How to remove ivy without damaging your lawn or garden

Ivy may look charming, but it can damage your lawn and garden if it’s not controlled.

While some types of ivy can be attractive in certain settings, it can quickly lose its charm when it starts taking over your yard and lawn. At that point, it can become an unwanted nuisance that steals nutrients, sunlight, and water from the other plants in your landscape. And when poison ivy enters the conversation, the situation is much more than just a simple nuisance. But ivy isn’t always easy to remove once it establishes itself, and it’s especially difficult to get rid of without harming your lawn or plants.

Ahead, our experts explain how to eradicate ivy from your yard without causing extensive damage.

Meet Our Expert

• Galen Gates, horticulturist, consultant, professor, and contributor to more than 90 books on plants
• Teresa Watkins, landscape designer, garden author, and syndicated radio host of Better Lawns and Gardens
• Teri Speight, landscape gardener, gardening coach, podcast host, and co-author of The Urban Garden

Related: How to Safely Remove Poison Ivy From Your Yard

Identifying Types of Ivy

There are a few types of plants with the common name ivy, and they are all distinct species, unrelated to one another. Before treating ivy, it is helpful to know the type you’re dealing with.

English Ivy

English ivy (Hedera helix) can be a beautiful vine, with star-shaped young leaves and unlobed mature leaves. It will happily grow on the ground and fill in everywhere as a ground cover—choking out other plants in the process—or it will take to the skies and climb up various textured surfaces. It can be invasive in the right conditions.

Poison Ivy

A well-known plant to avoid, poison ivy (Toxicodendron) causes contact dermatitis in a large percentage of people. It’s often less of an issue in lawns because it typically grows on the edges of woods and undisturbed areas. Poison ivy has sets of three leaflets, and they turn bright colors in the fall.

Ground Ivy

Actually a type of mint (which explains its spreading habit), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea) has small scalloped leaves and little blue-purple flowers. Unlike English ivy and poison ivy, ground ivy isn’t a vine, and it’s not toxic, but it will spread to create a ground cover.

How to Remove Ivy Without Harming Your Yard

How you treat ivy depends on the type you’re growing. Here, experts share their go-to methods for removing English, poison, and ground ivy.

Removing English Ivy

There are several ways to remove English ivy. “The quickest and most thorough approach is to dig out the ivy with a shovel, making sure to remove all rhizomes at and below the soil surface. Watch for new vines to appear and pull them promptly if any roots remain,” says landscape designer Teresa Watkins.

If herbicides are needed to complete the job, horticulturist Galen Gates suggests properly prepping the plant. “English ivy has thick, slick leaves, so herbicides do not readily adhere to it. If spraying, you can add dishwashing detergent, which helps the spray adhere to the leaf,” he says.

Another option is solarization—the process of covering plants with plastic and letting the sun kill them—but there’s a caveat. “Solarization cannot be used in landscape beds with healthy plants, unless you would like to remove the whole bed,” says Watkins. “Solarization can take six to eight weeks and may not effectively remove the entire root system.”

Removing Ground Ivy

You can sometimes safely combat ground ivy by altering your landscape to create less-than-ideal conditions for this plant. “This common weed is most often seen in moist soils and shady conditions,” says Gates. “You can lessen its establishment or re-establishment by minimizing watering or increasing drainage in the area.” Ground ivy thrives in shade, so Gates also recommends limbing nearby trees to let in more sunlight. If this doesn’t work, he says a broadleaf spray may be necessary, as pulling ground ivy can be tedious.

Removing Poison Ivy

Because it’s so important to avoid contact with poison ivy, spraying can be easier than manually removing the plants. If spraying with an herbicide, Gates recommends doing so when there is little to no wind, such as in early morning or evening, and never if temperatures are above 85 degrees Fahrenheit. “Herbicide sprays can travel over a mile and will do enormous damage,” he says.

Be careful when removing poison ivy and English ivy, as both can trigger allergic reactions in sensitive people. “Wear long-sleeved shirts, gloves, and a mask while removing the ivy,” says Watkins.

Gates adds that you should remove and wash contaminated clothing after dealing with poison ivy. “Anything used to remove poison ivy should be cleaned thoroughly, because the plant’s oils are invisible and can remain active for years on clothing, shoes, and equipment,” he says.

Mistakes That Can Harm Your Yard When Removing Ivy

Avoid these common mistakes and help protect your yard from the presence or removal of ivy.

• Using a non-selective herbicide: Non-selective herbicides, such as glyphosate, can be effective at killing ivy, but they may kill any remaining grass in your lawn, too. When feasible, mechanical weed removal is safer and highly effective.
• Being too aggressive: Being gentle goes a long way in protecting the rest of your landscape while eradicating ivy. “Yanking ivy from around the base of shrubs can damage other shallow roots,” says landscape gardener Teri Speight. She also notes that pulling ivy off trees can expose the trunks to pests and disease. “It’s better to cut ivy away at the base and allow the ivy to fall away from the trunk as it dies,” she says. “Leaving even the tiniest bit of root and sometimes leaves allows ivy to regenerate with stronger roots.”
• Ignoring basic lawn maintenance: A healthy lawn can more effectively fight ivy invasions. “Beautiful lawns are easily maintained with sufficient fertilizer (the best method to keep weeds at bay), and watering on average 1 inch a week, depending on where you are,” says Gates.

How to Restore Your Lawn After Ivy Removal

Once your ivy is more or less eradicated, your work isn’t quite done. The next step is to help restore your lawn’s vigor so it can fight against future ivy growth. “Lawn restoration post-ivy removal requires patience,” says Speight. “The soil is often compacted and depleted of nutrients, which can make it difficult for grass to set roots.”

Gates notes that re-seeding your lawn will be necessary after ivy removal. Use a hoe or rototiller (depending on the size of the area) to help expose the soil so the grass seed can establish. Spread the seeds over your lawn and keep the ground consistently moist for two to three weeks until germination.

Read the original article on Martha Stewart