# 2019 English Ivy Planning



## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Hoping to stay busy this winter planning what should be a pretty intense project of removing as much of this English Ivy as possible, also possibly some of the small trees and brush to clear enough sunlight to allow for a some shade tolerant grass to grow....or just mulch it and plant hostas and other shade friendly perennials.

My plan is to go over it with a mower once I have cleared it out of any obstructions, expose the root system and start cutting and pulling up. Would you spray anything? Before, after? Both?

I think I'm going to start with just the far corner, since we moved here in the fall I saw those 2 trees and wanted a hammock there.

Thoughts, advice? If you've done anything like this I'd love to hear some recommendations. Going to be picking up a new set of pruners and loppers anyway so this will be perfect timing to get my money's worth.


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## 440mag (Jan 29, 2018)

Beautiful yard!

Ironic as, this thread title caught my eye as I have some pretty massive square footage areas in which I NEED to establish English ivy, or vinca minor, lol ...

As John Denver said, "*Life ain't nuthin but a funny, funny riddle!*"

Were it me , I'd go straight to glysophate; any reason you don't want to go straight to "knock it out, not just back"?


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

440mag said:


> Beautiful yard!
> 
> Ironic as, this thread title caught my eye as I have some pretty massive square footage areas in which I NEED to establish English ivy, or vinca minor, lol ...
> 
> ...


Oh I'm totally open to any kind of reduction. Knocking it back may be my start, just need to design where the line will be. the far corner has 2 trees where i want the hammock. I think I will start in that corner...and behind the swing set. We have a little one now and there is poison ivy coming through all that mess


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

Due to poison ivy, I would just spray it all instead of trying to pull it out. If you pull it, the oil sprays you everywhere and it's just a big mess. I spray a mix of glyphosate, 2,4-D, and triclopyr. It will take multiple sprays as ivy is some tough stuff so if you are in a rush, pulling it would be better.


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> Due to poison ivy, I would just spray it all instead of trying to pull it out. If you pull it, the oil sprays you everywhere and it's just a big mess. I spray a mix of glyphosate, 2,4-D, and triclopyr. It will take multiple sprays as ivy is some tough stuff so if you are in a rush, pulling it would be better.


I don't want to kill myself so I'm just going to do it throughout next year in small pieces. I'm not super familiar though - if I want to keep some of the Ivy (also a good amount of it goes into my neighbor's yard) - if I spray it - will it travel through the vines and kill off other areas? I don't want an angry neighbor or a bunch of brown stuff in areas I'm not quite ready to pull...


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

MichiganGreen said:


> Suburban Jungle Life said:
> 
> 
> > Due to poison ivy, I would just spray it all instead of trying to pull it out. If you pull it, the oil sprays you everywhere and it's just a big mess. I spray a mix of glyphosate, 2,4-D, and triclopyr. It will take multiple sprays as ivy is some tough stuff so if you are in a rush, pulling it would be better.
> ...


Yeah... That might happen. Ivy is beautiful until you don't want it...


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> MichiganGreen said:
> 
> 
> > Suburban Jungle Life said:
> ...


I think I'm going to take out enough to put my hammock in, and just embrace the rest - like you said, it really is nice - was 2x as nice in the winter before the weeds started to grow through it - hoping the weeds die back enough so I can maintain it next year to stay as just Ivy.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

@MichiganGreen You can spot spray glyphosate on the weeds. The ivy won't like it but the ivy comes right back. Put down a pre-m to stop new weeds as long as you have good ivy coverage.


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> @MichiganGreen You can spot spray glyphosate on the weeds. The ivy won't like it but the ivy comes right back. Put down a pre-m to stop new weeds as long as you have good ivy coverage.


I hadn't thought about spot spraying them, duh! It's got to be glypho though huh? Because any weed that makes it through there is going to be at least 8-10 inches for obvious reasons. Something selective won't work?

Are there some pre-m's that are better than the lawn for things like ground cover? The only thing I know of is Preen for garden beds and that's so expensive to get adequate coverage. I was planning to lay Prodiamine in the lawn, should I just expand it into the beds...?


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

MichiganGreen said:


> I hadn't thought about spot spraying them, duh! It's got to be glypho though huh? Because any weed that makes it through there is going to be at least 8-10 inches for obvious reasons. Something selective won't work?
> 
> Are there some pre-m's that are better than the lawn for things like ground cover? The only thing I know of is Preen for garden beds and that's so expensive to get adequate coverage. I was planning to lay Prodiamine in the lawn, should I just expand it into the beds...?


