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Ivy gone 'rogue'

KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
in Problem solving
I need some advice from those who have successfully used SBK or similar products to kill off ivy.  Did you just mix in accordance with the instructions on the label or did you have to do preparation to the ivy first.  I can't get to many of the stems at low level to cut them.
Before people come on saying not to do to it, it has to go and I don't feel I should need to explain my reasons other to say they are valid reasons.  I don't intend to remove the ivy until it is obviously dead so it won't affect nesting birds.

Posts

  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    I had an area about 30ft x 30ft severely overgrown with ivy and all sorts of nettles, brambles etc etc.
    The ivy came from an elderly lady who lives behind me and the ivy on my side of the fence was about 18" thick. The fence (hers) was falling apart.
    I used a strong form of glyphosate - Glyphosate (sometimes called Rosate) 360.
    The usual type (Roundup etc) isn't strong enough for ivy.
    Most of the vegetation was dead after one spray.
    The ivy needed 3 sprays over about 8 weeks, but that killed it all completely.
    I carefully removed it from the fence without causing further damage, and a few weeks later a new fence appeared :)
    5 years on still no sign of any regrowth.

    If you choose that route, beware the spray will kill any plants it lands on, so I use a small droplet spray and use on a still cloudy day.

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    I cut a vigorous ivy down near ground level (leaving just enough of a "handle" with which to pull it out later.  All the ivy died, including the handle.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    I found SBK was effective when applied to the cut ends of thick ivy trunks. I had to keep any eye open for fresh growth for a year or so but SBK dealt with that too. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I would just cut it hard at the base. The whole lot will just come away in a few months.
    It's too cold for chemicals at the moment. Weather needs to be warmer sap needs to be rising rapidly for them to work. The problem is when you get to that point nesting birds can be a problem.
    A building developer near my old home 'netted 'a whole hedge to stop birds nesting, more birds were trapped in the net and suffered as a result. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    Last autumn I cut the main stem of a mature ivy which had infiltrated the mortar on a wall as low as I could reach and very carefully poured a couple of teaspoons full of neat SBK on to cut surface. Today I was able to prise the stump out using a small mattock. It looked very dead but ivy has a very unfortunate habit of resurrecting itself so I'll keep a close eye on it.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    The main problem is that I can't get to the base of the growth.  I will be able to cut back a lot of the stems, not to ground level, and then spray with high strength glyphosate.  I'm pretty sure I've a bottle of SBK in the shed somewhere so should be able to get the dosage from that.  I need to treat about 30 feet of the stuff.  Hopefully some or all of the suggestions will work eventually. 
    Thanks everybody.
    @gardenersuze I am aware of disturbing wildlife so will cut and spray the stems I can access without disturbing the main growth.  I'll have another go at anything that escapes later in the year.
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    @KT53 I found spraying ivy foliage with high strength glyphosate didn't work for me  but soaking the bigger cut main stems in it did. I believe I've read somewhere that ivy foliage being evergreen and shiny has an impervious surface to weedkillers?
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    You have to crush ivy foliage if you want to get weedkiller into it.
    The easiest way, and I've done it several times, is to cut back to the thick roots, and then apply any weedkiller you have, although the SBK stuff is certainly good. Always difficult if you can't easily get in though, and in that instance, you may have to do a bit of detective work, and even pull stems out and do the 'containing in a plastic bag' method to prevent anything getting on plants that are to be kept. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • KT53KT53 Posts: 9,016
    @Fairygirl fortunately there is nothing alongside the ivy which I want to keep.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    The biggest problem will be removing the roots if you want to put something else in there, unless you can make the area a raised one. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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