Advice on removing ivy from your house

[bellabee]

Ok, I have searched on the internet for best way to remove ivy from your house... and really did not find much that worked very well...Apart from this...

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hze8nY3S4Is[/ame]

SO funny!!

I thought I would ask here on the beekeeping forum as you seem to have good advice for everything bee related. I hope someone can help

Things we have tried...

* Weed killer on the new shoots, which is to go back to the root and kill it! Did not work!

* Cutting the thick branch off from above the ground, wait to die and remove...

The stuff seems to be stuck on with something unknown to man...

ANY advice would be great

 

[oliver90owner]

It may be 'stuck' on so well that will pull out large chunks of mortar if the pointing is old and soft. You don't give any detail of the house construction.

Probably would have been best if left and 'managed'. We used to regularly clip the ivy on the front of the farmhouse (from a ladder, of course!). One section was home to probably hundreds of house sparrow nests each year. The other, a different variety and less 'thick' had quite a few as well.

RAB

It was removed when the whole house (almost ) was repointed. Certainly needed repointing when it was finally 'peeled away from the wall!

 

[bellabee]

Hello Rab...

Ok so you don't recommend like in the video?

I'll see if I can find a picture of the house... It is early 1930's, we really want to get rid of it and grow wisteria up the side instead...

I have been searching for a picture I will be up at the house Wednesday so I can take a snap of the front.

It is Cambridge yellow brick.

How long did it take to remove your ivy fully?

Thanks

 

[beeatshellards]

I had ivy growing up to the top windows of the flat above my shop at the rear ,it started to reach up for the gutter so it had to go. I firstly cut the bottom using a saw as the branches were like trunks, then peeled it off the wall in sections, it left behind sucker marks, and as I had soft red bricks and lime mortar it did a little damage, the marks can be brushed off with a stiff broom and then used a weedkiller on the base what was left

 

[nonstandard]

I actually adopted a similar approach to the video, I cut ours off at the base and then grabbed the bottom of the upper section; I pulled it away from the (brick) wall and it came down in one big lump which I chopped up and burnt, lots of smoke.

If you can't pull it off the wall in one lump, you could try working it in sections. Otherwise if you sever the base you could treat the cut sections with glyphosate weedkiller (Roundup) or brushwood killer.

 

[Luminos]

Can you not grow the wisteria and the ivy? Wisteria's only good for bees in summer - you'd get a longer season if you keep the ivy as well. Seems a shame - ivy supports a lot of birds and insects.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I would never remove ivy from my house. It feeds and gives refuge to so much wildlife.
Such a shame that anybody would want to use weed killers etc etc. Might just as well use a flame thrower and watch all the scorched birds and insects run for their lives. If it floats your boat you could put it on youtube and watch the carnage when you needed the high.
Sorry................I think it's awful

 

[beeatshellards]

agee with you, but I had to remove mine due to strucural damage to the brickwork and mortar, it had got right inside causing damp problems, I only did it as last resort,

 

[Arfermo]

If you can't pull it off the wall in one lump, you could try working it in sections. QUOTE]

which is what I did per the image attached. Was climbing everywhere and you will find wisteria is even more invasive if you don't rigorously control it. Pretty though in flower or otherwise when draped over a pergola.

 

[madasafish]

I had Russian vine which is deadly.
Cut the main branch into pieces and slowly cut off suckers using Felco cutters.

Only solution as tendrils grow into joints.. hard pulling ruins mortar. After a year , remove the remaining dead bits when dry...

 

[milkermel]

as others have stated be careful when trying to remove as it can easily pull off large chunks of mortar.

it all depends how thick it is how flat your walls are etc.

Why not try cutting it back with hedge trimmer to reduce growth outwards, If your wall is flat then run a wallpaper scrapper under ivy starting with the thinner stuff first up the top of the growth. Personally I would leave it too for the bees if nothing else - hives I look after never need winter feed as they collect enough ivy nectar to see them through the winter. I would say just manage it creates less mess than wisteria as well (and i love wisteria but leaf fall and flower fall is a lot on established plant)

 

[victor meldrew]

Ivy does untold damage and in spite of ancient lore, does not keep a wall dry, rather the reverse. Old brick walls are particularly vulnerable to Ivy, whereas Virginia Creeper poses little if any such threat , is attractive to honeybees (you have to look under the large leaves as the flowers are hidden ). They have beautiful Autumn foliage and are deciduous , allowing the winds to dry out the wall !
VM

 

[bellabee]

Thanks guys great advice as usual.

ericA, I do agree with you about the wild life and bees as well seem to love it, we have had loads of bees on it recently. However it is damaging our brick work and causing damp too , and also breaking up our path... Sorry ivy you just have to go. We will be planting a few wisterias in its place and putting up a few bird boxes to hopefully whihch will attrach wildlife. I would keep it if it were on a shed, in fact we do have some rather nice Virginia Creeper on a building in our garden which looks lovely and will be staying Hopefully the wisteria will be easier to manage and less destructive.

