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Gardening in New Zealand

Getting rid of Convolvulus and Ivy

19 years ago

I've got neighbours who do not maintain a bit of their property which is next to mine. It is invested with convolvulus and ivy and I want to get rid of them. The area is pretty easy for me to get to but difficult for the neighbour to reach. I'd like to get in there and get rid of these invasive pests because they are starting to encrouch on my garden. Any suggestions on what to use.... methods....

Victoria

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Comments (4)

suziebee
19 years ago
Hi Victoria, try Woody Weedkiller, the active ingredients being 24D and Dicamba. If you do not wish to use sprays, you don't have much choice but dig them out. Now is a good time because the soil should be easy to work. Another way is to pull out the worst of it, then spray the new growth with roundup. If spraying isn't an option, paint the Roundup on to the new growth.
vetivert8
19 years ago
For Calystegia (the white bindweed) try putting down a thick layer of untreated sawdust, spread 30-60cm wide and 10-15cm deep, starting at the fenceline and into your place. The roots come up into the sawdust and it becomes quite easy to haul out yards of the stuff.

If it's growing through the root system of a well-established shrub (it usually does!) break off the stem close to the ground so it doesn't make enough growth to get to flowering. Cautiously try painting it with the prepared Roundup, using one of those applicator sponges and your hands in plastic gloves. Allow about eight hours of dry weather. If it rains early, you could be faced with a sick shrub and a sniggering bindweed.

If you've got the blue morning glory (you can see it growing beside the railway line on the way out to Johnsonville) - Ipomoea - do the same.

The bindweed likes a silky soil and gets a bit discouraged with grit or sawdust. Not quite as rampant but it does persist.

Ivy. English? Or Cape? Or German?

For English ivy - rip and snip - and patrol relentlessly for seedlings if the parent plants are old enough to produce berries. You can grub out older plants. Personally, I haven't noticed them coming away from the roots, provided that the above-ground growing point has been removed. If you can't get at the root system, then painting with a brushweed killer is probably your answer BUT BE VERY CAREFUL because some of those products do linger in the soil.

The two Senecios that climb and look a bit ivy-ish are reasonably easy to eradicate by cut and pull, but re-infestation is possible if they're found upwind of where you live.
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After cardboard is laid, much of the roots will die. When one of the roots does not die and manages to punch through, your choices are restricted. You can not dig it up without ruining the seal, and if you pull it, there will be more coming from that spot. It is the downside of the very organic method of cardboard+mulch. Yes, touching up with a paint brush is not organic. I also still have more than half of the smallest bottle of Round up you can buy. I bought it in 1998, and I never sprayed it, only applied with a paint brush. With ivy and poison ivy it is a must-have backup. In the case of poison ivy (my #1 enemy) you can not even dig the thing out without risking an ER visit, and the local largest PI vines are (or rather, were) thicker than my forearm and 100 ft long, and a root system to match. After you cut one such thing, no matter how much cardboard and mulch you put down, there will be dozens of shoots punching through within a 20 ft radius for a couple of years.
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We bought a house three months ago, its great. I scoped out a choice spot for a rose garden BUT it is was covered by ivy and several choked trees never given a fair shot a life. I have chopped down those trees (mercy killing) and removed the debris. Over the last several weeks I am now getting down on my knees ripping out the vast network of vainlike root system blow ground. I have also enlisted the help of my chickens (professional plant/ground diggers) during the week to pick out the sprouts coming up. My question to you all is, this spot is 15 feet from my well(our source of water) is this too close to use Round-Up? If not, how long after my applications can I start planting my rose garden. If it is too close then what is the BEST recommendation at this point (burn, black tarp-sounds time consuming) Today, I also was out using a mattock digging up this ivy-this is back breaking work. Your thoughts?
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Hello, I live along a creek in No.Cal. that runs into the county reservoir. We are in severe drought conditions. The creek dries as soon as rain stops. I have a long narrow 4 acres that completely parallel the creek 1 side & road the other. I have huge thickets of wild blackberry & massive amts. of poison oak & stinging nettle. 10 yrs. ago I had goats; otherwise I have left it all alone so wildlife has refuse. Now medically unemployable & have become more interested in hurgenkulture. I want to cut the dead oaks, over grown 50'Xmas trees and place them along the creek bed. I will being cutting the willow trees & bringing up to dry. If I spray brush be gone numerous times, when poison oak is dried & dead I lay the logs in piles over where p.o. was, cover with dried willow sticks & other dead sticks, compost, leaves, manure, dirt a few inches of top soil; will the poison oak grow through into my hugelkultur gardens. Ultimately my goal is to plant almost 1/10 mile of creekbed with these beds. They are drought resistant gardens for as the trees stumps hold water & release it they eliminate almost all watering. I plan to plant gardens most distant from the house with blueberry, currants, gooseberry and grapes. Then potatoes, onion, garlic, melons, squash and finally nearest gardens with tomato, peas,beans, and other daily veggies. Would it be best to use product that sterilizes creek bank soil killing poison oak, nettle & blackberry first? My husband is a firefighter & on the big wildland fires has gotten systemic poison oak. I always pray he doesn't get it in his lungs. Many of the firefighters have become highly sensitized. Thank you, Moni
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suziebee
19 years ago
Roundup, once it touches soil becomes non-active, so do not worry about it damaging nearby shrubs. The sawdust solution is really good for wondering dew as well.
vleachman
Original Author
19 years ago
Thanks for the replies Suziebee and Vetivert8 - appreciate the input - I'll tackle this on the next fine weekend....

Victoria

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