Ivy Growth

DRP

i just had to demolish a 2.5m tall wall c1901 because the previous owner(s) had let it grow and the wall was dangerous and pretty much beyond repair.

the root didn't appear to be in my garden (or the neighbours') and when i took it down i found that the root exited the ground inside the wall (wall is 2 bricks thick), then after growing about 30cm between the bricks (stem was squashed flat and iron hard) alternated between exiting on my side and the neighbour's side of the wall - so we both thought that the stem was on each other's side of the wall...

SO be warned - it will destroy your wall eventually!

BigAunty

Thanks.

The tree pruner tracked the ivy and believes it either originates in a crack in the exterior of both our rear wall where they join or in the neighbour's garden, perhaps coming up from inside their garden and into a large gap in the mortar between where our walls meet on the outside of our gardens.

It therefore looks like it has the capacity to wreak havoc on the walls like DRP has outlined but part of the reason the neighbour asked for its removal was to repoint their walls so they can go ahead with tackling our/their ivy how they wish. There's no ivy originating inside my garden or on my side of the exterior wall.

dominoman

kevelesopnic wrote: »

Do either of you want to keep the ivy? If not then give it a good spray with a decent weedkiller, RoundUp works well.

Ivy can ruin your walls and fences. Our house had it everywhere. It pulled the slats off the fences, and it wound it's way under roof tiles and even into the garage itself. Once it is growing it's a pain to get rid of.

In my experience roundup doesn't do anything for Ivy. The leaves are too waxy to absorb it.

Remove the ivy as near the ground as you can, then wait for it to die back (at least 3-4 weeks). Don't try and peel it off the walls until it is totally brown. It will make a mess in any case - but if it is dead it should leave most of the plaster behind.

As for your neighbour's ivy problem - well it's his problem.

Conrad

An Ivy fan here. Winter birds and other creatures relish it's protection and it provides masses of fruit for them too plus nectar for pollinating insects.


Many a fence / wall has it's life prolonged by a covering of Ivy as long as it cant get in under tiles etc.

Mojisola

Conrad wrote: »

An Ivy fan here. Winter birds and other creatures relish it's protection and it provides masses of fruit for them too plus nectar for pollinating insects.

Me, too. Ivy produces fruits right at the end of winter when there is very little else and flowers in the autumn when other nectar supplies are finished - doubly good for wildlife.

If you have an area where it can be cultivated without causing damage, let it grow.

tanith

I have a very large ivy growing between myself and neighbour we both like the privacy it provides between our gardens and we each keep our own side trimmed regularly and it works well for us. The robins and wrens love to nest in it

BigAunty

Well it looks pretty and rustic against victorian brickwork but I'm siding towards its capacity to ruin walls as it is clear it thrives in cracks. The walls are too low for birds to nest, sadly, and they've ignored my bird boxes installed on my house, too.

Clearly the neighbours can't repoint their walls with ivy growing on it so when I pop round and schedule the tree pruning with them, I can let them know that although we both have ivy where our walls meet, it doesn't come my garden and offer to let them see my interior wall and borders to verify this.

I once had a neighbour convinced that the rats in her cellar came from mine, caused by the building work taking place on my roof and patio slab repairs in my garden so I let her visit the cellar so she could see that I had no pest problems.

esmerelda98

dominoman wrote: »

Ivy can ruin your walls and fences. Our house had it everywhere. It pulled the slats off the fences, and it wound it's way under roof tiles and even into the garage itself. Once it is growing it's a pain to get rid of.

In my experience roundup doesn't do anything for Ivy. The leaves are too waxy to absorb it.

Remove the ivy as near the ground as you can, then wait for it to die back (at least 3-4 weeks). Don't try and peel it off the walls until it is totally brown. It will make a mess in any case - but if it is dead it should leave most of the plaster behind.

I disagree with this last bit of advice. I have been removing lots of ivy from old walls over a hundred years old and not so old walls. I have tried to remove dead, dried up ivy and the stuff that's still alive. 'Fresh' ivy is so much easier to remove, so much more flexible, and you definitely remove more suckers this way and leave the wall looking acceptable. It may be that after three to four weeks the ivy doesn't stiffen up too much, I didn't try it your way, but you definitely shouldn't leave it too long.

Also ivy can be protective, if managed well and kept away from windows, gutters and roofs. Having been told that old walls and ivy don't mix, I removed a load of ivy from my walls to discover the walls in perfect condition underneath. The ivy had formed a protective 'mat' which came away easily once the stems had been severed. Now I have lost my wall insulation! I kind of regret removing it. Elsewhere the ivy was not managed it has been destructive.

RAS

The real issue is whether your walls are grouted with cement (very late 19C onwards) or with lime mortar.

It is the lime mortar that ivy damages. It will however take advantage of cracks and poorly maintained cement.

kevelesopnic

Patience is the key, you need to spray regularly and get it on the new shoots rather than the larger leaves, it then gets absorbed into the root. I successfully killed some in my garden but needed to spray weekly initially, it takes time but does work eventually.

dominoman wrote: »

Ivy can ruin your walls and fences. Our house had it everywhere. It pulled the slats off the fences, and it wound it's way under roof tiles and even into the garage itself. Once it is growing it's a pain to get rid of.

In my experience roundup doesn't do anything for Ivy. The leaves are too waxy to absorb it.

Remove the ivy as near the ground as you can, then wait for it to die back (at least 3-4 weeks). Don't try and peel it off the walls until it is totally brown. It will make a mess in any case - but if it is dead it should leave most of the plaster behind.

As for your neighbour's ivy problem - well it's his problem.