Get it! Tina FTW! - Absentee

What is wrong with English Ivy? - Ian May

Ian, it's invasive here. I think I'm going to add vinegar to the mix, and possibly a bit of bleach. I don't want to use ammonia because that provides available nitrogen which is actually a good thing (GAH!). If I use bleach I'll keep it at 10% and will have to be careful to apply only to the leaves and not get any on the ground. - FFing Enigma

that's all wayyyyyy too confusing for me.....if it wasn't near the house I'd just say torch it :P - Ⓐ ☠ slayerboy ☠ Ⓐ

LOL! Mike, it's near EVERYTHING. The thing with ivy is it has a wax coating on the leaves, so I'm thinking boiling hot water + soap + vinegar = dissolves the wax coating. Sensible, no? Oh, I know! I'll pour the boiling surfactant mix on them willy nilly and then spray them with the 10% bleach solution I keep for sanitizing. Do it in the morning and then let the sun bake it in. - FFing Enigma

I only asked as it looks so pretty growing up the side of old English cottages. Actually though it's not always a good thing there either, as it promotes dampness into the walls. - Ian May

Before I moved into this house, I loved the stuff. Evergreen, low growing, cute leaves. But I've got it everywhere and if left unchecked it'll choke out shrubs, kill full grown trees, and cause damage to houses it climbs upon. Actually, there's a dead and ivied tree that straddles the property line here: perhaps I'll brave the snakes and take a picture of it tomorrow. - FFing Enigma

Trish: do you have any left in the trees? You should be able to cut the vines at the base and the tendrils in the trees will die off. - FFing Enigma

http://www.nps.gov/plants... I spent about a half an hour looking for a natural way to kill it to no avail. I'm wondering if a black ground-cover cloth might work? After all doesn't it need light to live, that would seem to be the least chemical way to attack it, though prob the most expensive. - InPerpetualMotion(Gina k)

Between the ivy and the periwinkle, I'm up to my eyeballs in 'quick spreading groundcovers'. My fingers are crossed that tomorrow's experiment will prove fruitful. - FFing Enigma

Oh Tina, good luck with your efforts! - Janet

Herbicidal maniac! - Michael McKean

BWaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahha!!! I've just posted something about using alcohol to stunt plant growth, and concentrations over 10% are supposed to be toxic. So tomorrow's tonic is a bath of boiling water + soap + vinegar to dissolve the wax coating with a follow-up spray of a bleach and alcohol mix. - FFing Enigma

Tina, be careful, that by the time you finish, you don't end up with a mixture that's explosive... literally. LOL - Ian May

Dave just said the same thing! As long as I'm not putting ammonia in with my bleach, I should be safe. - FFing Enigma

Bleach plus alcohol equals Ethanol = Gasoline - http://www63.wolframalpha.com/input... - Brent - Yes I am

The results page I'm getting just shows the properties of the two and doesn't show the resulting compound. And I'm seeing where bleach disinfection is often directly followed by ethanol disinfection in hospital environments in order to prevent corrosion of the stainless steel. - FFing Enigma

Tina, another great place to check mixture. The msds page is required by all healthcare facilites for their workers exposure information as well as other things: http://hazard.com/msds/ - Janet

just put any qualms to one side and use Round Up on it. - John Hardy

Sounds fun, I suggest a Nine Inch Nails soundtrack to enhance the experience - Ryan Miller from Nambu

@John Hardy, I can attest to the fact Round Up feeds ivy, makes it stronger and harder to kill. I even injected the stuff in the main root system and the stuff didn't die. - Janet

wow. I've only used it on out of control bamboo and it did the job but I'll defer to your experience there, Janet. - John Hardy