# New Homeowner Needs Help with Neglected Yard



## SeanCS (Aug 29, 2018)

My wife and I are new homeowners, and my experience with upkeep on a lawn is very minimal (mowing my parents yard growing up). The prior owners did not care too much about the lawn (pictures to follow). My biggest concerns are three clusters of oak trees that are overgrown with ivy. The ivy has overgrown on the ground in the cluster of trees. I have recently mowed over as much as I can on two of the clusters. I left the third for pictures.

In short, I need help in determining how to get rid of the ivy and keep the growth of misc. plant life under the trees controlled.

The images included show multiple pictures of the remaining cluster that hasn't been mowed over and one picture of each of the two clusters that have been mowed.


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Cut the Ivy that grows up the tree so the vines won't get any nutrients. 2 cuts is good to do this to make sure there is a gap between the upper and lower vines so you make sure you get everything. After that just let the uppers die and decompose a fair bit before trying to pull them down. everything on the ground can be killed with round-up. Mulch around that area will keep some weeds down. black plastic will keep everything down if you don't want to grow anything else in that area. Preen can be used as a pre-emergent. I've seen some people use prodiamine too in their beds.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

If you ended up mowing a root for the tree, then glyphosate can get into the tree and maybe kill it. Perhaps inspect carefully where you mowed and wear gloves in case there is poison ivy in there. I wouldn't mow the ivy anymore since it can't absorb herbicide if there are no leaves. Either way, definitely cut all the ivy around the trunk so the trees aren't suffocating under all that ivy. From your pics, it looks like mostly virginia creeper and english ivy.


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## N LA Hacker (Aug 17, 2018)

Put asphalt shingles around the base of the trees if you want absolutely nothing growing around them. They will suffocate everything. The trees will still get nutrients from the root out to the drip line.


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## SeanCS (Aug 29, 2018)

Thanks for the replies. It didn't even occur to me to cut the vines to kill the ivy. I like the idea of shingles as well to line the ground. I've thought of the plastic as well, but usually when I see yards with the plastic, the plastic tends to get worn out pretty quickly.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

SeanCS said:


> Thanks for the replies. It didn't even occur to me to cut the vines to kill the ivy. I like the idea of shingles as well to line the ground. I've thought of the plastic as well, but usually when I see yards with the plastic, the plastic tends to get worn out pretty quickly.


Use caution with some of those vines, as I spotted Poison Oak! If you do get to cutting, be careful, and wear your PPE! This video will help you out immensely on how to make sure you don't get any rash from Poison Oak/Sumac/Ivy.


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