6 ms·

I once owned a 1.5 acre property that had approximately 1.4 acres of English ivy on it. It was horrible; the ivy is, by all practical means, impossible to kill

I once owned a 1.5 acre property that had approximately 1.4 acres of English ivy on it. It was horrible; the ivy is, by all practical means, impossible to kill. An area covered with a tarp for two months looks exactly like an uncovered area. The only way to get rid of it was to pull the roots out of the ground, mostly by hand. And it grows new roots every meter or so. If you want to get rich, invent a way to kill ivy that does not also kill people.

tomrod 4y ago
Goats don't take it out?
- ceejayoz 4y ago
  Apparently that works well. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/towson-university-brings-in-goats-to-tackle-ivy-problem/2014/11/24/4ece2132-7426-11e4-a5b2-e1217af6b33d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/towson-univer...
- blamazon 4y ago
  Goats work. Where I am in Georgia (US) there's a local service where they bring temporary fencing and some goats and plop them in your property to chow down. Once you decide they're done, they pull them out. The operators have expert knowledge of local ordinances and permits and whatnot. They make good money and the goats have other economic uses. The only thing is you can't really tell the goats what to eat and not eat... so you may have to get creative with the fencing, which costs more. Fun fact about goats: you know that 'goaty' taste of goat cheese and goat milk? That's from coagulated proteins - if the producer is gentle with handling the milk, avoiding agitation, and you consume it right away, you can make cheese and milk without that noticeable taste. This is really meaningful for small scale goatery because you can avoid the use of big heavy expensive dairy cows. Industrial manufacturers are also figuring out ways to stop the coagulation while being able to agitate the fluid. (Convenient if you want to pipe it anywhere)
  - blamazon 4y ago
    If you want to devote your life to goat business, come to Georgia! We have a top tier agricultural university, an affordable cost of living, and a strong local economy.
    - tomrod 4y ago
      LOL -- actually considering this!
e40 4y ago
There are chemicals you can use, but you have to soak them into the roots. And the warnings on the bottles are scary as hell.
mc32 4y ago
I think Japanese Knotweed is a tad worse to eradicate. The roots go deep: https://www.environetuk.com/japanese-knotweed/removal https://www.environetuk.com/japanese-knotweed/removal
- Mistletoe 4y ago
  I spray an extract from this plant on my plants, it’s a great antifungal. The product is called Regalia. This plant seems armed with everything it needs.
depereo 4y ago
Would running some pigs in the area for a while help? They'd root it all up.
- Gordonjcp 4y ago
  Pigs are the only thing I've seen that can hurt Japanese Knotweed.
EdwardDiego 4y ago
Not to mention that handling it can lead to contact dermatitis.
swagasaurus-rex 4y ago
Perhaps a use for those Boston Dynamics style dog-robots.
aaron695 4y ago
gerdesj 4y ago
I'm not sure you are describing ivy which generally tries to parasitize other plants/trees and is quite slow growing. It will also climb up walls and spread. I've never seen acres of the stuff. It is not a ground spreader type plant, ie it won't run across your lawn or field. It will run along fences and hedges but it does not run into open ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix is classified as a weed in the US and elsewhere quite rightly because it is non-native. It is not a fast spreader at all. You can peel it off walls and pull roots relatively easily. You can simply cut it in several places and it will die off. You can also paint or spray the leaves with something nasty from Monsanto if killing everything is your bag but it isn't mine.
- tsomctl 4y ago
  English ivy is a ground spreader, at least where I live. It won't grow on the ground if it gets a lot of sun, but ground shaded by trees will turn into a thick mat that is impossible to pull up. Some yards have it growing as a ground cover in the flower beds. You can't pull it off walls or the ground easily. It grows tendrils (roots?) into anything porous, which makes it extremely difficult to pull up. If it's growing on the ground, it's just a thick mat that is impossible to pull up. And while I wouldn't call it a fast spreader, if you ignore it for a couple of years, it will start to take over. Source: I used to work for a yard company, and I have it in my own yard.
- jgwil2 4y ago
  English ivy may be slow growing in your region but it is definitely an invasive, ground-spreading pest in other places. Where I live it's not uncommon at all to see large swaths of wooded parkland covered in it.
  - gerdesj 4y ago
    I live in SW England (ie quite warm n wet which is ideal for this stuff) and it really doesn't compare in the invasive stakes. We've just had a rather warm autumn and winter is a bit shag too and ivy is not close to the top of the weeds list at all. Shallow roots means easy removal. Ivy isn't actually that pernicious either it seems. I own a company and on our land there are three whopping oaks and there is quite a lot of ivy: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9470006,-2.6381093,3a,75y,230.44h,120.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQuppnWDgdPIkvZhDpTiRuw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9470006,-2.6381093,3a,75y,... The above link shows a bewildering amount of tree and undergrowth but there are three really large oaks in there and I will preserve all of that lot. It's in a town and a loosely coupled island for a lot of wildlife - it's quite a bit larger than it looks. The oaks are around 200 to 250 years old judging by girth. There's also the remains of some Alms houses to the left of the view, roughly to the right of the pedestrian. If you look closely there is a lot of ivy there! Also two of the oaks have a lot of ivy cover and I was worried that it might weaken them. But: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix links to: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/ivy/ https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/pl... and we get the assertion: "but it doesn’t harm the tree at all". I'm not totally convinced but I do have access to experts on this (SSDC int al.) so I'll take their advice.

