Kill English Ivy

[RalphVa]

Some English Ivy came in on the east side of the pool cyclone fence and marched all the way around the fence and around 3 sides of my little veggie garden on the west side. I liked it at first, because it stopped me from needing to weed around the base of the fence.

However, it has started to climb up into my diesel generator that sits in the upper (more shady) part of the little garden. Enough.

I'm a master gardener and have therefore researched how to get rid of it. Seems the only chemicals are some very exotic ones that I wonder about re whether they've been properly tested as to what happens to them if they get into the environment. For instance, glyphosate (which does not work sprayed onto the leaves) excess gets tied up in clay soil, and it eventually biodegrades. Well, they'll all eventually biodegrade, but I have no idea what happens in the meantime if excess gets away, etc.

The leading contender among the chemical herbicides seems to be Garlon. Active ingredient in it is triclopr. Lowes had some Bio Advantage "Brush Killer" whose active ingredient is triclopr. Bought some of it. Sprayed some on the ivy. Absolutely no effect after nearly a week, and I sprayed with a hot, dry spell after. Seems to have had no effect.

So, I'm wondering what any of you have used successfully. I found a recipe for some vinegar using a tiny bit of salt and dish soap online that they claim will kill it. May try it. Another place or two online, they tell about killing it when growing up trees by cutting big stems of it, wrapping with duct tape and pouring salt into cavity made by duct tape wrap.

None of this stuff, mainly at the base of the cyclone fence around the pool, has a big stem to cut. It's all just little stuff with roots growing into the ground any place it touches, mainly lots of leaves.

I suspect that glyphosate will work, if I ran a grass whip over the leaves to damage them, before spraying. Unless I get some good experience from you guys, I think I'll try the vinegar with salt and soap first though. I'm out of glyphosate (active ingredient in Roundup). That's how I ended up with the triclopr stuff. Lowes was out of glyphosate and Roundup solutions.

Ralph

 

[newbury]

I've used gyphosate, works best when there are new leaves showing.

 

[Tompet]

I just went through this last month on a 10' x 20' island patch in the yard. It was old patch with some big roots. I took the backhoe and lightly pulled up what I could and carefully took it to burn pile. Then sprayed RM33 total vegetation killer. Seemed to work.

Besides being only and last ivy patch on my property some bindweed also was in this area, thus the total kill effort.

I think your idea of lightly weed whipping then spraying roundup will work. You probably will have to repeat application.

 

[bcp]

Roundup has a version for that. (I haven't used it)

How to Get Rid of English Ivy - Weeding Wisely

Bruce

 

[/pine]

I've found the best way to get rid of it is to just bite the bullet and remove it manually...it pulls up rather easily and except for the few places where the roots break in stead of pulling up...a follow up pulling is required when it sprouts back...

 

[Streetcar]

Ivy has a waxy leave. I hit it with a rake before spraying roundup

 

[stuckmotor]

Please let us know how the vinegar, salt, soap solution works. I planted some around thirty years ago. Now it's climbing trees and trying to come in the house. Not a sprig is growing where I'd hoped it would thrive.

 

[wngsprd]

I've had good success with generic gly diluted to a 2% solution on English Ivy...the label calls for a stronger mix (3 or 4%) for some plants, but I don't remember if ivy is one of them. Agri-Supply or Tractor Supply should have some.

 

[Ford850]

A couple things to keep in mind... You want to apply the herbicides when the plant is growing vigorously so it absorbs the chemical quickly. Hot and dry weather means poor results most of the time in my area because the plants are semi-dormant or resting. The other thing is to use a good surfactant especially on ivy that has waxy leaves. I've had good luck with both glyphosate and with generic crossbow (crossroads from RK), when surfactant is added to the mix.

 

[turnkey4099]

A couple things to keep in mind... You want to apply the herbicides when the plant is growing vigorously so it absorbs the chemical quickly. Hot and dry weather means poor results most of the time in my area because the plants are semi-dormant or resting. The other thing is to use a good surfactant especially on ivy that has waxy leaves. I've had good luck with both glyphosate and with generic crossbow (crossroads from RK), when surfactant is added to the mix.

I planted ivy against a RR tie retaining wall, covered it nicely and continued to spread. In spryaing 24D for morning glory one spring I oversprayed a patch of ivy. It died. Not sure what type ivy I planted though.