You’ve seen the yard signs and the many backyards choked with ivy. Ivy will climb trees, steal their sunlight, weaken their limbs and put lots of extra weight on these usually sturdy structures. All it takes is a Georgia ice storm and CRACK! You’ve got a fallen tree. Once the ivy climbs, it flowers and then, it seeds. Ivy that usually creeps slowly along the ground will sprout up in areas that didn’t have any before. Thick patches of ivy become home to snakes, chipmunks, and other vermin, making them unsafe for children and pets. One Sandy Springs client reported that her dog was bitten by a copperhead while walking past ivy on a street curb. When she took her dog to the veterinarian, they told her that they treat as many as FIVE copperhead bites a day!

In our experience, English ivy can often be effectively removed in two to three grazing treatments within a year. The age of ivy, season, amount of rainfall, and especially the amount of sunlight will play a major role in determining the number of grazing passes. The initial grazing pass will remove leaves and petioles and some tender vines. The small amount of reserves kept in the shallow root system will be spent to make new leaves, which we remove as soon as they appear and boom! No more root reserves, and no leaves to photosynthesize to create more. Essentially, the plant is starved to death.

City Sheep and Goat can clear the ivy from the ground and lower trunks of trees, making in very easy to see vines that need to be cut to kill the ivy higher up in the trees. Clients can undertake that project on their own, or we can do followup upon request. Have questions about English ivy removal? Contact us for more information.