Vines and Tree Health

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When clients persist in the idea of removal of an Ivy, i propose to cut the base and leave the removal up to time or a good pull after a year or two.

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do you mean hedera helix, or rhus toxica? Either can pull off surprisingly well, sometimes after making vertical cuts if it is a mat.

And sometimes it is a nightmare, yes. Good point about sunscald--this is the best time of year to remove it, in th enorthern hemisphere. white latex paint.

The values of the viewer make vines vile, or valuable. Most i run into I leave, or culture. never been to indonesia, but have seen vines overtake trees all over--not minimizing that. Wisteria is the worst pest here. Bouganvilleas are skin-shredders, no doubt.
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the true mimosa is a tropical american..common names are very funny...Albizzia Julibrissin is from persia to central china...I think that mix up occurred during the introduction of the plant into this country.

also please note that latin is used in science because it is no longer an active language so therefore no one can motifiy the words (such as through slang) and therefore it is consistent in its usage to all those who chose to use it.
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Good point about sunscald--this is the best time of year to remove it, in th enorthern hemisphere. white latex paint.


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Guy - would you mind explaining about the white latex paint? Seen it done, but I know nothing about it.

Thanks
 
Remove that English Ivy when it is green, is all i have to say.

I spent 10 hours in a 75 ft sequoia sempervirens removing (it went almost all the way to the top) one that had been cut at the base at least 6 years prior. It has some stems down at the bottom that were 4-5 inches thick! The remaining ivy, which had clearly distorted the tree's growth and ripped a few branches out, was hard like a rock. I brought a 30 in. prybar on a string into the tree. Ridiculous. Scoring cut, pry, scoring cut, pry. Outer layers of the bark peeled off with some parts where the aerial roots made it in. It wasn't very fun, but i enjoyed it nevertheless. Now when i have green ivy to remove, it actually is a joy in comparison, just peels off like rope.
Cutting the vine at the base and letting it die up there can end up being a real pain, if you ever run into that choice, REMOVE IT!
pete
 
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The best place for vines is on the infeed of a chipper chute!

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the tn state prisoners used to have to chip poison ivy off the trees in high use areas of the tn state parks. if that isn't a deterrent for knocking over a gas station; i don't know what is.
 
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The best place for vines is on the infeed of a chipper chute!

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the tn state prisoners used to have to chip poison ivy off the trees in high use areas of the tn state parks. if that isn't a deterrent for knocking over a gas station; i don't know what is.

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LOL So true! Nature can be cruel.
 
I do english ivy exactly like Jeff does. When it's a year dead it practically falls off. Girdling those big stems at the base is a pain to do without taking lots of cork.

Whatever mechanism or group of mechanisms it may be, english ivy causes premature death, mostly in pines and maple from what I've seen. And it really is invasive, almost as hard as bamboo to eradicate.

We have a women here with 18 goats, a traoler and a portable electric fence. For $225/day she'll bring her goats to feed on your kudzu, english ivy, wisteria, etc. They run through about 2500 square feet a day and she stays pretty busy.
 
I spent over 10 hours removing english ivy from a 100', 2 codominant stem white oak. The ivy goes all the way to the top on everything, heavy girdling. It was volunteer work for a wildlife sanctuary. Hot summer Georgia day. So I'm digging for expertise in removal techniques. Work had already been started a few months back and the ivy is dead.IMG_20160716_51805.webp
 
yoyoman said:
I spent over 10 hours removing english ivy from a 100', 2 codominant stem white oak. The ivy goes all the way to the top on everything, heavy girdling. It was volunteer work for a wildlife sanctuary. Hot summer Georgia day. So I'm digging for expertise in removal techniques. Work had already been started a few months back and the ivy is dead.View attachment 38790
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Wowzer Richard, look like a PITA! I admire your perseverance, especially volunteering for this.
 
I've had a lot of experience removing Dalbergia ecastophyllum (Coin Vine) from mangroves. The base of the vine can be as thick as my forearm where it grows out of the ground, and it spreads like wildfire through mangrove thickets, making it a real pain to prune them.

I've found that cutting the vine as close to grade as possible and butt-tying it to a 1/2" rigging line on a 5/1 fiddleblock set anchored to an upland tree or my truck, is an extremely effective removal technique. I don't know about other species of vines, but with coin vine, the curly tendrils break and give way before any damage is done to the trees they're growing on. Two people on the end of the fiddleblock line and it all comes out in one piece. Just make sure you don't fall on your keister when it suddenly gives way!

