How do I get rid of trumpet vine and English ivy?

Question

The roots are vicious! They choked my salvia.

Janet Pizaro · Answer

Unfortunately the only way to get rid of this is to pull it out. If you use any form of a total vegetation killer the remaining plants and or grass will also die. If there is nothing else there then you can use the chemical.

Dianne · Answer

My neighbour put salt around the roots  of the trumpet vine and watered it quite well and kept doing this until the plant died.  As for my english ivy in my own yard, I diligently kept pulling it out by the roots.   It took a long time and you need to keep going back to catch the stray runners.

Lol5948017 · Answer

The same....use rock salt. Dig a little moat around the base of the trumpet vine and pour the rock salt in. Water a little each day if you still see the rock salt. I also took 30 minutes each day to cut back the vines. I got rid of 14 of these vines when I bought my home. It was jungle out there, lol!

Vickie Norwood · Answer

Brush  and tree killer

Carol mattson · Answer

If it's a LARGE patch of ivy I'll tell you how my husband went about it. Ivy was close to 40 years old so there were layers and layers of vines and roots to take out. We started by mowing the area with a mulching lawn mower. Leaves were all gone! Then we rented a rear-tined garden tiller. It was powerful enough to at lease loosen and cut the multi - layered roots into shorter sections. It took many passes with the tiller to do this. We then removed (as we worked) as many of the 'chunks' of roots as we could. We then used our small front-tined garden tiller that helped loosen and take out more vines until we removed all visible roots!! A garden rake and shovel/spade were our 'right-hand helpers'! We had thought about using Round Up to kill it , but even if it was dead, the vines and roots would still be there. This was undoubtedly the hardest 'garden task' I have ever done! Looks nice now and sod will be put down a.s.a. p. Good luck -- just don't expect to get it done in a day or two!

Lynn Vandever · Answer

Pulling it up by the roots will take you years. Roundup works very will. If it's mixed with other flowers put a trash bag over the plants you want or cover with something the spray won't penetrate. Being as the ivy comes up from the roots to spread, find enough to spray and it will kill most of it. When that dies back spray any that hasn't been affected. Just be careful of letting the wind carry it to plants you want to keep.

Lisa Montecalvo Bourret · Answer

If want to keep to safer methods I recommend vinegar and salt. Boiling water works too.

Ree · Answer

oh my! If you lived in my area (Birmingham, AL), I'd come cut it down o you - fo the cuttings! dunno how the roots could be 'dissolved' -

Pat Croley · Answer

A good weed killer will kill the roots.....kind of slow but it will work. You have to keep spraying as the plants come back if they are voracious but it will work. Digging is such hard work. We have had the same problem but with dew berries that are so rough on your feet and legs. They have long and strong roots but we are getting it under control slowly. Continue to cut the English ivy to the ground if you don't want it to come back. The constant cutting will not allow the roots to get any nourishment. Slow also.

Sue6785573 · Answer

Why would you want to? Control it with trellises or borders.

Karen · Answer

I had a patch of English Ivy in my side yard. It had to be 15 yards in diameter. It was lovely and I would have kept it but it butted up against woods and would become infested with weeds and poison ivy. Cleaning it out was impossible as I would end up needing a dose of steroids for the rash. I used a hose end sprayer and Roundup poison ivy/tough brush killer. One application and everything was dead (unfortunately the English Ivy as well). I left it alone for a year and then planted grass seed. Now it just blends in with the rest of the yard. You may have to sacrifice the surrounding salvia but it is worth it.