trees overcome with ivy

corkery

Looking for a bit of advice here. I am in the process of clearing the back ditch in the garden. There are a few treees on them alder and oak trees mainly but their trunks are completly covered with ivy and it it climbing all along the branches of the trees now. Ivy has been there for many the ear now and it is quite strong.

I was wondering what is the best way ofremoving it. The lazy approach would be to get the chain saw and cut it at the base of the trees all around the tree trunk.

Is this my best bet or would I damage the trees cutting into the trunk slightly.

padi89

Personally I wouldn't cut into the tree, either leave the ivy it's not a parasite it doesn't take anything from the tree just uses it to climb. If you do decide to cut the ivy you will be waiting years for it to fall off the tree that's if it even does. It will grow back from the roots anyway unless you kill them.

sterling10

Hi,

I have recently started killing the ivy off tress around my new house, but use a small fold away saw to cut the ivy at the base then about a metre up. Its kinda fun seeing the tension come off the tree once you cut the ivy. So saying its not doing the tree any harm isn't exactly true.
I cut mine last October and am surprised to see the ivy still holding onto its green colour, bar it slightly going yellow. I dont know how to proceed after this, as in i dont think im going to climb up all the trees and pull off the ivy, but at least it will stop the ivy taking the light and hopefully improve the trees as a result

Oldtree

Cut the ivy with an axe or a hand saw at about a meter from the base of the tree. Do not use a chainsaw as you will damage the bark of the tree and the cambium of the tree (the living part of the tree just under the bark) (you could ringbark the tree and kill it like some of the lazy tools round here)

it easy then to pull the ivy back off tree. Leave the ivy in the crown to die and drop off (provided ther is no hazard or traffic under the tree). It will regrow from the roots but is an easy job to do once a every few years after the initial cutting.

Poisioning off the ivy is difficult, if you want to try use a cane to whack the ivy to break open some of the leaves and then use a systemic weedkiller at 3 times the normal dose (with some vegetable oil in the mix to aid stickyness) with a few non rainy days and see how that goes.

sterling10

Any animals eat ivy on the ground? Horse?

Oldtree

have noticed round here that the cattle love the ivy on the trees as high as they can reach and on the walls too, understand from a farmer that there is some extra vitimins to be had there

it would be best to keep animals away from the immediate area if you have them until the glyphosate has broken down (roundup claims to have broken down in 30 days, by then the leaves should be dried out and uninteresting to animals.

TooManyDogs

We had the same problem, ivy swamping the hawthorn trees in our garden so we cut the stems of it and the following summer would pull down the dead branches of ivy. Then we got soay sheep to eat the grass and they love ivy and there isn't a screed of it left now. I much prefer the trees without the ivy and they seem to flower more without it too

planetX

Please bear in mind that ivy is invaluable to small birds, for shelter and nesting. It doesn't harm the tree, unless it becomes so heavy that it falls. If you really must cut it, the best time to do so would be late summer.

josip

planetX wrote: »

Please bear in mind that ivy is invaluable to small birds, for shelter and nesting. It doesn't harm the tree, unless it becomes so heavy that it falls. If you really must cut it, the best time to do so would be late summer.

I was always of the opinion that ivy will eventually kill off a tree by depriving it of light, reducing the number of leaves year on year, and eventually reach a tipping point where the tree can't produce enough food and dies off. There are a lot of leafless dead trees in my area covered top to toe in ivy. And when the ivy first started growing, the tree appeared perfectly healthy. I'm sure this is a good way to ensure cylces of growth in natural woodland, but in hedgerows and our controlled environment, I'm all in favour of cutting a gap at the base with a small hatchet. After a few trees you'll get the hang of how hard to swing and you'll hardly touch the bark.