Ivy - damage to trees and/houses?

Alison_Cross

Can someone settle this problem for me?

I heard (I think) Bill Oddie waxing lyrical about ivy and how it wasn't correct to say that it killed trees or ruined your pointing....or was it Alan Titchmarsh?

Anyway, whomever it was, was someone on TV.

I have rather a lot of ivy creeping up a tree and although I keep trying to snap off the new bits of growth, it does look quite pretty and if it wasn't going to ultimately kill my tree, I'd probably let it ramble up it.

Now, we also have some less 'picturesque' ivy growing up the side of our house (a little wilderness area owned by the Council). Hubby is forever trying to remove it - but again, does it ruin your pointing?

Or was Bill/Alan just talking nonsense?

Am v confused and Googling is not really helping me - with some sites saying yes it damages trees/brickwork and some saying no.....

tanith

I have Ivy on a garden wall and I find that though it doesn't seem to cause damage because the wall is well maintained I think if the house is old and the pointing is 'soft' then it may well get in and cause damage, it also will creep up under lead flashing and into any air bricks or the under the sofits and eaves... I have to keep pulling it back from my neighbours lead flashing up on his conservatory as it pushes the flashing it is so strong...

So all in all I would say YES it does cause damage to houses if you let it get out of control but kept to a small part of the wall then it would probabely be ok... oh and I have seen Ivy strangle a tree to death by just sheer weight and keeping the light from the leaves... the poor tree gave up competing...

Alison_Cross

TAnith - thanks for this. Our building is Victorian and has loads of old pointing so I think that I shall tell hubby to keep up the ivy purging programme.

The tree is massive - about 20ft tall, possibly taller, with a girth that is wider than I can put my arms around (erm....don't ask), so I'm still not sure what to do about the ivy on the tree.

Mercy buckets :-)

AX

wurzelsar

We have an old stone wall at the top end of our garden and ivy grows on the other side in someone else's property.

It has slowly grown through the old pointing and loosened all the stone.

No matter how much we have pruned back and killed off the ivy, it still pushes through from the other side. I would keep it in check if you can.

That ivy also snapped thick branches on a neighbour's tree as well. The weight of the ivy brought them down.

jstyles

Ivy - and many other intrusive climbers - will not do your brickwork and pointing any good at all. Ideally, restrict it to walls that aren't important and keep an eye on it's progression throughout the seasons. The best way to do this is to have defined mental barriers that you are very familiar with (rather than marking the wall!!) and trim the ivy back once it hits it. Just be careful how you remove it. If it has intruded between the bricks, watch for mortar coming out with the roots if you simply pull it roughly. Think carefully about the impact on the bricks and mortar of what you are doing - it's a hard and delicate job at the same time!

Ideally, don't have ivy on your wall at all. Cut it at the soil level and carefully trim any back that's got a foothold on your wall. It does look nice and quaint, olde worldy and cottagey. But remember - it's damaging your biggest investment!

As for trees being strangled - that's nature taking its course if it happens. If you don't want it to happen, just cut the ivy right back. Also - consider the position of a tree that may be dying - is it safe? Does it need pruning - or removing for safety altogether?

Farway

An easy way to kill the ivy is cut through all growth at the base, it will gradually wither & die then when brittle it will come off easier

You will have to make say a 6 inch band of ivy free growth at the base and be strict about catching any new shoots intruding

Spraying with a herbicide such as Roundup will also work, but slowlyover a year or so

A_Clock

When we moved into our council house, the whole side wall was covered in ivy right up to the tiles :eek: One of the first things i did was chop it the bottom, its all brown now but im too scared to pull it away One stem was about 3 inches across, ive never seen it that think before!

andrew-b

Yes ivy will damage pointing. My father (retired) as a building surveyor would always recommend removal of ivy from houses. There was ivy on my
sisters house..we have pictures of her literally hanging off the ivy looking like she was abseiling down the house ..so you get some idea of just how well attached it can get!

Andy