How to remove ivy

We live in Virginia Beach close to the water and are restricted from using harsh chemicals... We just moved in to our house 6 months ago. We have ivy everywhere (neglected for years) - growing up established trees to heights of 30-50 feet,,, Can someone help us with the best pan of eradicating the ivy? We thought we could just till it out but that seems pretty work intensive. Any ideas? M&M in Va Beach

What kind of curse do you have? poison? English? Vinca Major? Kudzu? or a mix of all of those? maybe even Virginia Creeper? LOL
I put on disposible gloves and cut five inch sections out of feeder roots on poison ivy. I carefully throw away that and the gloves. After it's dead it doesn't itch me and I pull down all that will come.
If your figure needs shaping up you can go out and pull or dig a specified amount everyday.
You can get some Round-Up and a sponge brush. Paint the leaves. More acceptable and much less contamination. Just don't get frustrated and throw it on the ground.
Maybe some others know.
Oh yes, you can get a goat or two. Put em in a 10 foot square pen that you move when they run out of ivy in the space they are in. Let em eat the next 100 sqare feet and move it again.....now that's a plan.
Sidney

i agree roundup would probibly work--spray it on till it runs off never heard of brushing it on --no residue either --they use it on soybeans that are used for human consumtion--or if u want to you might fertilize it to death

Fertilize it to death? How do you do that? Burn it with too much N?

We are over-run with english ivy, too - we tried everything, and found good old fashioned pulling and spading was the only real remedy - took two months of weekends and evenings to pull this stuff!

LOL, my question too sallyg.
Round-up is a form of Agent Orange, so should not be used lightly. Be especially careful to keep it off of people and pets.
Use of painting it on is so you can selectively remove unwanteds.
;)

sugarweed:

I'm no chemist, but I took an awful lot of chemistry in college (though years ago) and I've used many pesticides during my 20+ year career (very carefully and sparingly, I'll add).

I really don't think there is much of a relationship between RoundUp and Agent Orange, other than some of the companies that produce the pesticides.

Agent Orange is/was a combination of 2, 4 - D and 2, 4, 5 - T (synthetic auxins which created uncontrolled plant cell growth leading to death) with dioxin as an impurity, which gained it the reputation for health problems in humans. 2, 4 - D is still an active ingredient in many common home-use pesticide, usually for broadleaf weeds in lawns.

RoundUp is primarily glyphosate; its mode of action is to disrupt production of necessary plant amino acids, very different than the above chemical.

No one should take the use of pesticides lightly, but no one should distribute inaccurate information about them, either. Always follow the label recommendations for application (it is against the law to do otherwise), which I'd wager includes not applying garden pesticides to humans or pets.

For an interesting read on selective application of RoundUp, or any other chemical, see this thread:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/576668/

Duh, I didn't stutter and do you work for round-up company? Please I said what I meant and what was the purpose of putting my DG name in bold ?
I would suggest you check this http://www.organicconsumers.org/monsanto/toxicdrift.cfm
People and Pets are easily affected when spraying RU. Also RU is not a pesticide, but an Herbiside.
I have not attacked anyone on DG in way over a year and don't appreciate your avenue here.
Sidney

Sidney/sugarweed: I am sorry I offended you. Accept my apology -- my participation here was only meant to add information about the chemicals you mentioned.

The information listed in my post was meant to be informative, not an attack. If my terminology caused offense, I apologize profusely. There is no intent, and continues to be no intent, to attack/defame/belittle or anything else other than disagreement on the subject of what a specific chemical is.

Putting a poster's name in bold is meant to get their attention, as my remarks were primarily meant in response to what you had posted. That is all; I (and others) often post in this manner, especially if replying to several other posts in a thread. No malice intended. If doing so causes you offense, I won't do it again (on purpose).

No, I don't work for any chemical company. I work for municipal government as a landscape architect, but because I have had extensive experience as a landscape manager using pesticides around very expensive animals, I believed that I needed to comment.

I used the term pesticide only as a summary term for herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc.

