How to Eradicate Climbing Ivy

[Anonymous1]

hey folks I need some help and advice.okay here is the deal.just sold our house so we are renting.the house is in great cond. but the yard needs to be cleaned and landscaped.(nothing drastic.)any way there was climbing ivy growing on the house and taking over the yard so I tore it up and just started fresh. so now that I have a clean slate I want to make some little beds and borders with ivy.(being winter and not wanting to spend money on grass seed. lol!) so any way I dug some up from the back of the yard and planted it but it was a pain. can I just snip some stem sections and plant it and it will sprout roots? I don' t want to have to move all those roots and such:)I also need to get something planted to cover the bare spots where all the years(and years)of leaves and brush was!to say the least the next person to rent this house will be happy to see how well kept the yard was;)

[Grey]

I hope the landlord doesn't mind! Most of the time they don't, but you never know. I never mind if a tenant wants to clean something up unless they do such a bad job I have to go back and re-do it the right way.

Where are you located?

If you are in Florida or some other sub-tropical area, almost anything depending upon the time of year can be rooted by sticking a slant-cut stem into the ground. Understand though, cuttings take a while to develop roots, you run a greater risk of the cutting not making it by treating it this way and may wind up having to start all over again.

I know it is a lot of work, but it is far, far better to dig up an entire plant, roots and all, and put it into its new location. If it's a border, you may find it easier to dig all the holes first (or dig out the whole thing, putting the dirt on a tarp) then start putting the other plants in.

When putting in the transplant, be sure to keep as much of the same dirt that was around the plant where it was growing - it reduces some of the stress on the plant, especially if the nutients in the soil differ where you move the plant to (and they probably are different).

Water well at first, then check the soil every day - if the top 2 inches are dry, water your plants. Keep this up for a few months until the plants are established, then you can reduce the watering.

Good luck!

[The Helpful Gardener]

Ivy is a bird borne invasive from the Federal list; why (after ripping it out) would you want to recreate the same problem? Try another plant...

[Anonymous]

I would tend to it not let it get out of control.the people who lived there before did the bare minimum.plus I like the way ivy spreads and the way it looks. I also am going to put up some wire to get the ivy to grow over it and form a fence to the adjacent yard;)

[The Helpful Gardener]

See my other post on ivy; no one in the United States should be using this plant and the Federal gov needs to do more than just put it on the list; they need to illegalize it...

There are much better, prettier and most importantly, less harmful plants out there. We'd be happy to help you find them...

HG

[Anonymous]

wuts so bad about it ? illaegalize it? wut is some one smoking it and selling it as a drug?lol

[The Helpful Gardener]

See the other ivy thread, TD...