# Best way to eliminate climbing ivy?



## jkrodger (Jul 10, 2007)

We have climbing ivy making it's way up the side of our new brick bungalow! We know to tear it off and we'll have to tuck point now where it was. The ivy has actually made it's way in between the panes of glass in one of the basement windows too. We plan on tearing everything up and putting down chemicals in the soil to try and prevent it from growing back up, any recommendations on what chemicals to use? And anything else to prevent it from coming back?

We're also considering putting in a barrier for a couple inches between the house and any plants in the yard, using the gardening plastic and rocks or pavers.


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## slakker (May 29, 2007)

Roundup (glyphosate) is the chemical herbicide I would use. If you're worried about toxicity, then maybe horticulture vinegar. I've never used it but it's apparently a 20% mixture of acetic vinegar vs. the 5% stuff for home consumption.

What you can do is cut all the stems coming up from the roots at about a 2 feet level leaving some ivy leafs alive. Anything above will die. Spray the Roundup onto the live leafs as that's how it works. It should kill everything within 72 hours and you can remove the dead material. Watch for new shoots coming up and just re-apply the roundup every few weeks, this should permanently remove all your ivy.


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## jkrodger (Jul 10, 2007)

thanks, we'll be sure to do that on the first day we're in the house!


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## ciera (Jun 24, 2007)

*Just keep up on it*

We had climbing ivy all thorough the backyard and on our sideyard. I just ripped it up and regularly keep an eye on it.

In the backyard, it covered a 10x20 foot space, plus went up the garage. The roots were mostly shallow, so I just pulled up as much as I could. I've only pulled up a couple new shoots in the last 2 months. When I do see a new shoot, I rip up as much of the roots as I can get. This area was a lot of initial work (about a day of me yanking everything in sight), but very little work since.

The side space was next to the driveway, about a 2 foot by 100 foot area. That was harder, since there are other plants growing there, including a hedge. I couldn't get as many roots out and tear up the ground. However, I just walk along the area once a week, and I yank up any new ivy. The first few weeks, there were quite a few, but there's been a noticeable decline. Right now, I find about 2 new shoots a week. They've been coming from root systems that I missed earlier, so I usually end up pulling 2 leaves and 1 foot of root.

Not much work at all, and no need for pesticides in either case. If the ivy is only growing along a narrow strip next to the house, you can probably just do walk throughs to get any laggers. If you don't have any other plants in the area though, just start pulling.


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## jkrodger (Jul 10, 2007)

haha, then we get to just start pulling! There's NOTHING but weeds, ivy, dog poop, one huge hedge, and a tree in this yard. Our mission is first to get all that ivy gone and attack the ugly hedge. Then we think we'll try using some turf builder to save some of the grass for next spring. I'll worry about flowers and a real garden in the spring, after we've gotten rid of all the grossness.

Thanks for the advice!


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