english ivy

by TAWNEY BARKER
(MEDWAY, OHIO)

I have a spot of english ivy at least i think that is what it is that I can not get rid of it. There is alot of woody vines and i have tried just about every spray and even tried to dig it out but it is very rocky where it is and hard to get all the roots as they travel everywhere. It is starting to do damage to the back wall of my garage i just want it gone any help would be greatful

Thank you


Doug says that what you started doing - cutting the vines down, grubbing out the roots is the single best way to get rid of this vine. But it's not easy - it takes time - and quite frankly it's a major pest once it's established.

Constant vigilance is the key.

To get it off your wall, simply make sure you're cutting the vines off at the base at the bottom of your wall. The top parts will die. You'll see the new shoots coming - grub the closest to the wall out - keep on working your way back to the mother plants - grub them out.

Or bring in a backhoe to do the work. Or a landscaping crew who do this kind of thing.

One way that a pro landscaper is going to work at it is to cut the mother plants and then apply Roundup at full strength to the fresh cut. Ready to use spray will not accomplish this. This will kill the roots.

Doing this painting is a registered use of the product and is used in last-ditch ways to control noxious weeds. So while Roundup is being more and more implicated in a wide variety of environmental problems - limited application in this way can be accepted in some circumstances when applied properly and safely.