I'm clearing ivy off out property. I'd like to reclaim the 30'x10' area marked off for a new planting bed in moring sun/ dappled shade. What a %itch!!!
I've weed wacked the area in the picture to just behind the cedars and am pulling the roots by hand. I've still have roots in the red squiggled area, and have developed severe tendonitis from all the clipping and pulling. The area that's already pulled took about 5hrs over a 3 day period.
There has got to be an easier way! What is it?
With all of the Ivy growing in the area I doubt if the cleared space would remain 'un-ivied' for long. Although I don't like the thought of it, perhaps after a thorough weed whacking of the ivy before a dose or two of Roundup or other vegetation killers on the tender new growth would work. A call to the local County Extension office might help too. Hopefully someone on DG will have a better answer.
Yeah Balvenie, I really hate using herbicides too.
I chose the name 'aunatural' when I had kids and decided to rid the garage of all the chemicals that were piling up in there. However, my daily fight with slugs, earwigs, brown spot, those pesky round-leafed weeds that shoot seeds everywhere when you touch them, and ivy are really begging for drastic action, (a really large flame thrower or something.) Oh yeah, moles too. They showed up a few years ago and won't leave!
Back to ivy:
I've weed whacked the area up to behind the trees now, and plan on removing the roots in the 30x10' bed plus some more in a 2' buffer zone behind the bed. I figure that if I can get 90% of the roots in the area I want to keep free, I can pull out the newer ivy growth more easily. It's the root snipping part that's a real pain. I read in the Ivy-out campaign that a group of 5-6 people stand shoulder to shoulder and roll the matted ivy roots to make a big heavy ivy log. But with just me, myself and I, I have to snip 1-1/2' strips in the root mat to make it manageable.
Hummm. I think I need a really large flame thrower or something.
-Au
Au, There is hope! I singlehandedly de-ivied a section of our woods that was ivy infested to the tune of ~ 40' x 30' or more. It was awfully lush: a mass carpet of foot tall ivy including runners 'decorating' several evergreen trunks to about the 40 ft level and masses completely covering deadfalls and stumps.
If I were you, I'd quit snipping as the repetitive motion is probably what irks your tendinitis and anything you drop has a great chance for rerooting/growing. What I found very successful was to pull as much root mass in a given clump and then reel in the runners into ivy balls(similar to the group effort 'ivy log,' but on a small scale. Bag it up for burning or disposal later. Can't tell you how many bushels I burned but it was very satisfying! Maybe a flame thrower would be the ticket.
On the tree trunks I see in your photo, you could snip the climbing stems, let the upper ivy die and then you can pull it off in a year or less without harming tree bark.
It takes a while, even if you do a square yard a day it will get done. To my surprise, I've had very little in terms of returning ivy. A very few strays where roots were left behind and those are easily and happily yanked.
I don't know what kind of soil you're working in. I had very friable forest humus which might have made the job easier. If you have to work harder at removing roots from tough soil, then I don't know what to tell you except they make great wrist braces and tendon support straps available at most drug stores.
Good luck with ivy and the evil shot weed! I thought they were so 'cute' when we moved here; shooting seeds in every direction. Fascinating method of reproduction. 1000's of shotweeds later, I'm not longer fascinated.
Wow Poochella, You're my hero! What a great success story. I have to admit I've been a bit discouraged to go back and finish off what I started, but your reply is wonderful encouragement. Thanks. -Au
Well, check this out Au: Your post prompted me to meander into the former Ivy Den of Doom yesterday. In all of the area I previously cleared of ivy, I pulled the sum total of 12 new growths: two long ones over 8 feet, two about 4 feet (growing out of fern roots: very tough to remove) and the rest mere sprouts of 8-12". That's after not checking on it for months. Earlier forays over the several years since 'cleaning' have yielded similar periodic results.
It can be done; consider it mindless, stress-free exercise with perks of more garden space! It's a shame that ivy is so detrimental to a woods ( although I've read heated debates over this and don't want to start one here!) There are so many places just infested with it, and it takes down more trees all the time.
I also wanted to encourage you NOT to overwork your tendon wherever it may be. I absolutely ruined my arm painting a house- (painting with ice packs strapped to my aching arm! Does this have DUH? written all over it??????) Took over 5 years to resolve and will never heal 100%. So take it easy on that front, if you don't mind the advice.
Good luck with your ivy. It is most satisfying when done.
I inherited a forested area with tons of ivy. And I'm next to a small wetland area, so I know I have to do something. Maybe find the perimeter and start pulling ivy balls and logs toward the center?
I do agree, Pochella, with your recommendation of pulling rather than cutting. Be careful even with repetitive pulling, though. I have not only had elbow tendinitis from cutting berry vines back, but I've had wrist tendinitis from pulling out vinca.
Kathy
I hang my head in shame over my stupidity years ago when I deliberately planted English Ivy on my rural property. I really didn't KNOW then what I know now. I am going to have to pay an arborist to bring down a dangerous alder in chunks - one that is completely encased in the ivy that I so carefully planted and tended.
A point of surprise is that the DEER will eat the ivy where it is along the ground - first time that the deer browing has been a positive thing. Much better that they eat that than the roses and tomatoes that I USED to plant.
Wanna: As a gardening newbie, I too have tried to propagate this demon in the past! I tried to get it to spread to a sloped area to stop erosion. Fortunately, due to complete neglect, that section never took. At least I never paid good money for the beast.
