In the past, I used to grow English Ivy on my walls and fences intentionally because it’s so aesthetically pleasing. The problem is that it caused my wooden fences to rot and also degraded my walls because of all the moisture trapped inside. English Ivy also causes skin irritation in some people. Ivy leaves create a shield for rodents and snakes to move around undetected. For these reasons, and more, I decided that it’s time to get rid of the ivy in my yard.
The best way to get rid of ivy is to remove it by hand. You’ll need protective gloves and gardening shears to do this. As you pull the ivy up, cut the vines with the shears. After physical removal, weed killers can keep the ivy from regrowing.
A method that we’ll discuss in more detail involves removing the ivy leaves first, to expose the vines which you can cut with the shears and then pull out of the ground along with the roots.
To remove ivy from trees, cut away the ivy vines around the trunk. The ivy left in the tree will die out with no roots in the soil.
Before we go any further, if you have any doubts about removing ivy from your yard, consider this.
- Once ivy has matured, it forms berries that are toxic to people and animals.
- Ivy leaves are also toxic.
- Ivy is an invasive plant that takes over areas, killing other plants, trees, grass, and anything else in its path.
- It takes over your garden during winter when everything else is dead.
- Ivy suffocates and kills trees.
With most of the ivy hazard warnings out of the way, here’s how to get rid of ivy in your yard.
Warning: Wear gloves and other safety equipment to avoid injury.
How To Get Rid Of Ivy On Lawn
Even if you plan on using chemicals to kill the ivy, you must still remove the bulk of it by hand.
Manually removing ivy
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Pruning shears.
- Protective gloves.
- Lawnmower (Optional)
If you have a lawnmower, cut through the middle of the ivy patch. This will chop most of the ivy leaves off and expose the vines just above the soil. Now you can lift the vines off the ground and cut them with the shears. If you didn’t use a lawnmower, you can just push the leaves out of the way and cut the vines.
Now, with a line of leafless ivy across the patch, you can easily access the vines for cutting and lifting. As you lift the ivy up, there’ll be more vines hanging on, just cut stubborn vines with your shears as you pull the ivy up.
Dispose of the ivy. Never compost ivy, it will regrow. Burning is a suitable option.
Ivy grows very easily, and there’ll probably be some new sprouts coming up in the area within weeks. As you pluck them out over the course of a few months, there’ll be less and less that sprout up to a point where they are completely eradicated.
Chemical option
To keep the ivy from growing back, use some weed killer on any sprouts you see popping up.
Some reliable weed control product are:
Natria Grass and Weed Control
Natria is an organic solution to killing weeds and grass. It kills the roots within minutes and you can see results in a matter of days. You can treat a 450-square-foot area with 1 gallon of Natria.
If the ivy is close to grass, spray in the center of the ivy sprout and avoid killing the grass. Check it out on Amazon!
PBI/Gordon Speed Zone
Speed zone will get rid of the ivy without killing your grass. A 20-ounce bottle of Speed Zone can treat up to 18000 square feet of lawn, making it one of the most concentrated weed killers.
This weed killer won’t harm your lawn. Just spray freely over the ivy and wait a couple of weeks for it to die off.
Check it out on Amazon!
Southern Crossbow
This is another excellent solution for killing ivy without harming your lawn.
Mix 4 to 6fl. Oz in 3 gallons of water, then spray that over the ivy. Within one or two weeks the ivy will be dead and you can just dispose of the dry remains.
Great for killing ivy that’s taking over your lawn. Follow the directions on the container to apply and wait for two or three weeks for the ivy to dry out and die.
Check it out on Amazon!
How To Get Rid of Ivy Around Trees
Ivy can consume a tree and cause it to die out and blow over. The ivy strangles the smaller branches and stems of the tree and inhibits its growth. It blocks the sun from reaching the tree, which weakens it more. An ivy-covered tree is also more likely to blow over in strong winds as the ivy blocks the wind from passing through the tree. It’s also a lot more weight for the tree to hold.
Here’s what you’ll need to remove it from the tree:
- Protective gloves
- Gardening shears (Suited to the size of the vines)
- Pry bar
To start the process, pull the leaves and smaller vines off the trunk by hand to expose the bigger vines. Then cut the bigger vines with the gardening shears, work your way around the tree. Use the pry bar to lift any vines that have lodged themselves into the tree.
Leave the rest of the ivy up in the tree, it will dry out after a few months and fall off by itself.
