Kitchen Garden Forum

Just reclaimed our first piece of ivy covered wall. OMG, think I’ll get a face mask for the next piece, it is amazing what amasses behind the twisted stems. Between spider webs, some very annoyed (and humongous) spiders that looked like they were still in hibernation mode, lots of sleepy staggers away from us, lots of insect poop and a couple of dead birds, I half expected to find a portal to a different dimension in there too. Happily it’s not wrecked the neighbours wall and we found the base of the ivy which is around 8inches of very thick stems in two different places.

Any suggestions on what to pour on the base to kill it? Would tree stump killer work, or is that overkill? I read somewhere that bleach would do the trick?

I try and remember to put a good quality face mask on, when i’m cutting or clearing Ivy…it has started to give me a really bad cough if I don’t….
Is it too big to dig out, Myrkk….a silly question really, as you wouldn’t be asking about a root killer!
I’ve never used one, so I can’t really say what would work best…..

a mask is a must when dealing with ivy, all the dust & pollen collected and stored causes havoc withg your respiratory system. I'm sorry I don't have any stump killing ideas, I'd try to dig it out if possible, but right up against a wall, it's probably not. Good luck!

You could drill the tops of the bigger stumps and pour in some neat glyphosate and top off with a bit of clay. They don't sell the really effective stump killer anymore. They don't reshoot very quickly and you could paint the emerging shoots after scratching them a bit with weed killer. Might be a job for a few years if the stump idea fails.

Thanks guys, it has grown between slabs and the neighbours living room wall so no way to dig it out without lifting the slabs, which I’m not keen to do.

Will try drilling and glycophosphate. If not then it might be a case of just pulling off new shoots until the roots get the idea and die.

My Dad was helping and he was hacking away like he was ready to kack it. We’re going away in a weeks time and my Mum is staying and she’s already said she’s going to attack another patch even though I’ve said not to. Will have to impress on her the need for a mask as she has COPD. Love the fact they want to help but at their ages the garden needs more than they should be giving.