Luminos, sadly not, it is causing too much damage and we want to reduce that as much as we can. I think the ivy would strangle th wisteria just like it has done with other plants in the garden. It does seem a shame, but will look really lovely when the wisteria takes off and hopefully will spport loads more wildlife as well. We will be putting up some bird boxes as well

Nonstandard, I like your approach e will probably start at the top and try to peal down... hope for the best. You were not tempted to attach it to your car?

beeatshellards, did it come off easily? Also yes last resort, as the in is affecting the insde wall of our house sadly. And damp is lots of money to treat

Arefmo, did yours come off easy? Hopefuly we can train the wistera to where we want it and it will be less damaging

madasafish, will do with a scrubbing brush.

milkermel, it is damaging the house, we want to reduce the damage now. So if we every see we don't have a massive damp issue as well as a crumbling brick issue our bees have just brought a load of ivy necter back for teh winter I will be sad to see it go, but we have to save our house wall. Hopefully the bees will forgive us

Victor, we have some Virgina Creeper, we might train some over the back of the house, it does have a lovely red colour.

Thanks for all yoru advice everyone ... I shall updated you when we removed it. xx

 

[bellabee]

Sorrrry over did the smilies.......

 

[itma]

Good though these things may be, a house wall is not the place to grow them (unless the house is so ugly that you are prepared for any cost, just to hide the thing).
Grow them along a fence or trellis, over an arch, as you wish - but they aren't good for houses.


I have/had some ivy that had been allowed to grow into peg-hung tiles.
My solution has been to chop out a gap, knee-high to chest-high. The roughly 6" diameter stump was then black&deckered with lots of holes immediately before being painted with a tough systemic weedkiller. It didn't regrow, has rotted nicely and now been snapped off at ground level. The bush over the tiles was simply left to die, dry and become brittle. Most has now come away by itself with no drama.
But wisteria turns into something like steel wire as it dries out. It doesn't get brittle! Don't let it climb a fruit tree unless you really want to kill that fruit tree ...
I continue to have a frequent and awkward job with a couple of "pretty" Virginia Creepers that are determined to penetrate the soffits, climb past the gutter and get out of reach onto the roof.

Who does your ladderwork?

 

[VEG]

I pulled ivy off a house covered in the stuff. I cut the stem at the bottom which was as thick as your arm. Then put a chain around it and pulled it off with a land rover. It pulled all the render off the pine end. Luckily I had the chap sign a disclaimer form as I warned him what would happen lol.

 

[Headnavigator]

It's not only external creepers to beware of - some years ago we had a Swiss cheese plant (monstera) which managed to penetrate an inner wall in a relatively new house by sneaky aerial roots in a corner. Our fault for having a 'built-in' indoor garden, so it didn't get moved around and pulled away before it could do damage.

 

[Arfermo]

Thanks guys great advice as usual.
Arferrmo, did yours come off easy? Hopefuly we can train the wistera to where we want it and it will be less damaging

Fairly easily. Chopped the main trunk very low down and then prised it off the wall so that it fell in chunks. Had to scrape some of the smaller stuff off higher up and it has left a trail where the suckers were but frost is removing that by degrees. I dug the root out and put down a little sodium chlorate.
NB. My walls are very hard brick and pointed with good quality mortar - so no problems at all. With a rendered property one needs to be very certain it is stuck on well with no loose patches. Tapping for voids will show how well it is attached. As for wisteria, on my previous property it wandered behind roof tiles as well the soffite and fascia into the roof space with gay abandon. It grows very fast and loose.

 

[Hombre]

Apparently it takes wisteria seven years until it begins flowering.

 

[Luminos]

Apparently it takes wisteria seven years until it begins flowering.

I think this may only be true if grown from seed - my wisteria flowers twice a year and has done since I bought the plant