Forum Index
»
Off-Topic
How do I get rid of English Ivy??
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
We have a ton of English Ivy in our shady back yard. I've pulled it out two years in a row but it keeps coming back.
What am I doing wrong? I've been pulling it out and putting it on our compost heap in the way back, but I think it just keeps growing even when dead? Once I have all the ivy out of the backyard, what can I plant that will keep it from growing back? Will grass grow in the shade back there? I cannot afford professional help (gardening service I mean -- I can't afford a therapist either for that matter!) What advice can people give me? |
Anonymous
I think putting it on the compost pile is your problem. If you then use the compost in your yard, you're in effect planting the ivy. Also, English ivy is nonnative and invasive, thus hard to get rid of. |
Anonymous
| Dynamite. |
Anonymous
Round up. Saturate the leaves. |
Anonymous
| Is it definitely english ivy? We have dreadful bindweed and porcelainberry growing in our yard. We yank it, but it's back the next day, choking everything out. We're not willing to use poison on it, so we rip it up. Every. Day. |
Anonymous
|
I wouldn't spray. Hate those chemicals, plus it may prevent you from successfully planting the area with something new right away. I've gotten rid of it-- huge portions of my yard-- just by pulling it up then being diligent about pulling any regrowth. Agree you should stop composting the stuff. Once you pull it up, you should only see occasional, small shoots of the stuff. Very manageable. Pull it right away and eventually you won't see any more of it. My entire front yard was covered in English Ivy. I pulled it all two years ago and maybe see one little shoot of it once a month or so now. (I've since planted a different ground cover-- not grass-- which is also probably helping keep it in check.)
As for grass, I'd go to a local garden center like Behke's and ask their advice. If you have deep shade (like a lot of Oak trees), you probably will have a tough time getting grass to grow. Ask them for something low maintenance. |
Anonymous
|
What she said^^^. That's exactly what I did. It's back-breaking work, and you have to pull it out by the roots and remove any new shoots immediately. It's taken me 3 springs so far to clear a totally overgrown 70'x 25' area of it. Roundup didn't work for me. I only work for a few hours each weekend and after work for about 1 month a year, but I'm slowly getting rid of it all.
I can't get grass to grow in my full shade lawn, just moss. I've planted lots of natives and hostas to make a pretty woodland garden to replace the ivy. |
Anonymous
|
Depending on the location I have taken the chemical or manual labor route. Digging out has been covered well already.
As far as chemical means I needed to wipe out poison ivy that had intermingled with the English ivy and euonymous. RoundUp makes a new product that includes glysophate and trichlorpyr (the active ingredient in Brush-B-Gon). It is in the yellow top spray container. Read labels and pay particular attention to the temperature condition requirements. Also, when I spray I try to do it from the side with some good pressure in the pump instead of the top, the glossy top of the leaves don't absorb as well as the underside. Takes about two weeks from application to success. |
Anonymous
|
Thanks. Yikes, I can see why the previous owners did not eradicate this plant, but just moved.
OK, I guess this will take a few years. So -- when I pull up the ivy -- what should I do with it? Just put in a garbage bag and throw it out? Our town collects yard waste -- is it OK to put it in their collection? I did some research on-line. Some people suggest covering the yard with coarse wood chips for a year or two so nothing can grow. That's going to be very labor intensive for us because our yard is really inaccessible. Someone else suggested putting down black garbage bags, held down with rocks. Rocks, I do have the backyard. And no one can really see the backyard because it is pretty inaccessible. Do you think that would do any good in killing the weeds and preparing it for the next year when hopefully I can replant with something else? Thanks for all your advice and suggestions. |
Anonymous
OP here. So once you pull out the weeds in a partial area of your yard, did you replant something else right away or do you wait a bit? If you didn't replant right away what did you do to prevent other weeds from cropping up? |
Anonymous
|
You need to dig it out by its roots; we used a shovel and dug it out foot by foot. Smothering it with 1-2 feet of leaves (gathered in the fall) helps make this task easier in the next year. Once you clear the area, cover it with mulch to keep anything from reseeding there while you're working. It's slow, painstaking work, but the chemicals really don't dent it that much (we've tried) and the roots still need to be dug out. I would also cut it out from any trees first thing; it flowers when it gets up into the treetops, and then the berries are dropped and reseed. Killing it in the trees limits the amount you'll have to deal with on the ground.
You should be throwing out the ivy as trash. Our town (and neighboring ones) also collect yard waste for municipal composting, but ivy (of all kinds) is specifically prohibited. |
Anonymous
|
Start from your soil up, not weeds down. Consider getting it tested, see if you need to add lime or fertilizer, how much etc. Make it hospitable to growing things other than weeds, choke weeds out with groundcover if your yard doesn't get more than 3 hours/day of sun. You're sure your weed problem is english ivy and not creeping charlie/ground ivy? Your soil is probably compacted, consider renting a tiller and starting from scratch or at least getting a lawn service to aerate your yard each fall/spring, it might be more affordable than you think. Course, whether or not you do all that depends on if you decide to grow grass or ground cover.
best website ever for DIY lawn and garden. I'm sure there's a VA extension as well. http://www.hgic.umd.edu/ good info on weeds and the treatment. you can check here under ground ivy and see if that's what you actually have. I've read online that a borax mixture may get rid of it. I haven't tried it myself yet. http://plantdiagnostics.umd.edu/level2.cfm?categoryID=21 If you have tons of shade and already grow moss, consider a moss garden. They can be absolutely gorgeous, but they're not very dogs and kids friendly. http://www.mossacres.com/ |
Anonymous
Not OP but thank you for this. |
Anonymous
|
OP, and I also thank you!!
|
Anonymous
It's definitely not this: http://cdn-write.demandstudios.com/upload//4000/700/80/6/54786.jpg it looks like this: http://aaronandmaria.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/english-ivy.jpg and there's some other vines there. SOmeone thought maybe it was kudzu, but it doesn't look like this: http://www.forestry.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/A41A3D01-FE76-4286-9CC9-8BBBCA0E9DDC/0/kudzu2.jpg For sure I have poison ivy as well, but I have removed most of that. |