It works a treat with coin vine. On other species, your results may vary.
 
cerviarborist said:
I've had a lot of experience removing Dalbergia ecastophyllum (Coin Vine) from mangroves. The base of the vine can be as thick as my forearm where it grows out of the ground, and it spreads like wildfire through mangrove thickets, making it a real pain to prune them.

I've found that cutting the vine as close to grade as possible and butt-tying it to a 1/2" rigging line on a 5/1 fiddleblock set anchored to an upland tree or my truck, is an extremely effective removal technique. I don't know about other species of vines, but with coin vine, the curly tendrils break and give way before any damage is done to the trees they're growing on. Two people on the end of the fiddleblock line and it all comes out in one piece. Just make sure you don't fall on your keister when it suddenly gives way!

It works a treat with coin vine. On other species, your results may vary.
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Thanks for that suggestion, I like that idea. The lower sections had been removed before I got there.
I could not help as I was using my Silky saw and prybar, there has to be a better way.
I've done some epiphytes and jungle vines but nothing this covered.
 
We deal with english ivy quite a bit. There are a few ways of doing it, but it's all a pain in the ass. Ivy will graft to it's self as it wraps around the trunk. If it's a low value tree out of normal meandering range, just strip the ivy as high as you can reach, and leave it.. It's ugly but in time most of it will come out on it's own.

If it has to come out, make sure you get a very good safe tie in. As you ascend up the tree slice vertically up the trunk. Every branch union slice around the radius. Once you get into the tips of the ivy start ripping it off by hand peeling it downwards below you. You should get to a point where it starts to peel like a banana. Get your self between the banana and the peel and start jumping to keep that peel action going.

Plan on it taking twice as long as your longest expectation, and watch your ropes! It's not too bad on a broadleaf, or on the lower trunk of a conifer, but once it's up in the branches of a doug fir, is where it gets really really bad! Watch for bugs, and have fun...
 
evo said:
We deal with english ivy quite a bit. There are a few ways of doing it, but it's all a pain in the ass. Ivy will graft to it's self as it wraps around the trunk. If it's a low value tree out of normal meandering range, just strip the ivy as high as you can reach, and leave it.. It's ugly but in time most of it will come out on it's own.

If it has to come out, make sure you get a very good safe tie in. As you ascend up the tree slice vertically up the trunk. Every branch union slice around the radius. Once you get into the tips of the ivy start ripping it off by hand peeling it downwards below you. You should get to a point where it starts to peel like a banana. Get your self between the banana and the peel and start jumping to keep that peel action going.

Plan on it taking twice as long as your longest expectation, and watch your ropes! It's not too bad on a broadleaf, or on the lower trunk of a conifer, but once it's up in the branches of a doug fir, is where it gets really really bad! Watch for bugs, and have fun...
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Thanks @evo, so keep it green?
 
Wild grape vines & poison ivy were a scourge when I bought 12 acres in NE Ohio.
Ten acres is designated as "forestry" by Ohio.
Some (a few) of the grape vines were 4" diam. at the base.

The grape vines were killed by a specialist; cost was supplemented by Ohio Div. of Forestry.
He cut a 2' out of the base (so it was easy to see what was not cut); then applied Tordon.

In the yard and around the perimeter, I tried pulling the vines out.
I would even wrap the vine under my butt, and "jump down" on it.
Only relatively small vines would come out.
In both summer (leaves on trees), and fall (no leaves), I was doing significant damage to the tree branches.

I decided to just leave them, let them decay, and fall out naturally.

After all, how long could it take ?

The answer was a surprisingly long time !
I was picking up nasty vine debris after every wind storm for at least 10 years !
 
Interesting topic. I had a client ask me about english ivy growing up a Douglas for if he should get it removed or not. I didn't really know but i told him it could potentially kill the tree and we should get rid of it eventually as it wasn't too thick around or high up the tree.
 
Doubtful Hedera would Kill a doug fir. Any vine is easy to maintain by pruning it x' high every Y years.

Inspection can usually be done by just pruning the vine, remove the leaves, not total removal. I would not believe 10 PhD's who said it typically needed to be removed--especially if they work for a company that has a high man-hour rate, and most especially if they did not have a high awareness of biological and ecological processes and values.
Huge aesthetic value too

IOW Consider the source before drinking the koolaid!
 
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