English ivy on trees

[Anonymous]

Is it necessary to snip the roots of English ivy that's grown up trees? I don't want the ivy to kill the trees. How long does it take all the ivy to shrivel and fall off if I snip a circle around the tree trunk?

[Anonymous]

Make a window in the vine -- cut as low to the ground as you can and reach as high as you safely can to cut the vine. If it's really attached to the tree, don't try to pull it out, and use a hacksaw to cut through the vine but be super-careful not to cut the bark of the tree. Don't pull the vine out of the tree but let it die in place.

Ivy takes a while to know it's dead -- but if you disconnect the vine from the roots it will die. It may look ugly for a while, but it's really worth the effort as it's terrible for trees.