Hi Debi..Common names can be a pain in the........! If you Google Grape Ivy, you'll find numerous nurseries who interchange the common name, Grape and Oak Leaf Ivy. But as far as being a true Ivy, nope. GI's are in the Cissus family. I'm thinking you're confusing Hedera Helix, common ivy..Is that it? There's a good number of plants in the Cissus family, but IMO, unlike edible grapes, Cissus rhombifolia/GI, will thrive in less sun than their relative, Cissus, 'grape/fruiting' plants. Grapes need sun to develop. GI doesnt' flower or fruit. If you read the post I listed on your other thread, 'Google links,' you'll see what I mean. Do you have a picture of your new GI? Debi, Grape Ivy was one of about 10 plants I started growing indoors, longgg ago. LOL. God, brings back memories. The first plant book I purchased is called, Hyponex Plants. I read, reread, and rereread that book from cover to cover, so often, the copy I now have is copy 3. The first books pages were worn and fell out of the binder. Copy two somehow was lost. Copy 3 was bought on Ebay for 1.00. As a newbie, I followed Hyponex instruction care to a T. Here's what it says about Grape Ivy. Grape Ivy, (Cissus rhombifolia) is thought to be a diehard. Actually, it only tolerates and survives neglect. To become a truly beautiful plant, which it should be, it has preferences worth catering to. Avoid severly dry soil and drafts of hot, dry air on the leaves. If you hang GI, do not hang in a warm, heated room. It will grow in a dry atmosphere if temps are on the cool side. Mist leaves daily, and shower with tepid water once a month to keep them clean. Kangaroo vine, a relative, is treated elsewhere in this book. Other cissus worth growing include, C. adenopoda, (fuzzy leaf) C. discolor, and C. striata, (mini) Light: Ideal is 2-3 hours of sun in winter: adapts to light in a north window. Grows well under fluorescent light. Since you're in z5, a north window, unless super-sunny, might not be adequate. Then again, if you allow GI to go dormant, (less water, no fert) it should be okay. Forceing a plant to grow while dormant will cause spindly growth, and possible disease. Good luck, and if you have a picture, please post..Toni

1 lawn grass going to seed 2 perhaps hawthorn seedling 3 ivy groundcover & Norway maple on left (both invasive in many parts of the country), rose of sharon 4 thistle if prickly, wild lettuce (Lactuca) if not 5 variegated vinca 6 don’t know what it is, but try a hand tool to scratch around and root it up before it gets larger. 7 nightshade, Solanum sp. Will seed around weedily 8 young ash tree 9 vinca 10 virginia creeper and ivy 11 young Norway maple probably (tear leaf and if sap milky, Norway) 12 ash tree seedling 13 P.I. A strong mix of glysophate herbicide used on whole area, reapplied when it has resprouted, and then followed by corrugated cardboard covered by mulch will get rid of most of it. Reapply glysophate ASAP as any new sprouts appear through the mulch. This has the advantage of covering up the old foliage with its still-there urushiol oil and keeping other weeds from sprouting as well as keeping the PI from getting any photosynthesis going. Soak effected clothing in Biz, wash twice with regular detergent. Wash skin with alcohol, soap, alcohol, soap. It is drying to skin, but will remove all PI oil. Wipe down shoes with alcohol. I can get rash again from clothes that weren’t adequately cleaned. Microwave a bowl of oatmeal and smear that on skin when cool for the ultimate relief. 1% cortisone creme works to reduce itch as well. (It took me most of a summer to figure out that our cat was wandering into the PI and then sitting on the furniture and I was getting it all over the back of my legs from Urushiol on the furniture.) 14 Virginia creeper and some more nightshade 15 Hosta (plain green at top) but not sure of viney thing, perhaps more nightshade 16 See comment for 6 17 sedge, a grass-like plant but not grass. Some varieties are ornamental, so if you like it, leave it. 18 not sure what it is, but a weed. It has seeds with fluff attached that will drift around and reseed if you let it get that far 19 Avens - weedy type probably 20 weed, but don’t know name - has tiny pink or white flowers 21 ivy - see note for 3 22 Virginia creeper spreads more than I like in my garden even though it's native 23 wild or black cherry (Prunus) seedling 24 red maple seedling 25 garlic mustard - don’t let it go to seed as it will increase exponentially. Has short tap root, so a narrow weeder or old screwdriver may help if you aren't getting the roots out 26 dandelion 27 If it is fuzzy, it probably isn’t a violet; it somehow doesn't look quite right 28 same as 9 Vinca 29 red oak group seedling - could be red oak, black oak 30 hosta - different variety than at top of 15 31 my sympathies! A suggestion that you start saving the cartons from your folks' move or collecting cartons at the grocery store as well as newspapers. As soon as you get an area cleared, put down cardboard if it is a large area or multiple layers of newspaper, folded as needed if you are working around plants (wet it down so it stays put) and then cover immediately with mulch. This will reduce more weeds sprouting since this whole yard most probably has a huge bank of weed seeds in the soil. The least expensive way to get mulch is by the truck load if there is somewhere you can have it dumped and then wheel-barrow it to where you want it. (Some towns compost yard waste and residents can get mulch free or inexpensively as long as they pick it up.) When things are a bit under control, you can cut in a deep V edge between the lawn and the mulched areas or get some of the plastic edging and dig a slot to bury that along the edge. Once these things are done, you can decide if you want to do some planting, probably next season. Just remember where the PI used to be so that you don't get it from the dead plants and roots. PS - the cookie recipe would be more than welcome to me!

I have English ivy on a steep hill (I also dreamed of eliminating it when we first moved in, but realized nothing else would grow under the Norway maples and gave in.) For some reason it looked awful this year until about this week--similar to what you describe. Perhaps something about the winter conditions made it turn browner than usual. Anyway, I just noticed that the new growth has about covered the brown bits. Since I'm a zone warmer than you, perhaps yours will catch up in a week or two. If you do decide to cut it back, let me know how it goes. Mine is also very thick and matted, and I always wonder what that would look like.

put your hand over your pot .. fingers thru the plant .... if its small enough ... invert it ... and go to town spraying it ... you can be rather harsh with it.. short of physical damage to the leaves .... if you have more than one plant.. do them all at once ... and better if you do it.. away from where you otherwise keep them ... the utility sink.. or even bathtub or kitchen sink ... i mean really.. if you are going to dislodge them .. may as well run them down the drain ... and if you have other plants nearby.. treat them all ... i am wondering how you get rid of other plants .. buy new.. and still have the same problem .. whats that all about ... i would have expected that NOT to happen .... if these are very new plants.. i would be complaining to the seller ... ken