Hello Everyone: I am getting to old to cut lawns so I killed the grass on the front lawn and let Ivy grow and I thought Ivy would look nice, but alot of weeds and unwanted stuff starting growing with the ivy.
So now I just want to kill everything and put down cement plates (or whatever they are called)
Can someone tell me how to get rid of (kill) this ivy, it is about 40 square feet?
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carmeljacques
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I had a fairly large area (50x100) that the previous owner had planted with English Ivy. I hit it with my weed wacker (a lawn mower would also work). When the new growth appeared from the vines I sprayed it twice (second time after 3 weeks) with Round Up with a squirt of dishwashing liquid added to cut through the waxy surface on the foliage. At first it did not seem to work but after about 6 weeks there is no ivy left except for a occasional straggler that I either rip out of spray.
OOch - before you use RoundUp, please read this thread:
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1749
RoundUp is a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), and it is NOT gone from the site in 3 days - it takes 30 YEARS for it to leave your soil.
A better solution is to cover your yard with heavy black tarps until the ivy is dead, and have some neighbor kids pull it out. The ivy is going to be hard to eradicate from your yard, best thing to do is keep pulling it up when you see it.
https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1749
RoundUp is a known carcinogen (cancer-causing agent), and it is NOT gone from the site in 3 days - it takes 30 YEARS for it to leave your soil.
A better solution is to cover your yard with heavy black tarps until the ivy is dead, and have some neighbor kids pull it out. The ivy is going to be hard to eradicate from your yard, best thing to do is keep pulling it up when you see it.
The toxicity argument aside; Roundup kills weeds well but is not so good at killing woody plants. Ivy is a woody plant as are blackberries. If you do chose to use a herbicide then the most effective is Crossbow and even more effective is adding Roundup to Crossbow.
If this is your choice mix the 2 in the amount of water for just the crossbow and do not add water for the Roundup. If you add some mineral oil it will stick to the plants better.
If you use black plastic then you may also heat the soil and kill the weed seed in the ground thus have fewer weeds after the ivy is dead.
If this is your choice mix the 2 in the amount of water for just the crossbow and do not add water for the Roundup. If you add some mineral oil it will stick to the plants better.
If you use black plastic then you may also heat the soil and kill the weed seed in the ground thus have fewer weeds after the ivy is dead.
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rainbowgardener
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I am anti - poison in general, but personally if I have to use poison (like on poison ivy) I use glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round up) because it breaks down quicker and is much less persistent in the environment than other poisons.
But ivy (which I would never, ever plant anywhere, because it is so invasive and aggressive) hates being mowed. If you can just keep the area where it is mowed regularly for awhile, that will get rid of it. (Awhile meaning like through the growing season.)
Then you can put down your concrete pavers or whatever you want to do.
But ivy (which I would never, ever plant anywhere, because it is so invasive and aggressive) hates being mowed. If you can just keep the area where it is mowed regularly for awhile, that will get rid of it. (Awhile meaning like through the growing season.)
Then you can put down your concrete pavers or whatever you want to do.
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Halogen Sky
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Just adding my brand new 2cents... ( registered about 2 minutes ago ) I myself am also fairly anti-poison. ( We grow many vegetables too on our lot ) And I see that these last posts are gettin' to be near a year old, but, I myself planted English ivy ( yes, on purpose) about 15 years ago to help shore up a small but steep berm that led up to a new sidewalk back then... at our newly constructed home in the sticks of Oregon, USA.
Those small cheep sprigs that we plopped into the ground took a good 7-8 years to become as full as I really wanted it. It was then that these plantings "matured" and in the past few years is spreading faster and more vigorously than I can pull out...which is my most often used method for weed removal, and the best IMP.
So, Enter GLYPHOSATE.
I use Glyphosate Salts ONLY--and very sparingly-- for certain grass removals, and I only use it once a year. This product showed NO EFFECT on my ivy, absolutely none. A week later I sprayed a 2nd time... nothing, not even a wilted leaf!! Bizzare.
Enter: Triclopyr + 2,4-D ester (CROSSBOW, LILLY MILLER etc...)
Believe it or not this only temporarily SLOWED the growth of the English Ivy... again, not even wilted leaves. Exactly 1 year after this DUAL method it is growing like it found a awesome pile-o-compost. Amazing!!
The ivy I'm combating is in and amongst a grove of mature, tightly spaced wild plums that are a nice screen from the street... The lesson for me is that I have to put my back into this one, before it climbs more than the two trees it already has... those 2 removals were the EASY part!!
