Take Ivy Off Trees
Ivy can destroy the incredible trees that give your communities and yard character and shade. What seems like a lovely little green plant can entice mosquitoes, strangle trees, increase decay, and bring older trees down during severe storms. Once ivy is in the tree canopy, it can impede sunlight from the trees’ leaves. Dense ivy cover robs the tree’s bark of customary contact with microorganisms, air, and vies with the tree for water and nutrients. Will ivy harm trees? Yes, ivy is a threat. But you can defeat it with easy landscaping work.
Removing Ivy from Trees
Step One
Use garden shears to remove the ivy at the base of the trunk of all infected trees. The aim is to disconnect the ivy vines from their feeding source so they’ll die. If the ivy isn’t dense, you can pull it with your hands from the soil, particularly the day after it rains. If the ivy vines are an inch or thicker, you’ll have to meticulously saw through the vine and delicately remove it from the bark. Be sure to wear long sleeves and gloves, so you don’t run the risk of getting poison ivy. You can attempt to remove the ivy during the winter when poison ivy is less infectious.
Step Two
Pull all ivy out of the ground from the base of the tree. This safeguards the tree from potential infestations. If the soil is hard and the ivy vines keep breaking, wait until after it rains to remove them. The cleared space lets you see any developing ivy from roots you overlooked. Arborists recommend putting at least three feet of wood chip mulch around the tree to keep moisture in the soil and prevent mowers from getting too close to the roots.
Step Three
Once you cut it, leave the ivy on the tree. Don’t pull it off since you might hurt the tree. Ivy will mix into the tree bark once it’s cut. Check up your tree every winter to make sure the ivy stays off. If this sounds like too much for you to handle, you can always schedule an appointment with an Orchard Park tree care professional to remove the ivy.
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