MASSIVE ivy problem

hostie

Hi
I've bought an old house, the garden of which is quite big and covered in ivy. It really is bad - climbing trees, strangling trunks, walls, dripping from everywhere. On the ground, it is two feet thick in places, and when I part the leaves, the stems are like industrial thickness spaghetti, thick and wiry, and all intermingled to such an extent, it's impossible to pull up by hand. It covers, between 1 and 2 feet deep, an area of about 20 metres by 20 metres. I can't stress enough just how bad it is. :eek:

I've read that you have to cut the stems etc, down at the base. I started thiis, and sawed through some thick stems which were wrapped around trees. I've heard I can put glysophate on leaves etc, or put carpet over the whole garden for the winter, but this will only kill it. I will then have to lift it all up, not easy.

That's the problem really: how do I go about tackling it and how on earth do I lift the sheer HUGE mass of it? When I walk on it, it's like walking on enormous mattresses.

Also, we have a lot of nettles and other very tough weeds. Hogweed, you name it, it's there in abundance.


I want to grow vegetables organically in the future, so don't want to use nasty stuff on the garden at all.

Help, she squeaked?

ixwood

Cover it in petrol and use a match?? Carefully.

No idea really, sorry. Most things when you weedkill go all limp and shrivel up, but not sure about ivy..

torbrex

I have heard of this but do not know if it works.

Get a shredder of commercial size, cut a stem as close to the root as you can and feed it into the shredder, in theory the rotating action of the shredder pulls in the ivy.

It sounded good when I heard it some time ago and I would love to know if it works.

Peartree

Glyphosate it. Now is a good time. If it is wrapped round other plants mix in a bit of wallpaper paste and paint it on the leaves. You'll probably have to do it more than once. As I say, now is a good time and then do it again every dry weekend. I've also found that a good application on the first day that feels 'springlike' which can be in February, works well, particularly on couch grass. Glyphosate is not organic but it does disperse and you can, ultimately, go organic (not sure how long you have to be glyphosate free to be truly organic!)

Leave the thick growth on whilst you glyphosate and when it dies off you can strim it back - you might want to invest in a petrol strimmer. You can then keep glyposating the new growth. Glyphosate will kill the roots and so the growth should rot back a bit. However, you'll probably still have the woody bits and the thick roots in the soil. If you're brave you could try burning some of it off! With perennial weeds, you also need to have think seriously before disturbing the ground by digging it over. Unless you remove all the roots, they can just resprout everywhere you break them up.

I've done the carpet thing. It isn't that good with really persistent, perennial weeds. With many of these the roots persist in the soil and when you remove the carpet and the light gets to them they will simply sprout back more enthusiastically than ever. Also, carpet starts to rot and there is nothing worse than trying to dispose of a load of soggy, smelly, rotting carpet. The really vigorous weeds punch through it and you also find that annual weeds seed and grow on top of it. Can you tell I am speaking with bitter experience here! I have the worst weed problem in the world (and don't, anyone, even think of arguing with me on this one - horsetail, millions of them). Getting shot of the carpet can be as hard as getting rid of the weeds.

Instead of carpet, once you have glyphosated, you would do well to think about landscaping fabric which is what I have had to do. This is one occasion when you need to forget economy and buy the best quality you can - the cheaper ones degrade (horsetail punch through it after a year). Cover all the weedy areas and don't leave any gaps where light can get through, then cover the whole lot with a thick covering of bark. You can cut holes in the fabric and put the plants you want in, or fabric 'around' existing plants you like.

If you have such a severe perennial weed problem, you might want to have a careful think about where you put veg and stick to the less weedy areas, make some raised beds or use growbags and containers until you are on top of the weed problem.

I've faffed around with a lot of different approaches with my garden, and lost a few years gardening in the process. Most of the advice in books doesn't address a really serious problem (I'll slap anyone who says dig it over and remove any trace of weed roots - that would take me the rest of my life plus a few generations on my plot - and then only if I could dig down about fifty feet). Landscaping fabric and bark has been what has worked in the end, together with gravelling some sections. Go for immediate and dramatic action!