I don't doubt that you meant what you said. I disagreed with your statement that "...RoundUp is a form of Agent Orange..." because review of the chemical compounds shows that it is not. Yesterday I reviewed information at the site you just linked (I wanted to check before I posted, especially since the chemistry part of my brain has gathered more than a bit of dust), and since most of what is published there is primarily a political attack on Monsanto and others, I took it with more than a grain of salt. I also reviewed National Institutes of Health sites and US Dept of Agriculture sites to confirm what I thought I remembered about the chemical formulations and mode of actions of the two herbicides mentioned.

I have just read the whole article you linked. It reveals that using RoundUp as prescribed by its label yields control of the pest plant it is applied to. Misuse of this pesticide (or any other) can lead to negative off-target effects to humans, animals, etc., of which the article lists many examples. No part of the article listed an example of proper use of RoundUp leading to harm to humans or anything else unintended.

I absolutely agree with you that any chemicals should be used sparingly and carefully. People and pets can be affected by all types of things around the house and garden.

Again: I don't think I have an argument with you about the substance of what you originally posted, just the chemical specifics. And I certainly don't intend or wish to create ill will. DG is too great a place.

Now I wonder who was on the receiving end a year ago...

I'm not going to fuel your passive-agressive line of attact here.
I still haven't done anything to deserve all of this "Now I wonder who was on the receiving end a year ago..."
As I said in February........get some goats.
;)

I am surrounded by wetlands and am also restricted from using "harsh" chemicals (terrestrial herbicides) on the entire north side of my property. Only a few herbicides are registered for use where water is present. These restrictions reduce harm to human health as well as to the environment by helping to protect fish and animals as well as our groundwater and irrigation water.

Based on what you have shared, I doubt seriously if RoundUp would be able to be used in a buffer zone no matter how you apply it which is what I believe you're referring to above. RoundUp is a terrestrial herbicide. Although getting a goat isn't all that practical for many of us, it was actually an "environmentally" responsible suggestion given your proximity to water. Otherwise please consider asking the "Powers That Be" exactly which chemicals are approved for your use. You might want to mention one of these products which are labeled for use in areas such as that described by you although they may not be approved for use in your State-
Rodeo
Aquamaster
Touchdown Pro
Eraser AQ

These chemicals are systemic herbicides so they work a little bit slower than a contact herbicide such as RoundUp.

I use Rodeo and recently began using Aquamaster with a surfactant registered for aquatic use on that entire side of my property which extends well beyond my buffer zone. I use these products beyond my buffer zone because I prefer to use chemicals that are less likely to accumulate in fatty tissues of reptiles and amphibians passing through. One thing though, many of these types of products are classified as restricted use products by DATCP. Most unfortunately this means certification may be required to purchase and use them. Please contact someone locally as to which chemicals are approved for use by you and which aren't as it appears there are restrictions in place for your property which need to be respected. Good for you for trying to address the existence of those restrictions. Chances are pretty darn good there is a list out there available to you of chemicals you can purchase and use yourself as well as contractors in the area who are licensed to use other approved products in consideration of those restrictions you mentioned in the very first sentence of your post. I suspect the underlying concern in your particular situation may be that when using any chemical in or around water, there is a danger of killing off non target plant material in the water which could result in oxygen depletion as a result of decomposing plant material. Oxygen depletions can kill fish which would disrupt the fragile balance in the body of water they are trying to protect.

Best wishes to you in your efforts to eradicate your Ivy.

I've honestly had the best luck getting rid of ivy by hand pulling. I was doing it all myself and didn't have the physical capability to dig the roots out (which would be the ideal approach), so I put down several thick layers of weed cloth over where the roots are, and was very vigilant about pulling out any shoots that made it through. I tried things like Brush B Gone and had no luck whatsoever (even when I sprayed it on the new young leaves which supposedly don't have the waxy coating yet). I won't lie, it's a ton of work but I got rid of more of it by pulling than I did by poison, and in your case since you're in an environmentally sensitive area that may be the way to go (or hire someone else to rip it out of course if you don't want to do it yourself.) I don't think you would want to use anything like Roundup in an environmentally sensitive area...while VV is correct that Roundup and Agent Orange are not chemically the same at all (and Roundup is definitely friendlier), it's still not very nice stuff and I would not use it in a sensitive area.