Battling English Ivy: Protect Your Home and Yard

I live about 5 minutes down the street from the Maryland Greenstreet Gardens retail store over here in southern Anne Arundel County and there is one problem that every homeowner in the area has. The English ivy in this area is out of control. Every yard has it and most of the trees follow suit. I know mine certainly does. My neighbor has a beautiful weeping willow that has been almost entirely suffocated, and I have an oak in my front yard that is also about dead. I also have a chimney that is entirely covered, and I am currently working to remove it. The English ivy climbs everything and is very destructive to native plant life. When it climbs trees, it will eventually kill the tree, and the increased weight also increases the risk of wind blowing the tree over during storms or periods of strong gusts. It also smothers growth and displaces several different species of native plants species. Flowers unfortunately cannot grow through a covering of ivy and that has an impact on the local pollinator population. If left unchecked, English ivy can eventually kill entire areas of forest and leave only a dense blanket of ivy. Luckily, the situation is not entirely hopeless.

It is difficult and sometimes takes a while to make progress but there are ways to mitigate the growth and even completely remove the ivy from problem areas. When it comes to removing most ivy, the best method is to just pull it up. The vines tend to be strong enough that you can yank them up off the ground. This just helps clear out areas and prevents the vines from spreading further. When it comes to trees and areas you can’t reach, the best way to go about removing the ivy is to cut the base of the plant. If you cut all the English ivy around the base of the tree about 3 ft up from the ground, the rest of the ivy that is climbing the tree will eventually die. It sometimes takes a while (months even), but it will eventually turn from green to brown and be easily pulled off. 

Trees aren’t the only things that English ivy likes to damage. It also climbs houses just as readily as any tree and this can cause all sorts of problems for a home. First, the vines can damage siding and even make their way into cracks and cause structural damage to your home. It can even make its way into the foundation of your home and make small cracks into much bigger problems. I don’t need to tell you that a crack in the foundation of your home is a major problem. Another issue that a lot of people don’t even realize is that ivy will trap moisture against your home and cause major mold problems as well as physically damaging the home. Dealing with English ivy on your house is just about the same as dealing with ivy on trees. If you cut the base of the vine, it will eventually die and be able to be removed much easier. One thing to keep in mind though is you need to be more careful when removing ivy from your home than from a tree or your yard. If you pull too hard when removing it, there can be damage caused to the siding of your house. The vines attach so tightly to surfaces that they can crack and even pull pieces of siding or window screens off when it is being removed.

The most important part to dealing with an English ivy infestation is understanding this will be a long-term battle that will not be won overnight. If you remove all the ivy and leave it, new vines will soon grow and begin to spread again. However, once most of the vines have been removed it is much easier to manage the new growth when it comes. The good news about this is that if you keep cutting the new growth back, the roots will eventually die off and that should be the end of your problems. Well, the end of your problems until your neighbors unchecked growth starts to spread into your yard again but that’s another story for another day. Just make sure you stay vigilant and don’t let up and your yard will be mostly ivy free before you know it. Trust me, your home and trees will thank you. If you have questions about English ivy, gardening, or for more information, stop into one of our stores or give us a call! Happy gardening folks!