How to kill ivy/mint/pachysandra?

[beaujolais]

How to kill ivy/mint/pachysandra?

I've got a set of the most aggressive plants in my front yard (bought it that way). Right now, those areas are a bit bare, as the gardners pulled all of them up, as I want to get rid of them. But the darn ivy, mint, etc., are starting to reappear. Any advice? Can you use Roundup on somewhat bare soil? I'm not psyched about using Roundup, as I've got a youngish son but I can probably keep him away from it and I really want to get rid of these obnoxious plants for good.

Thanks.

 

[TooPatient]

Kill? Mint or ivy

Sorry. Just spent a good 3+ hours out Sunday dealing with the same problem.

We started with ivy growing under our front steps/porch (and into the garage), all along the front rockery (that we didn't even know was a rockery for the first few years in the house), around the bases (and up the trunks) of several trees, in a big pot being trained up more trees and along the fence.

We are STILL ripping ivy out. Inexpensive hedge trimmers have helped. Cut the stuff. Get it to where you can grab and pull handfuls. Pull as much as you can. Dig what won't pull. Repeat faithfully Every. Last. Time. It. Grows. Back.
The good news is that there is MUCH MUCH less than there used to be. We are making progress. The bad news is that we will likely have ivy keep appearing for years (decades) to come. A neighbor around the corner said that she had ivy keep popping up after 20+ years in her house.


Mint is the same sort of thing. The people who owned the house before us planted lemon balm. It spread. Took over multiple garden boxes. Moved on into the front yard. Somehow got going in the back yard. It is ALL OVER!!!
Same thing. Pull. Dig. Pull. Pull some more.

Among the things we've tried are burning the stuff (giant blow-torch weed killer thing) and dousing it with gallons of vinegar. Kills most other stuff (including grass) but these two just keep on growing.


If anyone else knows of some great way to be rid of this stuff I will be SOOOOOOOoooooo happy! I am sick of pulling the stuff just to have it come back again.

 

[Madmadge]

New here, but I can help somewhat. Mint spreads by the root, so you need to kill that. Pulling it, doesn't do it. Roundup will work on these, but it needs to be sprayed on the foilage of the offending plant. Spraying it on the ground will not prevent new plants from coming up. If there are surrounding plants that you want to keep you can use the "glove of death" method - put a rubber glove on one of your hands first (for protection), then a cotton glove over it. Put some of the roundup in a container, then dunk your gloved fingers in it and touch the foilage of the plants you want eliminated. Be careful not to drip - you can also use a small paint brush as well. It does take some vigilance, but it does work.

 

[beaujolais]

Thanks so much, T.P. and M.M. (welcome M.M. ). I appreciate it.

Now, for the ivy, is it best to try to spray the leaves or try to keep pulling it up. My condolences to all of you with persistent plants.

 

[TooPatient]

Thanks so much, T.P. and M.M. (welcome M.M. ). I appreciate it.

Now, for the ivy, is it best to try to spray the leaves or try to keep pulling it up. My condolences to all of you with persistent plants.

I've never had luck with spraying ivy. The one section under our stairs is finally ivy free. Took pulling and then cutting & digging what wouldn't pull plus some ongoing pulling, but it seems to not be coming back this year. Yay!

we've been using hedge trimmers to get to where you can see the vines then having one pull a section while the other cuts as close to the ground where the vines get hung up. For big roots, leave a foot or so to grab while digging out.

 

[beaujolais]

Should I expect this to take years?

Thanks so much.

 

[TooPatient]

Should I expect this to take years?

Thanks so much.

If you've got time and energy (plus good loppers, hedge trimmer, and something to dig with) you can get it cleared pretty quickly. Depending on what you are working with, you will probably have to do maintenance sort of pulling for a few years (or more). We do have a couple of areas that are staying clear so it can be done.

We had a stretch about 70 feet long. Took about 3 days of 4 hours with 2 working and it is mostly cleared. Still have 10 feet or so of roots to dig out.

 

[House Cat]

Get all that you can pulled out. Make sure you get the main roots, you know, the really thick ones. Then smother the area with the lasagna gardening method (google it for instructions.) I've done this for my ivy infested front yard and it worked. I only pull out a straggler leaf or two each season.

The good thing about doing lasagna soil prep is that you will have beautiful soil to plant in...BUT, I wouldn't plant in it right away. I would allow the area to lie fallow at least through the summer season. Plant in the fall. ETA: Or even better, plant next year.



Round up isn't effective against Ivy because the plants have joints that actually block it from running through the entire stem, through to the roots. In other words, it has a defense mechanism against round up.

 

[TooPatient]

Get all that you can pulled out. Make sure you get the main roots, you know, the really thick ones. Then smother the area with the lasagna gardening method (google it for instructions.) I've done this for my ivy infested front yard and it worked. I only pull out a straggler leaf or two each season.

The good thing about doing lasagna soil prep is that you will have beautiful soil to plant in...BUT, I wouldn't plant in it right away. I would allow the area to lie fallow at least through the summer season. Plant in the fall. ETA: Or even better, plant next year.


Round up isn't effective against Ivy because the plants have joints that actually block it from running through the entire stem, through to the roots. In other words, it has a defense mechanism against round up.

We left our garden empty until the next summer too. It was much easier to pull out any ivy that tried to come back again. Just keep pulling as much of the roots as you can every time you see it start to come up.
We've still got a few big sections of garden to do. I'll have to look into the lasagna gardening!