tomrod 4y ago

Goats don't take it out?

ceejayoz 4y ago
Apparently that works well. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/towson-university-brings-in-goats-to-tackle-ivy-problem/2014/11/24/4ece2132-7426-11e4-a5b2-e1217af6b33d_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/towson-univer...
blamazon 4y ago
Goats work. Where I am in Georgia (US) there's a local service where they bring temporary fencing and some goats and plop them in your property to chow down. Once you decide they're done, they pull them out. The operators have expert knowledge of local ordinances and permits and whatnot. They make good money and the goats have other economic uses. The only thing is you can't really tell the goats what to eat and not eat... so you may have to get creative with the fencing, which costs more. Fun fact about goats: you know that 'goaty' taste of goat cheese and goat milk? That's from coagulated proteins - if the producer is gentle with handling the milk, avoiding agitation, and you consume it right away, you can make cheese and milk without that noticeable taste. This is really meaningful for small scale goatery because you can avoid the use of big heavy expensive dairy cows. Industrial manufacturers are also figuring out ways to stop the coagulation while being able to agitate the fluid. (Convenient if you want to pipe it anywhere)
- blamazon 4y ago
  If you want to devote your life to goat business, come to Georgia! We have a top tier agricultural university, an affordable cost of living, and a strong local economy.
  - tomrod 4y ago
    LOL -- actually considering this!

e40 4y ago

There are chemicals you can use, but you have to soak them into the roots. And the warnings on the bottles are scary as hell.

mc32 4y ago

I think Japanese Knotweed is a tad worse to eradicate. The roots go deep: https://www.environetuk.com/japanese-knotweed/removal https://www.environetuk.com/japanese-knotweed/removal

Mistletoe 4y ago
I spray an extract from this plant on my plants, it’s a great antifungal. The product is called Regalia. This plant seems armed with everything it needs.

depereo 4y ago

Would running some pigs in the area for a while help? They'd root it all up.

Gordonjcp 4y ago
Pigs are the only thing I've seen that can hurt Japanese Knotweed.

EdwardDiego 4y ago

Not to mention that handling it can lead to contact dermatitis.

swagasaurus-rex 4y ago

Perhaps a use for those Boston Dynamics style dog-robots.

aaron695 4y ago

gerdesj 4y ago

I'm not sure you are describing ivy which generally tries to parasitize other plants/trees and is quite slow growing. It will also climb up walls and spread. I've never seen acres of the stuff. It is not a ground spreader type plant, ie it won't run across your lawn or field. It will run along fences and hedges but it does not run into open ground. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix is classified as a weed in the US and elsewhere quite rightly because it is non-native. It is not a fast spreader at all. You can peel it off walls and pull roots relatively easily. You can simply cut it in several places and it will die off. You can also paint or spray the leaves with something nasty from Monsanto if killing everything is your bag but it isn't mine.

tsomctl 4y ago
English ivy is a ground spreader, at least where I live. It won't grow on the ground if it gets a lot of sun, but ground shaded by trees will turn into a thick mat that is impossible to pull up. Some yards have it growing as a ground cover in the flower beds. You can't pull it off walls or the ground easily. It grows tendrils (roots?) into anything porous, which makes it extremely difficult to pull up. If it's growing on the ground, it's just a thick mat that is impossible to pull up. And while I wouldn't call it a fast spreader, if you ignore it for a couple of years, it will start to take over. Source: I used to work for a yard company, and I have it in my own yard.
jgwil2 4y ago
English ivy may be slow growing in your region but it is definitely an invasive, ground-spreading pest in other places. Where I live it's not uncommon at all to see large swaths of wooded parkland covered in it.
- gerdesj 4y ago
  I live in SW England (ie quite warm n wet which is ideal for this stuff) and it really doesn't compare in the invasive stakes. We've just had a rather warm autumn and winter is a bit shag too and ivy is not close to the top of the weeds list at all. Shallow roots means easy removal. Ivy isn't actually that pernicious either it seems. I own a company and on our land there are three whopping oaks and there is quite a lot of ivy: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9470006,-2.6381093,3a,75y,230.44h,120.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQuppnWDgdPIkvZhDpTiRuw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.9470006,-2.6381093,3a,75y,... The above link shows a bewildering amount of tree and undergrowth but there are three really large oaks in there and I will preserve all of that lot. It's in a town and a loosely coupled island for a lot of wildlife - it's quite a bit larger than it looks. The oaks are around 200 to 250 years old judging by girth. There's also the remains of some Alms houses to the left of the view, roughly to the right of the pedestrian. If you look closely there is a lot of ivy there! Also two of the oaks have a lot of ivy cover and I was worried that it might weaken them. But: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera_helix links to: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/ivy/ https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/pl... and we get the assertion: "but it doesn’t harm the tree at all". I'm not totally convinced but I do have access to experts on this (SSDC int al.) so I'll take their advice.