IVY

[sime42]

So these are photos of some of the amazing ancient trees in Savernake Forest, Marlborough, Wiltshire. It's a great place to visit, my first time and I was fairly blown away.
There's one of these monsters almost everywhere you look! I've looked it up;- apparently there are an estimated 4500 ancient or veteran trees in the forest. It's a huge area but still, the concentration is much higher than anywhere else I think.

[Mick Dempsey]

Ok great, nice photos.

 

So what’s the ivy thing about?

[sime42]

Anyway back to the subject. My question is about Ivy, good or bad? (I noticed that some of the trees mentioned above were heavily laden with Ivy, which surprised me as most of them seemed to be otherwise well looked after).
I'm convinced that if left alone it will eventually kill any tree that it's on. I've spoken to various people about this over the years but there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer. Some are adamant that the ivy will not kill a tree.
So it'd be interesting to hear the consensus amoungst you guys on here. What do you all think?

[daltontrees]

The people who are adamant that ivy will not kill a tree must either be blind or not been looking at trees for very long. Ivy, good for habitat, bad for trees. Every photon of light that ivy absorbs is a photon not going into the tree's energy reserves. The ivy creeps out a little further every year. It makes development of dormant or adventitious buds nearly impossible for a tree, and when natural breakages occur the tree cannot react normally to pruduce new structure below a break that is already ivy clad. Infested trees often just have a few twigs at the extemities. Only elongation sees off light starvation. So stems end up too narrow for their length, breakages ensue. The downward spiral continues. Ivy creates wind resistance in winter when deciduous trees would otherwise have greater chances of surviving strong winds. Etc. etc.

[sime42]

Nicely put there DT. Ta. That's what I've always thought but was too lazy to write that much! Light starvation is the obvious killer, but I wonder if the Ivy steals the trees nutrients and water as well?
Ivy is also bad for Tree Surgeons, I hate the stuff with a passion! I've come to dread jobs with it on the tree. Can be downright dangerous at times as well, when it's so thick that you can't actually see the tree trunk/branch itself. It's my personal policy to get rid of it wherever I see it. I normally cut it all around the tree to leave a clear band of bark. It's really annoying when the customer insists on leaving it intact.
I was hoping to see some arguments as to why it's a good thing, apart from as habitat value. Though that seems unlikely judging by the first response from DT.
I used to work with a guy, (forester/tree surgeon);- he didn't think it was bad for the tree. I suspect others may think the same;- I've seen jobs where the tree has obviously been worked on, (reduced, thinned, lifted etc), but the ivy covering it has been left alone. Is this just down to time/profit or the scope of the job spec? Seems short sighted to me.

[Mick Dempsey]

We got told at college that it doesn’t harm the tree at all (Merrist wood ‘95) raised a few eyebrows at the time.

 

As Jules says how can another plant with that amount of leaf and it’s roots sharing the same space not be in some sort of competition with the tree? 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Mick Dempsey

[sime42]

I heard somewhere that it only goes for sickly or dying host trees anyway. That's bollox as well!

[sime42]

Regarding the roots. I've got a feeling that it can develop some kind of arial roots part way up. Anyone else seen this? I've treated afflicted trees before (as described previously) only to come back at a later date to see the bloody stuff still alive at the top. Maybe it can support itself with these secondary roots if it needs too.

[Mick Dempsey]

 Think sickly trees are easier to overcome because of the lack of leaf cover etc.

 

eg. Dead elms covered in hedgerows.

[sime42]

True.