Removing Ivy

A chain link fence divides my back yard to my neighbors back yard. Many, many years ago, Ivy was planted for privacy. Although I cut it back, every year, it is invading the back third of my garden. I would like to totally get rid of it and then plant something else (what ?) for privacy. Any suggestions?

You could also try the 'Vines and Climbers' Forum.

Steve

Good luck! I pulled all my ivy out by the roots (as much of them as I could get), put down weed cloth overtop as a barrier, and it still comes back. But now I just pull the new leaves as they poke up through the weed cloth and it's easier to keep under control, but short of massively digging up the entire area that it's growing in to get all the roots I'm not sure there's a good way to totally get rid of it.

Steve's right though, Vines and Climbers is probably a better place for this question.

Hey dun1kirk, are you opposed to using chemicals on that ivy? I have all of mine gone now... I think. I did have to resort to using chemicals.

There are many nice alternatives to the Ivy you want to get rid of. Please call these people and ask them for suggestions-
Phone 805-438-5992
http://www.laspilitas.com/

try this thread: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/588274/ about ivy

I really didn't think it could be done...mine was there for 30-35 years.

Sterling in Atlanta

I have Virginia Creeper on my ugly chain link fence and it hasn't been a problem.

I have been trying get Virginia to climb my fence and she just grows on the ground all around it. One of these days I just know she is going to make a jump for it.

(I even tried pulling a few strands and weaving them into the fence... those strands wilted and died.)

Virginia grows well everywhere you don't want it to. But I finally got it trained onto my back fence. She's getting a bit out of hand in my shade garden. I think I need to make some trellises for her.

Of course some of us object to using chemicals, and I can certainly understand such feelings. However, when I wanted to get rid of a fairly large patch of decade-old ivy that was growing near my swimming pool, the people I had working for me doing some landscaping just dug and pulled as much of it out as they could, and then the Roundup that's made for vines and woody plants took care of the rest. I have seen no new ivy at all for the last two years.

Incidentally, if anyone has a problem with invasive willows the way I did, the woody plant and vine Roundup works well for getting rid of those, too.

dode - did you do anything in particular to get virginia trained to climb the fence...?