Content
- Permanently remove ivy - tips and tricks
- When do you need to remove ivy?
- What is important when fighting ivy?
- How to remove ivy as groundcover
- Remove ivy from walls and house walls
- Free trees of ivy
- Can ivy be removed with Roundup?
- Protect hands and airways from ivy
- Tips
When removing very old ivy, there is a risk of damaging the masonry
Permanently remove ivy - tips and tricks
Ivy belongs to the plants in the garden, which spread rapidly. They occupy large areas, entwine themselves on house walls and walls or proliferate on trees. It can cause considerable damage ivy, if it is not fought. Tips and tricks on how to permanently remove ivy.
Early article ivy is poisonous - for humans and animals! Next article Plant ivy in the garden properly - A small guideWhen do you need to remove ivy?
The shoots of ivy can damage masonry considerably. They settle in joints and holes and expand them.
Trees, even large old specimens, can be crushed by the ivy trees so that they can enter.
It may therefore be useful not to let ivy proliferate too much and to free masonry and other plants from the tendrils.
What is important when fighting ivy?
Ivy spreads through the shoots that produce adherence roots. The adhesive roots bury themselves in everything that gives them support:
Even small ivories will soon make new offshoots. If you want to remove ivy permanently, you must ensure that all shoots and the roots of soils, walls or other substrates are carefully removed.
How to remove ivy as groundcover
If the ivy has overgrown a larger area as ground cover, it is best to start at the edge to remove the plants. Cut off any thicker shoots that you can reach with a pair of pruning shears or a small saw. Pull out the tendrils and make sure you get as many roots as possible.
If the surface above ground is free of ivy, you must get the roots out of the earth. If necessary, wet the floor as it will make work easier.
Dig into the ground with a grave fork and lift the earth. Often you can simply pull out the roots. With very old ivy plants, however, it remains only to reach for the spade and dig up the roots.
Remove ivy from walls and house walls
If the ivy has risen on walls and walls, the damage done can be considerable. To make matters worse, you must be careful. This is especially true when the ivy roots have buried in joints.
Moisten the wall with the ivy. Always start from the top, carefully pulling the long tendrils out of the masonry. If you can not take off thicker shoots, cut them into smaller pieces with pruning shears. Then you have to dig up the roots of the ivy, so it does not expel again.
If the wall is free of ivy, scrub it with a solution of detergent and water with a stiff brush. This not only serves the purpose of getting the masonry clean again, it also removes any residual ivy root.
Free trees of ivy
If a tree is overgrown with ivy, first check how healthy the tree is. If he can not be saved anyway, you can save yourself the work.
In order to free a tree from ivy, cut all the ivy shoots at a height of about 1.50 meters and pull them downwards. This is easier if the tree is wet. If necessary, you should first spray it with water. The upper tendrils can stay on the tree if they are not too thick and the anchoring roots have not penetrated too much into the tree bark. These shoots dry up and then fall off.
Then you must dig out all the roots of the ivy around the tree.
Can ivy be removed with Roundup?
When the ivy population gets rampant, many garden owners resort to chemical remedies such as Roundup or Glyphosath. Even if it simply reads on the packaging, these remedies are not permanently effective and not recommended because of the high toxicity to other plants.
With Roundup and other means you achieve that the leaf masses die up and also a part of the small stick roots is destroyed. However, you can not reach deep roots with it. The ivy sprouts again, causing you to face the same problem again after some time.
Protect hands and airways from ivy
Since ivy is poisonous and even contact with the naked skin can lead to skin inflammation, always work with gloves when removing ivy.
Even tiny particles released during cutting can be harmful if they enter the respiratory tract. It is therefore advisable to wear a respirator during this work.
Tips
Never leave cut pieces and roots of ivy, but dispose of them as soon as possible. Otherwise, there is a danger of poisoning for pets. In addition, new clumps of roots form on the truncated shoots, over which the ivy spreads back into the garden.