Katie: I've stopped clearing for a few weeks now. I'm taking a break until I can give up a whole weekend to this task. BTW, what part of W'ville are you in? Are you in the "72" or "77" zip code. My info says Redmond, but we moved from Avondale to right by the old H'wood Schoolhouse years ago, and I just never updated my info. We're neighbors!
AuNatural -
Very cool. I'm in the 77 zip code, actually unincorporated King County outside Woodinville, but with a Woodinville postal address. If you know where the Lake of the Woods subdivision is (towards Duvall from Avondale), I'm there.
Drove close to your house tonight, though, headed to the vet in Redmond. LOL
Maybe we can meet at the Green Elephant Plant Exchange in November: http://www.holycrossredmond.org/greenelephant.htm.
Kathy
Woodinville, WA
Ok, this is a semi-humorous post, take me seriously or not.
I work as a geologist in the Seattle area, and one of the things I do is dig test pits to find out what sort of soil a site has on it. Usually its a pretty simple job, but often I am in blackberry patches, thistle fields, up to my eyeballs in nettles, and so on. But I am always accompanied by a backhoe, track excavator, or drill rig.
To cut to the chase, backhoes, and track hoes can remove ivy, blackberries, what have you in short order. Seriously, an experienced operator can pull most of the ivy, including the roots in about 1/2 hour. And a tree stump in less time. I have witnessed all of this being done many times.
All you need to do is make it worth their while, as they will spend more time loading and unloading the rig. And a bunch of neighbors requiring a little hand will make it good.
So, in the same vein,
That sounds like a terrific idea. How do we talk a geologist into coming to our house and digging test pits that just happen to get rid of invasives?
thanks, AnalogDog. I would love to have some backhoe help. Either with the ivy or to help level out my road again. How do you find a backhoe operator with a little time on his or her hands?
The other problem I have is that the ivy is in a place with heavy tree fall debris. And there are a couple of nice trees there that I'd like to keep. How maneuverable is a backhoe around these? And how likely is it that the tree roots will get hurt?
I haven't really found ivy to be that invasive here in Washington. Not like it was in Calif at least.
I think it would go a long way if you have something to put into the ground as soon as you get the ivy out, to prevent it from just coming back.
I recently read that nearly nothing grows under cedars. This was quite disheartening to me as I have maybe 40 or 50 hostas lined up to go under some cedars and firs. How is it planting under firs? I would imagine it's the same as the cedars. They said the amount of water cedars suck up in a day and it was astounding. So anything you plant doesn't get any water. I'm going to try it anyway! How's that for optimistic.
What are you putting in the area you're clearing?
Gwen, who would also like to meet some nice guys with backhoes and time on their hands!
Western Red Cedars (Thuja) or true Cedars (Cedrus)?
Doug Firs (Pseudotsuga menziesii) or true Firs (Abies)?
The roots from any of these will invade whatever areas you amend for the Hostas. I am not trying to discourage you - just recognize that the trees will compete for water & nutrients.
I have some of each and have noted that the most successful weeds (sometimes a good indicator) living happily there, are those that are more xeric &/or shade tolerant.
It has been my experience that the both "firs" are more forgiving to many understory plants.
Hostas are pretty tough, though, and if given the moisture they need would probably do fine.
As far as ground covers go . . . my brothers have both had success with Vinca under their cedars. And one brother has also successfully plant St. Johns Wort. My neighbors have sweet woodruff under their cedars. If you add soil and baby your plants with regular watering the first year, they may get established enough to compete with the cedar as its roots come up to take adavantage of the new soil. I think they probably both have Western Red Cedars (thuja, as Katye points out).
Oh yes - Vinca! Is there anywhere it won't grow?
One thing I have made a practice of over the years is to observe where weeds are growing, and which family they are from. A veritable smorgasbord of them can be found under WRC's, the majority having a preference for dryer soil.
I think that the shape of the WRC's branches & the low, sweeping manner in which they hang precludes much from growing there. However, if you limb them up a bit, all manner of weeds will take advantage of the setting, some obviously more well-adapted than others.
If you are looking for ground covers under the trees listed earlier, there shouldn't be too much of a problem. Shrubs & many perennials are a different story under the cedars. The firs (true & dougs) are more amenable to a wider variety of understory plants.
Again - Hostas, when established are sturdy buggers, so I would not hesitate to try this type location, as long as you are willing to monitor their moisture/nutrient needs. I think the bigger pain is digging & preparing the holes. However - Hostas are so worth the effort, so - go for it!
The Hosta in the pic was located at the very base of a large Doug Fir - up against the trunk. It was healthy/happy for years and survived the tree being felled, the stump being ground: never missing a beat. Now it is in full sun, so it will be moved elsewhere. The lesson for me was realizing that many plants have the ability to adapt - much better than we tend to think.
Buteeful hostas, Katye.
I should also mention that I have a fir tree in my front yard - limbed way up. I have a star magnolia growing there (although they planted it away from the viewing side) and several Nandina. They are doing well and have been for awhile, I think. I've only been here for four years. The house is 25 years old. Most of the landscaping was done quite early on, I think.
I have been thinking that I should do more under that tree, but I can't even imagine trying to dig!!!
They're WRC and Doug Firs. And I went and looked and it is only firs where I want to plant. You're right, the cedars are too low and sweeping for anything under there.
Under the firs now some blackberries grow, but only halfheartedly. Not enough sun for them to do much. Also ferns are under there.
I'm planning to bring in soil and pile it around and plant in that, so won't really be digging.
Gwen
