English Ivy

[knowhair]

I have English Ivy growing on a hillside in my back yard. I do need something there to prevent erosion of the soil. However weeds do grow amoung the ivy,and I pull them out(they do tend to come out easy).Is there anything I can do to prevent the weeds from coming back,or at least cut down on my time pulling these weeds? I would try a concentrated weed control(Ortho, or Round Up),but I'm afraid it would kill the Ivy.The weed pulling is a real pain.I pull weeds every 3 weeks it seems. Thank you Tom

[Kay Lancaster]

That's probably not what you want if you're concerned about erosion.

mixture of species, some deep rooted, some less so, generally is much more efficacious.

[VMWOOD]

Try Preen or Preen & Green. Preen is a weed preventer & Preen & Green is a weed preventer plus fertilizer. We use it with great results. Get rid of all existing weeds and then work it into the soil according to directions. It is a pre-emergence so won't hurt any existing weeds (or plants) but prevents others from germinating and coming up.

Marv-Montezuma, IA

[Vox Humana]

The local radio garden show host claims that Round-Up will not kill English Ivy. You try that on a small area to see what happens. You could also pull the existing weed and then put down some Preen for Groundcover.

[axemanchris]

I have accidentaly sprayed some of my English Ivy with roundup while trying to control some other weeds. The ivy died.

Jacqui

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[Stephen Henning]

Research shows that English Ivy should be sprayed with a 2 or 3% solution of Roundup-Pro (glyphosate) when 3 to 5 fully expanded new leaves exist (early spring). Mature leaves are less receptive to such control so the timing is critical.

This same control works with black berries, greenbrier, and similar had to control waxy materials.

[Travis]

I used Round-Up to slow down ivy enough so I could pull out the bits that did not die.