days for several weeks.
- Steam or hot foam weeding: Pressurized steam, or hot foaming agents, can also kill remnants of the ivy. These have high water demands and could, by accident, cause burns.
- Diquat: Diquat dibromide, is a no-selective, contact action herbicide, and has lower toxicity to human and environmental health than glyphosate. For best results, complete coverage of the spray area is required.
- Pelargonic acid: An alternative is pelargonic acid a postemergence herbicide, with a fatty acid (contact action) herbicide. Use in warm sunny weather for quick, visible results.
6. Repeat applications of herbicide are usually necessary
You’ll want to keep an eye on the areas you have treated to make certain that you did kill the ivy.
You can repeat the application of the herbicide to help ensure that the ivy is completely dead. If you see any vines emerging, then you should pull them out and reapply the herbicide.
Keeping ivy at bay
For you to restrict ivy to a particular area, you will need to take proactive measures to manage it.
One of the best things you can do is keep the growth in check along the perimeter of the ivy you are attempting to contain, with careful, regular trimming using sharp shears.
The best time of year to hard prune your ivy is in early spring.
Rounding up
Ivy is a lovely climbing plant that can become a problem, primarily from a lack of attention.
Its famous hardiness and rapid growth mean that, eventually, it will become invasive.
While identifying or controlling ivy does take some determination, it is critical to preventing undesirable damage to the plants and other structures in your yard.