Here's the active ingr for " 'Lilly Miller' Blackberry & Brush killer"
Triclopyr (3,5,6-trichloro-2-
pyridinyloxyacetic acid)
Perhaps this is my delema. This seem to be a deviant of the chem in 'Crossbow' -- and this is what I used
Thoughts?
Sincerely boggled,
Halogen Sky
Call me "HS" if you want
PS ...It has been ILLEGAL to sell this ivy in the state of OREGON for a few years now---finally
PPS ---Nice Forum
Those small cheep sprigs that we plopped into the ground took a good 7-8 years to become as full as I really wanted it. It was then that these plantings "matured" and in the past few years is spreading faster and more vigorously than I can pull out...which is my most often used method for weed removal, and the best IMP.
So, Enter GLYPHOSATE.
I use Glyphosate Salts ONLY--and very sparingly-- for certain grass removals, and I only use it once a year. This product showed NO EFFECT on my ivy, absolutely none. A week later I sprayed a 2nd time... nothing, not even a wilted leaf!! Bizzare.
Enter: Triclopyr + 2,4-D ester (CROSSBOW, LILLY MILLER etc...)
Believe it or not this only temporarily SLOWED the growth of the English Ivy... again, not even wilted leaves. Exactly 1 year after this DUAL method it is growing like it found a awesome pile-o-compost. Amazing!!
The ivy I'm combating is in and amongst a grove of mature, tightly spaced wild plums that are a nice screen from the street... The lesson for me is that I have to put my back into this one, before it climbs more than the two trees it already has... those 2 removals were the EASY part!!
Here's the active ingr for " 'Lilly Miller' Blackberry & Brush killer"
Triclopyr (3,5,6-trichloro-2-
pyridinyloxyacetic acid)
Perhaps this is my delema. This seem to be a deviant of the chem in 'Crossbow' -- and this is what I used
Thoughts?
Sincerely boggled,
Halogen Sky
Call me "HS" if you want
PS ...It has been ILLEGAL to sell this ivy in the state of OREGON for a few years now---finally
PPS ---Nice Forum
[url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=45564#45564]Here's[/url] a thread re. English ivy (Hedera helix) from my first year of participation here at THG.
Have you asked whether there are any brush-clearing services nearby that use goats to eat the ivy? Goats will eat the ivy down to the ground not only once but many times; just ask them back whenever the stuff tries to rise up and become obnoxious again.
If this were flat ground, I'd have other suggestions, but for steep land, do what the California Parks and other departments do: use rental goats.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
Have you asked whether there are any brush-clearing services nearby that use goats to eat the ivy? Goats will eat the ivy down to the ground not only once but many times; just ask them back whenever the stuff tries to rise up and become obnoxious again.
If this were flat ground, I'd have other suggestions, but for steep land, do what the California Parks and other departments do: use rental goats.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
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rainbowgardener
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 25279
- Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
- Location: TN/GA 7b
I think the lesson is that there is no poison that is strong enough to kill English ivy (an amazingly tough plant), that is not going to have negative environmental effects.
The triclopyr is not listed as having human health effects (which sometimes just means it hasn't been studied much), but here's something about its negative environmental effects:
Amphibians-- Biochemistry, Mortality
AquaticPlants-- Biochemistry, Growth, Physiology, Population
Fish -- Accumulation, Mortality
Insects-- Mortality, Population
Phytoplankton-- Physiology, Population
TerrestrialPlants-- Injury, Population
Zooplankton-- Intoxication, Mortality, Population
I take it population means harmful effects on the population, reducing population It is also somewhat toxic to honeybees, who are pretty endangered these days.
https://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC36359#Toxicity
Where you can mow the ivy that is an effective way of controlling it. Otherwise keep pulling. (or use the goats! a wonderful solution which would also add fertility to your soil!) If you work on the ivy after a good rain, when the soil is soft, it is easier to strip a lot of the root out of the soil.
PLEASE DON'T PLANT ENGLISH IVY!! Best way to get rid of it is never to plant it.
The triclopyr is not listed as having human health effects (which sometimes just means it hasn't been studied much), but here's something about its negative environmental effects:
Amphibians-- Biochemistry, Mortality
AquaticPlants-- Biochemistry, Growth, Physiology, Population
Fish -- Accumulation, Mortality
Insects-- Mortality, Population
Phytoplankton-- Physiology, Population
TerrestrialPlants-- Injury, Population
Zooplankton-- Intoxication, Mortality, Population
I take it population means harmful effects on the population, reducing population It is also somewhat toxic to honeybees, who are pretty endangered these days.
https://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC36359#Toxicity
Where you can mow the ivy that is an effective way of controlling it. Otherwise keep pulling. (or use the goats! a wonderful solution which would also add fertility to your soil!) If you work on the ivy after a good rain, when the soil is soft, it is easier to strip a lot of the root out of the soil.
