I'm planting it under sections of lattice of which the bottoms of are approx 2 ft off the ground. Will the ivy be able to reach the bottom of the lattice and continue upward or will I have to put something (temporarily) between the ground and bottom of lattice?
Any chance we could get you to reconsider the ivy? It's nasty and will take over more area than just where you want it, and it's next to impossible to get rid of later. As far as whether you'll need to help it across the 2 ft distance--eventually it'll probably find it on its own, but you can speed up the process by helping it. I wouldn't put something else in there temporarily because you won't be able to easily get it detached from the vine and removed, what I would do is wait until there are branches of vine that are 2 ft tall, then manually stretch them up to the trellis and attach with a tie, the vine will do the rest from there.
Thank you, ecrane, great idea, (stringing them to the lattice).
Can't reconsider, already planted sixteen. Coverage is though what I want.
You can still reconsider--if you just planted them they should be pretty easy to pull out, it's once they get established that you'll have a hard time getting rid of it from the places you don't want it. I know you probably hate to waste the money since you already bought the vines, but I'd still urge you to reconsider. It's obviously your choice, but I think you could get the coverage you want with something easier to manage.
The ivy will find your lattice for sure, and then your flower beds and then your house. You will absolutely get the coverage you want. I am still trying to rid the backyard of a rental house of ivy, have been working on it for 3 years.
chris
Ha ha ha ....and then when you try to rip it off -it will tear everything to bits!......in Ozz they also harbour mites that give some people severe rashes.......like my grandson.Upon trying to remove the Offending triffids half of the grouting and most of the paint was ripped out with it.....finally after the removal! no more rash.Consider carefully.
Best way to remove English Ivy is to cut the roots, dont worry about it till it all turns brown and dead, then most of the little suckers that help it to cling will peel off, it is the roots that are the worst to remove as if you leave any, it just resprouts all over again,
jlfxa, if you really want to plant ALL that ivy, you will need to keep cutting off all the shoots that grow forwards and touch the soil or it will reroot itself all over the border and leave you no soil to plant in front of it, hear in UK it is grown as ground cover as well as climbing as it takes over at a fast rate and gets so out of control that a lot of parks etc us the mower to keep it in bounderies, just be carefull your neighbours dont get all the off shoots it throws out as they might not be so happy about it, looking at your trellis, it will only take about 4 years to be covered half way up. you seem to be planting an awfull lot of Ivy bearing in mind it also spreads out the way as well as up. good luck. WeeNel.
It took a year for the ivy to cover our fence and it's not our ivy. >:> The neighbors have a trellis as well. It's about a third the length of our fence. Their ivy spread over the entire fence and into at least three neighboring yards. It makes quite a carpet. We realized we had to chop it back on our side so that our kids didn't encounter any dangerous animals that might choose to hide in it. It took quite a bit of time this year for us to cut down the plant and trim it so that it looked pretty.
