My father has some lovely trees in his yard: oaks, maples, etc. A good amount of them had (and still have) ivy aggressively growing quite high up their trunks.

Two years ago, I cut every single runner at ground level, and again at around chest high. The ivy did not blink. It looks just as lush and vibrant now as before I cut it. Is there something obvious that I have missed?

I pulled the ones I could, but the vast majority hung on like their lives depended on it. These trees are on an aggressive slope that ends at a busy road, so I'm not eager to set up a ladder.

I think they put their "tentacles" into the trunk and get their life that way. Other than pulling them all out, I don't think you'll kill them.

Well, that is disappointing, but would explain quite a bit.

Thank you!

Yes, I have this too on a tulip tree in my backyard. The ivy's roots are getting moisture and nourishment from the tree itself by penetrating under the bark to the cambrium. Pulling the vines off the trunk risks injuring the tree from sunburn on the previously-shaded bark. Over time, the ivy should outgrow its ability to gain nourishment this way, and die off. If you decide tat you want to take the risk of sunburn, winter would be the right time to pull down the vines.

Unfortunately, attacking the ivy with a herbicide will probably be detrimental to the tree as it will be pushed through to the tree from the ivy's roots. Wrapping a sun blocking fabris arounf the ivy-coated trunk should work. I have had some luck with cutting the vertical runners about every four feet or so up the trunk. Usually, just cutting the runners at the base and waiting a full season is enough.

It is when the ivy matures and starts growing horizontal branches off the vertical runners that things really start to get ugly. You want to take aggressive countermeasures before this begins.

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Originally posted by architect:
Usually, just cutting the runners at the base and waiting a full season is enough

This was my assumption going in. The ivy seems bound and determined to prove me wrong.

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Wrapping a sun blocking fabris arounf the ivy-coated trunk should work. I have had some luck with cutting the vertical runners about every four feet or so up the trunk.

I'll give that a go when the weather isn't so abysmal. Thank you very much.

Kill it with fire.

I killed poison ivy climbing the pine trees in my yard when I lived in Massachusetts by cutting the stems with an axe and painting both the upper and lower faces of the cuts with undiluted roundup using a paintbrush. Killed the hell out of it, and the ivy, which went over 30 feet up the trunk, fell off over the course of the next year.

I have 8 fir trees in and just outside my yard.
4 of them had ivy way up the trunk. On each I cut all the ivy back at the base and shaved/picked as much ivy up as high as I can reach on each tree. The ivy dried out from there up. And I have had to trim away new ivy growth at the base each year. I have yet to find a way to remove the brown dead ivy higher up

I had a 25 foot by 7 foot patch of ivy on the side of my house when we first moved in and it took me 2 years to fully eradicate that stuff to plant grass. First by hand pulling then I ended up digging it all out. It’s tough stuff that goes deep and doesn’t want to give up easily.

I find that if mowable or weed eatable and you keep at it, most invaders will give up.

quote:

Two years ago, I cut every single runner at ground level, and again at around chest high. The ivy did not blink. It looks just as lush and vibrant now as before I cut it. Is there something obvious that I have missed?

I pulled the ones I could, but the vast majority hung on like their lives depended on it. These trees are on an aggressive slope that ends at a busy road, so I'm not eager to set up a ladder.

If I understand you correctly, you did it just once 2 years ago? And now, they're alive and "vibrant" again? If so, I'm not at all surprised.

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Originally posted by ArtieS:
I killed poison ivy climbing the pine trees in my yard when I lived in Massachusetts by cutting the stems with an axe and painting both the upper and lower faces of the cuts with undiluted roundup using a paintbrush. Killed the hell out of it, and the ivy, which went over 30 feet up the trunk, fell off over the course of the next year.

I didn't really consider this since I thought glyphosate affected the roots, which are currently unattached. I'll give this some thought as it might be the low impact (to me) solution.

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Originally posted by 12131:
If I understand you correctly, you did it just once 2 years ago? And now, they're alive and "vibrant" again? If so, I'm not at all surprised.

You understand correctly. I was surprised because I thought that the plant missing three feet of its trunk between the ground and its leafy bits might actually give it pause.

Obviously I was in error.

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Originally posted by Fenris:
Kill it with fire.

No offense, but I might give this one a miss.


Thank you all very much. My father isn't decrepit, but serious yard work is firmly in his rearview mirror. I'd like to take this one off his plate so that he doesn't have to throw money at the problem.