My daughter has the invasive english ivy in a rock retaining wall between her property and her neighbors. They have pulled the ivy off the top and had it cut down as much as possible but it is still inside the rockery, and seems to grow again overnight. Is there anyway we can kill it off without poison, or covering the entire rock wall to prevent light getting in? The neighbors have put some flowers in some areas but, I know the ivy will just overtake everything again. Any info will be very helpful. Thank you so much.
You can just keep pulling out every bit you find and eventually it will give up. However, I know how miserable it is to get this stuff out of a rockery after it escaped my dad's (among others he had planted a lovely variegated kind that we loved using in Christmas arrangements) rockery and and began invading the adjacent forest. Finally, due to the fact he was getting too frail to keep pulling the stuff, as the roots between and under the rocks were tough and thick, we resorted to a systemic herbicide. If it is any comfort, the better ones degrade quickly (in a few days) and do not leave any lasting residue in the environment. I vastly prefer organic methods, but there are times when it is appropriate to use a low-impact herbicide. I am rather sorry that in our zeal to spread the word that herbicide/pesticide based farming and gardening is bad for us and the earth, we have made the use of ALL preps suspect. They are not all equally evil!
Thank you so much. I will pass this info on to my daughter and hope that she will decide to do and let us help, do what you suggested.
Could the rockery be dismantled a little to get at the roots. I concur with the above keep pulling and digging BUT it may need a bigger push. Instead of spraying is there a poison that can be paint brushed on the cut roots and branches sothe poison goes down into the roots. I have used round-up to the strength of woody plants to stop blackberries. I have a small spray bottle made up to zap persistant things like ivy and blackberries. Liz
This should answer some questions: http://www.nps.gov/plants/ALIEN/fact/hehe1.htm Seems to me here in Canada (where herbicide preps and names are different), Killex would probably be your best bet.
