Anyone who is toying with the idea of planting ivy as ground cover, for facade greening or as a hedge should think twice beforehand. Ivy is not only poisonous, but also tends to spread rapidly in the garden. Destroying him later is not easy and involves a lot of effort.

If you want to destroy ivy permanently, you have to do hard physical work

This is how ivy spreads in the garden

Ivy spreads in the garden in several ways:

  • climbing tendrils
  • root
  • Berry

Young plants form climbing tendrils that not only cover the ground, but also climb up fences, house walls and trees. Offshoots arise from the underground roots.

Fruit grows only on the old form of the ivy. If ivy sows itself, you will find new plants everywhere in the garden. Therefore, cut off the berries in spring to prevent self-seeding. This also makes sense because the fruits are highly toxic and can be dangerous for children and pets.

When ivy becomes a weed

If ivy is not pruned regularly, over time the tendrils will take over the entire garden. Some gardeners therefore also count the climbing plant among the weeds. Therefore, the number one measure to control ivy is pruning.

Once ivy has settled properly in the garden, it is very difficult to destroy. Usually you can only get rid of the plague with a lot of manual work.

To get rid of ivy, you must completely remove all shoots. In addition, digging up the underground roots is urgently needed. This is time-consuming, since the root depth can be up to 60 centimeters and more. You can only get rid of the ivy completely if you pull even the smallest root parts out of the ground.

Can ivy be eradicated with certain means?

Chemicals like Roundup glyphosate or other killers are often recommended to kill ivy.

Not only are these agents harmful to the soil and groundwater, they also do not permanently eradicate ivy completely.

Almost always only the aerial parts of the ivy are killed by the means. The poison rarely reaches the roots, so the ivy will sprout again after a while.

Do not put ivy on the compost

Once you have cut back the ivy completely and dug up the roots completely, remove the cuttings from the garden immediately. As soon as the substrate is moist enough, the plant will sprout again. That's why ivy doesn't belong in the compost if you really want to get rid of the plant.

tips

Even if you grow ivy in pots on the balcony or terrace, it can spread. Tendrils hanging down to the ground develop roots after some time. They get into the ground through the drainage holes in the container and continue to grow there.

Category:

Indoor plants