Amusingly, in one part of my garden I've planted a load of ivy as ground cover to supress the weed problem - it looks lovely but I know I need to keep on top of it!

hostie

Peartree - thank you for the reply. You've given me some ideas and 'll try them out. Yes, I did guess you had suffered the same problem and had it bad! I too will slap anyone who says find the stem, cut it and simply remove the ivy." Mine is like some alien garden, with 20 foot wooden snakes or rat tails writhing together under two feet of ivy. Brrrr.

Thanks again - very helpful.


Torbrex - I'm not sure about the shredder idea... It would need to be a pretty sturdy machine to deal with my ivy without being dragged screaming down into the leafy swamp.

Debt_Free_Chick

Agree - glyphosate.

It's more green than people think - it only kills the plants that come into contact with it. Glyphosate is rendered useless (dead, effectively) once it hits the soil - it doesn't "live" in the soil so will have no effect if you want to garden organically. (I think - but not sure - that organically certified growers can use glyphosate under certain circumstances anyway).

I'd be inclined to get a pump action sprayer and give the whole lot a good going over - and possibly a repeat in 6 weeks time. If the garden is completely covered in weeds, it would pay to glyphosate the whole lot!

Lord_Gardener

Best technique with Ivy is to physically remove as much as possible then treat with a herbicide (woody plant type eg Roundup). Ivy has a waxy coating and you therefore need a herbicde with a good surfactant content to help break through this before it becomes effective. Best techniques are to remove a section of any Ivy growing up trees and allow thick pieces to die off - don't try pulling off mature pieces or they'll damage the tree. For ground 'mats' use the 'log roll' technique - find edge of mat and with friends/family cut 6' parallel lines through the mat with loppers, then roll up as if rolling a log - roll towards you! This really does work but takes effort and time! Apply herbicide to remaining leaves, cut stems and roots - remember to crush leaves to aid take up of herbicide. Expect to treat with herbicide a number of times to get a result

Debt_Free_Chick

Lord_Gardener wrote: »

Best technique with Ivy is to physically remove as much as possible then treat with a herbicide (woody plant type eg Roundup).

Which is a brand name for glyphosate

Lord_Gardener

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Which is a brand name for glyphosate

Actually Roundup is a Brand for Monsanto. There is in fact a whole range of products called Roundup! Yes, they do contain glyphosate as the active herbicide but at different strengths and with different surfactant packs and other ingredients depending on the application. Which is why I said go for the woody plant type but forgot to put the 'Pro Biactive' after roundup! Normal glyphosate products are unlikely to work on Ivy which is normally classed as resistant to glyphosate!!

~Chameleon~

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Which is a brand name for glyphosate

You can buy a non-brand glyphosate which is cheaper. I got some from my local garden centre and it was on the next shelf to stuff like weedol and pathclear etc. It's in a yellow container and has it's own pump action spray attached. Think I paid something like £8.99 for a 5litre container

I must say it does work and despite wanting to be organic I did resort to using it to kill off some persistent weeds and couch grass in my driveway and on some of the garden. Just make sure you don't get the spray on anything you want to keep as it will literally kill off everything lol

PS forgot to mention, it did work on some ivy I've been trying to get rid of too

Peartree

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

You can buy a non-brand glyphosate which is cheaper. I got some from my local garden centre and it was on the next shelf to stuff like weedol and pathclear etc. It's in a yellow container and has it's own pump action spray attached. Think I paid something like £8.99 for a 5litre container

I must say it does work and despite wanting to be organic I did resort to using it to kill off some persistent weeds and couch grass in my driveway and on some of the garden. Just make sure you don't get the spray on anything you want to keep as it will literally kill off everything lol

PS forgot to mention, it did work on some ivy I've been trying to get rid of too

Absolutely. Don't waste money on the brand names! B&Q do an own brand glyphosate but you sometimes have to search for it at bit. It is better value to buy the stuff you need to dilute rather than paying extra for the spray bottles.