At the base of the tree, pull the vines out of the ground from the cut points you made earlier. If the vines are very thick and you don’t want to pull them out of the ground, you can kill them off with table salt.
To do this, wrap the duct tape around the top of the vine to create a cup at the top where you cut it earlier. Then fill the cup with salt. Pour some water into the cup of salt and leave it to soak into the vines. They will dye out within weeks. This is what most people prefer to do when the vines are as thick as an adult’s arm. When you uproot ivy of that size, you tear up the ground and grass with it.
Remove dead ivy vines from a tall tree without a ladder
A few months after you’ve cut the ivy off the trunk of the tree, there’ll be dry vines on the higher parts of the trunk and on the higher branches. If you don’t have a ladder that can reach up there, here’s another way of getting rid of most of them from the ground.
- Tie a rope to the vine at the bottom where you can reach it.
- Walk away from the tree while holding onto the rope.
- Repeat the process for all the vines you can reach.
The rope method is most suitable for extremely tall trees that have totally been taken over. For smaller trees, you can usually get the job done with a ladder.
How To Get Rid Of Ivy On Brick
I like the look of a wall covered in ivy, but the problem is that the ivy can degrade the concrete over time. Here’s our favorite way to remove ivy from walls.
What you’ll need:
- Steel garden rake. (If the ivy is high on the wall)
- Protective gloves and safety goggles.
- Garden shears
- Wire Brush
Using the steel rake, pull down any ivy that has climbed high up on the wall. You should use safety goggles to keep any debris from falling into your eyes. Also, be careful not to pull down any loose pieces of concrete. Don’t push the rake against the wall too hard, try to just catch the vines as you work with the rake.
Stand a few feet back so that you’re pulling the vines down from the side and not from underneath. You could pull the handle of the rake into yourself if you’re cautious.
After that, you can pull off any smaller pieces by hand. Don’t worry about very small pieces, you should let them dry out and take care of them later.
Once the wall is mostly clear of the ivy, rake it all up at the bottom where the roots go into the ground. Now you can treat the ground with any of the weed killers mentioned previously.
Steel brush
After a few months, you can brush the remaining bits of ivy roots and vines off with the wire brush.
Propane Torch
If you need the wall to be 100% clean without waiting for it to dry, you could hire a flame thrower (the ones used for roof work) and burn the remaining ivy. After burning it dry, you’ll be able to brush it off easily.
CAUTION: Don’t heat one spot for more than 3 seconds. Concrete can explode under high temperatures. We advise having a professional burn off the ivy for you if you can’t wait 6 to 12 months for it to dry.
Pressure sprayer
A pressure sprayer like this one on Amazon should be able to get any remaining ivy roots and vines off your wall.
This works especially well on smooth walls. Just test it on a small part of the wall before all out on the ivy to make sure it doesn’t damage your walls.
- Start using the sprayer on the lowest pressure to check the results.
- If it’s not removing the ivy, turn the pressure up gradually.
- As soon as you have enough pressure to remove the roots, maintain that pressure.
Easiest Way To Remove Ivy From A Wall
If you don’t mind seeing most of the ivy drying on the wall for a few weeks, you can spray the whole lot with any of the weed killers listed above. Wait for it to dry out and then scrape the dry remains off with a plastic rake. You can clean it more intensely with a wire brush after the bulk is removed with the rake.
This method takes a long time to get the results, but it only requires you to spray the ivy down once and then clean it up after a few weeks, once it’s dried out. It’s a lot easier to work with and remove when it’s dry.
Remove Ivy From Wall Without Poison
Cut the vines of the ivy at ground level. Also, cut all the vines on the wall that are waist height. Pull the bottom section off and leave the rest on the wall to dry out. Pull the ivy out of the ground in that area. Come back after a few months and scrape the dry remains off with a plastic rake.
Conclusion
The cons outweigh the pros heavily regarding ivy. The best way to remove it is by pulling it out by hand. Thicker vines require certain tools like gardening shears and pry bars to remove.
For ivy on the ground, there are some excellent weed killers as listed above. Natria weed killer will kill grass and other plants as well, but the other two recommendations are safe to use on grass.
For ivy that’s climbing up your trees and walls, cut its life support off at waist height. (around 2 to 4 feet from the ground) Then let it dry on the tree or wall and remove it later.
If you are looking to remove clovers from your yard as well, look into our Clover Removal Guide!