I'm not sure of a selective herbicide which doesn't harm ivy but does for other plants. Most of this research has been done on grass and crops since those are desirable without weeds. Not sure what to tell you on that one. You can use vinegar or other products if you don't want to use glyphosate.

As for the pre-m, you could just purchase a liquid concentrate of the ai in preen and spray that for a lot less $$.


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> MichiganGreen said:
> 
> 
> > I hadn't thought about spot spraying them, duh! It's got to be glypho though huh? Because any weed that makes it through there is going to be at least 8-10 inches for obvious reasons. Something selective won't work?
> ...


I love this - I love the idea behind Preen, but to your point it's just expensive and covers such a small area. So it looks like I can just spray this throughout all my flower beds - do you have experience with it? any worries if it gets on the grass and interacts with the Prodiamine?


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

Ivy is a bi*ch.

I purchased a house where English ivy had grown over the HVAC systems, into the roof, and over 1/3rd of the front yard. 
I spent time pulling, digging, and spraying. I used glyphosate, with no success. Crossbow worked okay, but didn't really do any heavy lifting.

If you want to get rid of it, kill it now. Expect to do lots of manual removal.


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Movingshrub said:


> Ivy is a bi*ch.
> 
> I purchased a house where English ivy had grown over the HVAC systems, into the roof, and over 1/3rd of the front yard.
> I spent time pulling, digging, and spraying. I used glyphosate, with no success. Crossbow worked okay, but didn't really do any heavy lifting.
> ...


Are you saying now because it's just before winter for me, or are you saying now just because of how invasive it gets? I control it regularly with a weed whip - it's in the corner of the yard so whatever it does behind me, and into my next door neighbor I couldn't care less - just keeping it separate from my lawn until I figure out how much I want to remove next year- just a corner though I'm thinking. Enough to have my little hammock area with mulch/pavers


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

MichiganGreen said:


> Are you saying now because it's just before winter for me, or are you saying now just because of how invasive it gets? I control it regularly with a weed whip - it's in the corner of the yard so whatever it does behind me, and into my next door neighbor I couldn't care less - just keeping it separate from my lawn until I figure out how much I want to remove next year- just a corner though I'm thinking. Enough to have my little hammock area with mulch/pavers


Because of how invasive it is.

I bought the house in April 2015. I am STILL finding English ivy holding on in random spots; some in the middle of my yard where it used to be ivy and some along fence lines where it's hard to pull. I've tried both manual and chemical removal, this stuff does not give up easily.


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Movingshrub said:


> MichiganGreen said:
> 
> 
> > Are you saying now because it's just before winter for me, or are you saying now just because of how invasive it gets? I control it regularly with a weed whip - it's in the corner of the yard so whatever it does behind me, and into my next door neighbor I couldn't care less - just keeping it separate from my lawn until I figure out how much I want to remove next year- just a corner though I'm thinking. Enough to have my little hammock area with mulch/pavers
> ...


It's crazy I honestly believe some of this can even grow a great distance underground - I see it pop up in the most random parts of the yard as well in very small sprigs - sometimes over 100 feet away from where it is all growing.


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## quattljl (Aug 8, 2018)

I had (and still have) a bunch of ivy in my yard. I usually go through and pick up any big sticks/debris first since the ivy can hide a lot of things under it. Then I'll run it over with my riding mower with bagger attached. After that, it's a matter of pulling all the runners out of the ground. I'm slowly but surely taking back my yard.

I've tried chems to get rid of it but damn that stuff is hard to kill. It can get expensive too and progress tends to be slow. I can get more done in a couple hours doing what I mentioned above than spraying 2 or 3 times with triclopyr/glypho and waiting days/weeks for it to do its thing.


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## Suburban Jungle Life (Mar 1, 2018)

I spray a mix of crossbow, gly, NIS, AMS. I started with a few blanket sprays a few weeks apart, then down to spot spraying. I've been doing it for 1 year now. There is very little left. Definitely not the fast way but it's under pine trees and I want to keep it brown with the pine straw look. The large mat of runners will take years to break down but I'm not trying to plant anything anyway. This definitely isn't the best method if you want to re-purpose it quickly...


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## MichiganGreen (Aug 7, 2018)

Suburban Jungle Life said:


> I spray a mix of crossbow, gly, NIS, AMS. I started with a few blanket sprays a few weeks apart, then down to spot spraying. I've been doing it for 1 year now. There is very little left. Definitely not the fast way but it's under pine trees and I want to keep it brown with the pine straw look. The large mat of runners will take years to break down but I'm not trying to plant anything anyway. This definitely isn't the best method if you want to re-purpose it quickly...


Thanks all. If anything it will just be a mulch bed with pavers around the hammock.


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