Does Pruned Ivy Grow Back?
An invasive plant, ivy requires little maintenance and spreads quickly. This becomes a problem when ivy begins to take over your garden, suffocating the other plants. In addition, ivy damages and discolors wood, siding and other surfaces that it grows on. Pruning the ivy is only a temporary fix because pruned ivy will grow back. Does this Spark an idea?
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Pruning Ivy
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Prune the ivy in early spring before new growth appears. Before beginning the pruning process, remove all the dead ivy vines with a pair of sharp shears and place inside a garbage bag. After you have removed the dead or diseased vines, prune the ivy using sharp shears. Keep the cuts as close to the area where the vine branch meets another vine branch, and make the cut at a 45-degree angle. Continue removing the trails closet to the main vine until you have achieved the desired thickness.
Removing Ivy
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Ivy is notoriously hard to get rid of and physically removing is the most aggressive way of ridding the area of the ivy without harming surrounding vegetation. While wearing work gloves, grasp the vines as close to the ground as possible and pull them out of the ground. Place the vines in a compost pile or garbage bag. Discarding the vines on the ground will increase the probability of new vines growing. Once you have removed the ivy vines, use a shovel to remove the top several inches of dirt around a 3-foot radius. This will remove lingering roots and runners the ivy uses to spread.
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Natural Ivy Remover
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Using vinegar will kill the ivy without leaving toxic residue in the ground. However, vinegar will kill any plants or grass it comes in contact with. Fill a spray bottle with a 50/50 ratio of pickling vinegar and water. Pickling vinegar contains a higher acidic rate then other vinegars. However, white vinegar is a good substitute if picking vinegar is not available. Apply a few drops of liquid dish soap -- any kind will work -- to the mixture. After gently mixing the bottle for several seconds, coat all areas of the ivy with a mixture. Repeat the treatment once a day until the ivy dies.
Considerations
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Running over ivy plants with a lawnmower is a quick way to cut the ivy down. However, the plants will continue to grow in that location even after mowing over them. When applying herbicides or natural ivy killer, wait for a warm day when there is not rain and apply when the sun is at its hottest. To increase the success rate, use several removal methods in conjunction with each other.
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References
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