Ivy

Lily · « **on:** March 24, 2008, 13:29 »

How do you get rid of it?
My husband reckons you can't but I would like to even try.
Any suggestions welcome, organic or not!

poultrygeist · « **Reply #1 on:** March 24, 2008, 13:31 »

Where is it growing Lily ?

eg house wall
path
up a tree
etc

Rob

Lily · « **Reply #2 on:** March 24, 2008, 16:13 »

It is growing on and in a wall.
I'm not sure whether the ivy is not keeping the wall straight!

Nikkithefoot · « **Reply #3 on:** March 24, 2008, 16:16 »

The unorganic solution is to spray with glyphosate when it is actively growing. It may need more than one spraying, and be very careful not to get the mist on anything you want to keep.

The organic solution is to cut the ivy, let the leaves and shoots die off before removing carefully from whatever it is growing up. The roots will need to be dug up.

Beware that if it is growing up a wall it might have damaged the mortar which will likely need repointing once the ivy has gone, depends how long it has been there.

Whichever method, you might need to be as tenacious as it is

Nikki

Stripey_cat · « **Reply #4 on:** March 26, 2008, 21:25 »

If you don't want to dig up the roots (and maybe disturb the foundations of the wall), just keep cutting it off at ground level as soon as new growth shows. You'll win eventually if you can keep it from photosynthesising anything. Agree with the comment about needing to repoint. Luckily, that's quite a pleasant job for a sunny day.

Lily · « **Reply #5 on:** March 27, 2008, 09:45 »

Sorry but what means "repoint"?

poultrygeist · « **Reply #6 on:** March 27, 2008, 09:52 »

Quote from: "Lily"

Sorry but what means "repoint"?

It's raking out the crumbling mortar (cement) from between the bricks and replacing it with fresh.

The ivy will have penetrated the soft mortar and when you remove it, it will bring some of the mortar with it leaving the edges of the bricks exposed so you'd need to push fresh mortar in to protect the bricks and the remaining mortar behind.

Rob

Sadgit · « **Reply #7 on:** March 27, 2008, 10:36 »

I cut ours down last year as some of it was up to 6 ft under the roof felt!! I just hack sawed the base and put the stuff down.. came down rather easily. But I have to do some repointing and the bases need to be treated so it dies off..

compostqueen · « **Reply #8 on:** March 27, 2008, 11:06 »

put some safety glasses on cos ivy is full of insects and debris and you get it all over you especially if the ivy is up high. Mine on my wall was holding the wall up so be careful if you're tugging. it was about six feet thick in places and suprisingly it hadn't pulled the wall down. We just took the heavy weight off first with a hedge trimmer. I've left quite a lot there, two varieties, one with those huge seed heads and black berries which are gorgeous in Christmas flower arrangements. The birds love ivy and pheasants get underneath it for shelter in strong winds. I have nesting boxes and have left bricks missing forming bird nest sites for wrens. It gets lightly trimmed now once a year to keep it manageable

Leaf · « **Reply #9 on:** March 27, 2008, 18:56 »

petrol/diesel om the root should kill it, whatever you do dont burn the ivy(nothing to do with petrol) the fumes that come off aer poisenous.
ivy does not damage/eat mortar it can actualy help it, it does however cling to it so its the person pulling it off that does the damage. scraper on a pole is easyest way to get suckers off brickwork.
Mal

Lily · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2008, 14:54 »

Thanks so much for your advice.

Lily

charley1980 · « **Reply #11 on:** April 01, 2008, 13:43 »

If you're going for the ripping off approach then make sure you have good, gloves, goggles and sleeves! and be prepared for a LOT of bugs to fall out on you. Ours gew all the way up the side of our old house and over the roof and a big wind storm pulled half of it away so that it was hanging dangerously-so the whole lot had to come off! We didn't dig up the roots and it started to grow back VERY quickly so make sure you get it all! And the wall did need sorting out afterwards too!!

Sadgit · « **Reply #12 on:** April 01, 2008, 14:17 »

Oh yeah the bugs all over me was fun...

londongardener · « **Reply #13 on:** April 03, 2008, 14:21 »

Can it go on the compost heap ?

Ivy

poultrygeist

poultrygeist