Need to Kill Ivy

We have a BUNCH of hardy English (?) ivy and spurge out front which we want to remove. We're going to leave some of the ivy right by the house since we like how it softens the lines of the house where it climbs up on the right front side, but the majority of it we want G-O-N-E.

Someone told me the only way we'll ever get rid of it is to dig it all out by the roots, by hand. Is that the only thing which will do the job? *sigh*

Here's what we're dealing with, on the right side of the driveway.

By the way...The garage door is going to be framed in and will have two windows and a door. That's where my MIL's apartment will be. We think we'll have stone up about 3', topped of with a stone ledge, and then have white siding the rest of the way up (just within that garage door area, I mean).

Round-up will get it.. Also Spectracide..I have used both on ivy.
Larkie

Well, I have concentrated Round-Up and a sprayer, so we'll have to give that a go. We're expecting warm days this week, so we might as well get started on it.

I would be best to spray it, wait a week or so and then spray it again with the roundup. The first spraying will weaken it and the second should kill it.

Good Luck.

Kimberley, it depends how many roots and underground vines it has: it may take 3-4 applications to finally do the job.

I have been busy ripping huge amounts out by the roots last weekend, have filled 4 yard waste bags with the weed. Cleared an area about 10' x 4'. Gotta make that 12' x 4' to finish. Sigh.

This stuff's probably been in this spot for at least 20 years, maybe even more like 50 - who knows for certain. We'll just start with the Round-Up and keep applying it. We'll have one heck of an ugly patch of yard in that spot for a while, but later on it'll be worth it.

Would it work better to weed-whack the ivy back and apply Round-Up to the exposed stems, or is it best to apply it to the foliage in-tact?

I'd hook a chain and truck to it first.
I'm not much on the spray thingie.

Root, we'd pull down our whole wall if we did that! ;) It's a 5x20' bed which flows down over a 1 1/2' sandstone wall.

I would disconnect the vine from the root stock and put 2-4-D, brushkiller, on the stump. After the vines die from no attached root, they might be easier to remove. Any way you look at it, you will have to dig roots in order to have a bed to work with later this spring. I don't envy you this job!! Howie is going to put in some rugged hours getting rid of this one.

I would figure some way to jack it out,if you ever want to plant anything there,you will be cussin the roots later.Howie got an engine hoist?

But it's not just one root -- it's a whole bed of them, you know? Anywhere the ivy's touched, it's rooted. It's a very well-established bed. Pulling all the spurge out of the bed by the front porch was a piece of cake compared to this. Ugh.

With Howie's bad back, heavy labor's out (he broke his back in 1994 and had fusion surgery in 1996). I think we'll have to try the Round-Up route first and hand-dig anything that doesn't seem to have killed. Stuff's easier to dig up once it's dead, anyway.

Nope - no engine hoist. How would that work with such an extensive root system, anyway, Root? Open to suggestions!

Thats a tough one,forgot about Howies back,could be time for a spray!

Kimberley, Round-up only works on the foliage! Drench the leaves in it, but make sure the wind doesn't carry it anywhere else. Repeat weekly, probably all summer.

You will have to deal with the dead roots eventually; some of mine have taproots 3-4' deep, the oldest ones have taproots about 6" in diameter. Then there are all the feeder roots.

Maybe it would be best if, after the stuff is finally dead, you treated that area like a big pit compost pile, and let it rot all by itself, rather than trying to remove all the roots. It would be very difficult for either of you to do it.

Mine is somewhat easy when the ground is saturated in the spring; I can mostly hand-pull the taproots, I can get the biggest ones out with my hand trowel.

BTW, it doesn't work to try to pit-compost the stuff before it is dead. I tried that one year, and the feeder roots just went nuts! The stuff grew bigger and better than ever!

That's what I'm thinking...Just keep spraying, let ir rot in place for the season, and then put a good layer of compost on top of it next spring.

I wish I lived closer with my goats since they LOVE stuff like ivy. LOL No spray needed if you put in a fence and they would eat it right down to the roots and keep it eaten back all summer for you.

Of course I am sure that your town would be JUST THRILLED to have you with goats in your front yard. LOL

Yeah, especially our nosy neighbor Peg down the street. ;) Oh, Lani, if you only knew.

She brought two newspapers up to our door once when we'd been busy and forgotten to retrieve them from the curb for a couple days (gasp!). She knocked and said "I noticed your papers and wondered if you kids were okay...What would you like to do with these?". Howie had an answer in his mind, but thank goodness he didn't enunciate it.

She also called and left a message on my MIL's machine one Sunday morning while we were at church (same name - she must have gotten them mixed up) to note that we still had our Christmas lights lit. Now, it was late January, and the lights hadn't been lit since early January...But they were still up.

The best one, though, was after we'd cleaned out our garage and Howie was parking the car in there again. Peg was walking her dog and spotted me. She asked if Howard was okay. I said he was fine. She said she'd just noticed his car hadn't been around for a long time and just wanted to be sure he was okay and not in the hospital or something! Now, coming from Peg, she probably was dying to know if we'd split up or something. She sounded disappointed when I told her he was just parking his car in the garage!

On the plus side, she does notice her environment and probably would also let us know if there was something awry.

Ohhh that type of neighbor is exactly the kind that you would love to have around when you get some goats for your front yard. I would love to play mind games with her.

LOL I got a good laugh out of Howie wanting to tell her what to do with those newspapers. She sound like one of those neighbors that you want to tell a little story to and see how long it takes to get around the neighborhood just to catch her doing it. It would be fun to test her and see if she can get caught in her own trap. :)

(sinister laugh)

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