Getting rid of ivy!!

[Stubby]

5 minutes ago, CambridgeJC said:

Just a small gift for you all…

Beautiful > 👍

[ArbMish]

On the subject of Ivy killing trees. Most trees are not actually killed by one singular thing but rather a number of contributing factors. For example with dutch elm disease: without the beetles that first infect the tree, the tree is less likely to be infected. We can say DED killed the tree but the beetles are such a high contributing factor that we can also say the beetles killed the tree. Interestingly in the 60s research found that Elms often recovered from the disease. (Peace, 1960) Therefore we can also assume that the stress brought on by climate change/pollution etc is another contributing factor leading to the death of the tree. 

 

In short, Ivy is a large contributing factor to the death of trees, whether by root girdling, windblown or canopy shading.

 

I have personally done a lot of Ivy removal in trees, where the ivy has reached within a foot of the tips. In general we remove ivy to just under the first branch fork on the main stem (roughly), this leaves a considerable amount of habitat for nesting birds, bees, wasps, butterflies etc and also in a lot of cases blocks the view into the garden for nosey neighbours  . I feel this is a good solution as the ivy is not completely lost as a habitat and will take a good number of years to grow back. At which point we are often back on the property to reduce branches from facades and remove dead wood, so the ivy can be dealt with then.

 

I have removed Ivy that has caused large indentations in branches, that has been half girdling roots/buttresses, has quite obviously shaded the tree and caused a reduction in canopy growth and has likely caused the death of branches.

 

It is plain to see after ivy removal that the ivy has caused a 'lion tailing' effect and normal crown growth has been effected. 

 

It is also important to remember that not only does ivy effect food production (photosynthesis) but also gaseous exchange (lenticels). I have seen trunks and main branches smothered with ivy and feel that it is safe to conclude that gaseous exchange must be to some degree effected. 

 

I have found that Quercus and Acers are the most heavily effected. However I have also seen Pinus heavily effected.

 

I have attached a couple of example pictures. In the first picture a significant portion of Ivy has already been removed. The ivy was right up to the tips at the start of the job. In the second picture it's hard to see but under the tree on the right hand side is a small tree completely overtaken by Ivy. It was almost completely dead.

 

 

(Side note if any of my sentences are a little oddly structured, sorry I haven't written this much in English in a really long time )

[Mick Dempsey]

7 minutes ago, ArbMish said:

On the subject of Ivy killing trees. Most trees are not actually killed by one singular thing but rather a number of contributing factors. For example with dutch elm disease: without the beetles that first infect the tree, the tree is less likely to be infected. We can say DED killed the tree but the beetles are such a high contributing factor that we can also say the beetles killed the tree. Interestingly in the 60s research found that Elms often recovered from the disease. (Peace, 1960) Therefore we can also assume that the stress brought on by climate change/pollution etc is another contributing factor leading to the death of the tree. 

 

In short, Ivy is a large contributing factor to the death of trees, whether by root girdling, windblown or canopy shading.

 

I have personally done a lot of Ivy removal in trees, where the ivy has reached within a foot of the tips. In general we remove ivy to just under the first branch fork on the main stem (roughly), this leaves a considerable amount of habitat for nesting birds, bees, wasps, butterflies etc and also in a lot of cases blocks the view into the garden for nosey neighbours  . I feel this is a good solution as the ivy is not completely lost as a habitat and will take a good number of years to grow back. At which point we are often back on the property to reduce branches from facades and remove dead wood, so the ivy can be dealt with then.

 

I have removed Ivy that has caused large indentations in branches, that has been half girdling roots/buttresses, has quite obviously shaded the tree and caused a reduction in canopy growth and has likely caused the death of branches.

 

It is plain to see after ivy removal that the ivy has caused a 'lion tailing' effect and normal crown growth has been effected. 

 

It is also important to remember that not only does ivy effect food production (photosynthesis) but also gaseous exchange (lenticels). I have seen trunks and main branches smothered with ivy and feel that it is safe to conclude that gaseous exchange must be to some degree effected. 

 

I have found that Quercus and Acers are the most heavily effected. However I have also seen Pinus heavily effected.

 

I have attached a couple of example pictures. In the first picture a significant portion of Ivy has already been removed. The ivy was right up to the tips at the start of the job. In the second picture it's hard to see but under the tree on the right hand side is a small tree completely overtaken by Ivy. It was almost completely dead.

 

 

(Side note if any of my sentences are a little oddly structured, sorry I haven't written this much in English in a really long time )

What’s your first language?

[peds]

German. Bet you. 

[ArbMish]

Actually it's English lads. I'm Scottish but I've been living and working in Germany for almost 4 years so 90% of the time I speak and write in German. Writing anything lengthy in English takes a bit of thinking haha.

[peds]

Growing up we had family friends move to Germany with 2 girls the same age as me. One stayed in Germany for ever, she switched to thinking in German at about age 25... and her English has been on the decline since. Funny how you lose it if you don't use it. 

 

Edit

Anyway, beautiful sentences, better written than most people who still use the language every day.

Edited March 2, 2022 by peds

[Stere]

Quote

I have removed Ivy that has caused large indentations in branches, that has been half girdling roots/buttresses

 

Never noticed that, any literature references or pictures of ivy girdling of trees  like honeysuckle does?

 

 

[ArbMish]

30 minutes ago, Stere said:

 

Never noticed that, any literature references or pictures of ivy girdling of trees  like honeysuckle does?

 

 

I'll ask my colleague he takes more photos than I do.

 

I've attached 3 here where the ivy root/stem was girdling the Quercus stem. Unfortunately the photos aren't very good. In the photo that's taken from further back, you can see that the left of the trunk looks flat (you may have to zoom in) this was caused by the ivy girdling the stem

. In the other two the photos aren't really close enough but I think you can just see the ivy covering the root flare on the right hand side.

 

Unfortunately the garden here was at some point re-landscaped and the root flare covered up.

[ArbMish]

30 minutes ago, peds said:

Growing up we had family friends move to Germany with 2 girls the same age as me. One stayed in Germany for ever, she switched to thinking in German at about age 25... and her English has been on the decline since. Funny how you lose it if you don't use it. 

Aha very true. We make multiple jokes about speaking Denglish (Deutsch/english) amongst English speaking friends! 

[Mick Dempsey]

I don’t believe Ivy roots can girdle a tree of that size.

 

The photos prove absolutely nothing.

Edited March 2, 2022 by Mick Dempsey