Entrenched Ivy on Mature ASH removal

[wyk]

Howdy folks. I was hoping I could get some suggestions on this old ash tree we have on the estate. It's not in any danger of destroying anything if it falls or decays, but we want to preserve it if possible.  I have done a few conservative cuts and prunings on this tree to slow the Ivy as the owner did not want to use herbicide at the time. But the ivy is just out of control and their roots are very tightly woven into one of the buttresses. I've convinced the owner to pursue whatever avenues we need to in order to preserve it(I suspect they were OK with it becoming firewood until I told them it's got to be one of the oldest Ash's in Ireland). Other than putting a climber into this huge tree which I can not remotely guarantee its structural stability of, is there an herbicide that is safe for the tree I can use on the ivy? At this point I am almost worried to remove the ivy as it may actually be holding the tree together.

 

 

 

[Wonky]

Ivy adds a lot of weight, as it contains a lot of water, it can make problems for trees if it’s not kept in check every so often.

 

the thing I’ve seen is cutting it at the base of the tree with a silky and making a gap of about a foot.  It then dies 

 

I'm sure others will chime in on other methods

[wyk]

8 minutes ago, Wonky said:

Ivy adds a lot of weight, as it contains a lot of water, it can make problems for trees if it’s not kept in check every so often.

 

the thing I’ve seen is cutting it at the base of the tree with a silky and making a gap of about a foot.  It then dies 

 

I'm sure others will chime in on other methods

Other than going up in to the tree, there's only so much cutting can be done as it is very well entrenched into one of the buttresses I'm afraid of damaging the tree. Lemme see if I can get a picture...

 

 

That axe is just shy of 2 feet in length.

Edited January 7, 2019 by wyk

[Rough Hewn]

As wonky said, get the silky out.
Maybe clear from
ground ish level up to 6'.
Any new creepers, rip back and cut.
Maybe get a picus test of the trunk?
[emoji106]

[Mick Dempsey]

You reckon you need a picus of that?:)

[Wonky]

As your worried about the tree you could cut a bit with the silky then get the rest with some long handle pruning loppers, cutting chunks out so you can get into it more

 

just attacking as much as you can safely get to is better than leaving it

but that does look a long slow job, it’s been there for sometime 

[Stere]

Is it not possible to cut though the ivy abit higher up trunk than shown in pic above the butress?

 

Pry bar sometimes very handy to lvr it off trunk

 

 

 

 

[tree-fancier123]

was doing ivy today on an oak, shaving it gently with my 160T battery saw. If you go around the whole trunk cicumference gently shaving the thick stems until they pop at the back. Looks more fiddly with butress roots maybe cut off a ladder at 6 foot all round. Seems to take 6 months to die off after cutting. Worth climbing to clean the crown at that time imo.

[wyk]

Ain't no silky gonna put a dent into this - it's flush with the trunk and huge. I'll have to plunge cut. That stuff is hard as a rock. So I assume the green runners are deep inside. I did a plunge with a small chainsaw you can see if you look closely, and it went in several inches without pulling out anything green or fresh. I imagine I will have start with a chainsaw carefully until I can start prying it out. I am gonna try and get a photo from inside the base there to see if that shows anything. It's too small a hole to fit my big fat head in to. Otherwise, I see a lot of slow painful rooting about in my future.

[Anno]

Just use a debarking tool or a draw knife all around circumference and wait a week.