PLEASE DON'T PLANT ENGLISH IVY!! Best way to get rid of it is never to plant it.
My neighbor's ivy is going to take over my yard if I don't stop it at its two foot expansion into my yard--between my driveway and their fence. My yard man has been weed eating it once a month for two years. This does not seem to stop it. Runoff is a problem. My ditch to a creek to the Cape Fear (which many towns use for their drinking water). I am not against using weed killers etc. I just do not want to mess up their water source. Does anyone have any practical solutions. PS I can not paint the leaves.
I also have what I am told is a bamboo vine -- which some misguided soul planted. We have tried cutting it out, and digging it out. It comes back with a vengeance. It attacks the shrubs and the house. I am allergic to it. Please help!
I also have what I am told is a bamboo vine -- which some misguided soul planted. We have tried cutting it out, and digging it out. It comes back with a vengeance. It attacks the shrubs and the house. I am allergic to it. Please help!
Have you read the discussion re. English ivy (Hedera helix) linked above in this thread? If not, please do; there are some non-toxic, effective suggestions there.lmcleod wrote:My neighbor's ivy is going to take over my yard if I don't stop it at its two foot expansion into my yard--between my driveway and their fence. My yard man has been weed eating it once a month for two years. This does not seem to stop it. Runoff is a problem. My ditch to a creek to the Cape Fear (which many towns use for their drinking water). I am not against using weed killers etc. I just do not want to mess up their water source. Does anyone have any practical solutions. PS I can not paint the leaves.
Sorry to say, I'm not familiar with bamboo vine; do you have its scientific name available? It may be known by multiple common names.
Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9
One method I use to get rid of ivy is as follows:
I get rid of my ivy one square meter at a time.
Starting from the outside edge of the patch...
a. Use hedge clippers to trim a roughly 1 meter by 1 meter channel through the ivy around the bit I want to remove.
b. Then I use a wood axe along the channel I've just cut out of the ivy. (Cutting the channel with clippers first makes using the axe easier). Drive the axe into the soil to make sure all roots are cut thus isolating the square patch of ivy. This little 1 sq. meter patch is now like an island of ivy all on its own.
c. Now using a pitch fork for leverage I can literally 'roll up' the square patch like a mat.
I've removed about 30 sq. meters using this method. For a particularly tough little patch I've sometimes resorted to cutting the 1 sq. meter into strips and rolling up each strip.
It's very satisfying when it all comes away as a single chunk. Takes me about 1 hour to remove 1 sq. meter, and I usually do a couple of square meters per week.
Hope this helps. cheers.
I get rid of my ivy one square meter at a time.
Starting from the outside edge of the patch...
a. Use hedge clippers to trim a roughly 1 meter by 1 meter channel through the ivy around the bit I want to remove.
b. Then I use a wood axe along the channel I've just cut out of the ivy. (Cutting the channel with clippers first makes using the axe easier). Drive the axe into the soil to make sure all roots are cut thus isolating the square patch of ivy. This little 1 sq. meter patch is now like an island of ivy all on its own.
c. Now using a pitch fork for leverage I can literally 'roll up' the square patch like a mat.
I've removed about 30 sq. meters using this method. For a particularly tough little patch I've sometimes resorted to cutting the 1 sq. meter into strips and rolling up each strip.
It's very satisfying when it all comes away as a single chunk. Takes me about 1 hour to remove 1 sq. meter, and I usually do a couple of square meters per week.
Hope this helps. cheers.
Ivy is so invasive it is a cancer to the land, there are so many places where it is climbing trees and killing them. I hate poison, but I hate Ivy more. If I find it in my woods the first thing I do is to cut it at the base of the tree, and then I keep cutting it not letting it grow, hoping it will give up and die. I only use the combination Round Up- CrossBow-dish soap as a last resort. I do work on a different scale than a home owner in the city, so some of the ways that would be fine for them may not work for me. I like the goat idea but they eat every thing and also get eaten, some people keep alpacas with the goats as the alpacas will protect the goats. You may not know this, but the logging companies spray a Round Up- Crossbow- diesel mix on their land some time after replanting to kill the weed trees and the brush, if you are ever walking out there and a helicopter with spray arms flies over run! 