ivy

[tyler durden]

i have a 30meter long hedge of mostly elm trees, the entire length of it has been invaded with ivy which i think has killed 2 of the trees. What is the best way of dealing with this & killing the ivy?

[Thunderbird+]

Where I live there is mile upon mile of ivy covered,already diseased and dieing elms along the roadside, many of which become top-heavy with the weight of ivy and fall into the roads.

What I would do is cut the ivy stems close to the ground, then wait until the leaves have turned brown, this way the ivy should pull away easily from the trees.You could maintain and control it this way on an annual basis or you could back this up by spraying the cut stems at ground level with brushwood killer. Good Luck.

[n00dles]

Thunderbird's advice on cutting the stems is a very good idea. You might also consider Root-Out on the stump/ground level stems, which is a systemic treatment (powder).

I remember reading an article in a gardening magazine that an ivy will not take over a healthy tree/plant, although it might use it to climb up. The elms that T mentions have the ivy covering them because they are dying. Hope this makes sense!

[alan30]

The elms are more likely to be dead/dying from Dutch Elm Disease. DED is a fungus and is transmitted by a beetle or by root contact. The beetles tend to need a certain size of tree before they will use it for egg laying purposes. This is why you see elm regenerating from root suckers, growing to 15 feet or so and the succumbing to DED and dying. You can get rows dying because of the beetles using the whole row or one tree gets DED and it spreads along the row through root contact. The ivy is using the tree as a support to get up the light and there is more light in the crown of a dead/dying tree than a healthy one.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0505/dutchelmdisease.asp

I agree with Thunderbird+ on dealing with the ivy. Just be careful you don't disturb nesting birds at any point.

[WendyS]

Dutch Elm Disease sadly hasn't died out and a lot of trees are still dying from it. I suspect the ivy is just using the tree trunk for support. If the trees look healthy it's best just to sever the stems at the base of the tree as trying to pull the ivy off may tear the bark away and cause the tree to be fatally damaged. If allowed to grow too strongly the weight of ivy can cause even a healthy tree to topple in strong winds or storms. Once the ivy has turned brown and died it will be easier and less heavy to pull away from trunk of the tree.

[tyler durden]

Thanks for all the information, that does clear things up. I did wonder why it picked on some trees & not others and why it hasn't bothered any of the hawthorne. We did loose a couple of elms last year & have lost a few this year aswell. If the ivy isnt the cause i'll probably let it stay, athough I think I read somewhere that its not great for people with asthma or hayfeever.