Is English ivy a problem when you let it grow outside? The short answer is yes for almost any yard or wild space. The plant spreads fast, climbs trees with ease, and pushes out the native plants that local wildlife needs to live and feed.
I pulled a thick mat of English ivy invasive growth off my own backyard maple last fall. The job took a full afternoon and a sharp pair of clippers. What I found under the vines made my stomach drop a bit.
The bark was rotted in big patches along the lower trunk of the tree. Ant tunnels ran in long lines under the loose bark sections. The damp shade from the leaves had turned the once smooth surface into a soft and spongy mess.
The USDA NISIC lists English ivy as invasive in six states. The list covers California, Oregon and Washington in the west. The east coast list adds Maryland, North Carolina and Pennsylvania. Each state spends real money each year to fight the spread.
Here is the worst part of how English ivy damages trees in your yard. The vines add a heavy load to the canopy as they climb up. A mature ivy curtain on one tree can add hundreds of pounds of wet leaves and stems by year five.
That mass turns into a wind sail during the next big storm to roll through. The tree was built to flex with bare limbs and not a dense leaf wall. So you get more blowdowns and broken trunks in ivy heavy yards each fall and winter.
The roots cause issues too as they probe deep into the bark for grip. Tiny aerial roots punch into the soft wood of young trees. Over time those wounds let in fungus and bugs that the tree might have shrugged off on its own.
The wider English ivy ecological impact runs deeper than dead trees. Dense ivy mats block sunlight from the forest floor for years on end. Native flowers and tree seedlings cannot push through that thick green carpet to reach the light.
Birds eat the dark berries and drop the seeds far from the parent plant. Each drop starts a new patch in a clean spot of woods or yard. That is how a small ground cover from one neighbor turns into a county wide issue within a single decade.
Start your fix by cutting the vines off the tree trunks first. Use a sharp saw at chest height and again near the soil line. Pull the cut sections down with a slow and steady tug to spare the bark.
Once the trees are safe, work outward across the lawn in slow passes. Replace the cleared zone with native vines. Try Virginia creeper or trumpet vine. You get the same green coverage. You feed local birds and bees at the same time.
Check your cleared zone each spring for new sprouts from buried roots. A quick five minute pull each month keeps your patch in check for good. Stay on top of it and your lawn stays free of fresh ivy growth from then on.
You should also bag every cut vine and root piece for the trash bin. Do not toss the scraps onto your compost pile or brush heap. Even a small node can root again in moist soil and start your whole battle over from scratch.
Read the full article: English Ivy: Care, Cultivars and Caution
