Ivy IS a real problem

[Old Mill Tree Care]

Simply not true.

Yes it is true.
Ivy out paces the tree and completely covers it, at which point the tree doesn’t get enough sunlight and dies. Simple.
It the same as slowly wrapping a human in cling film, starting at the feet.

[Sutton]

37 minutes ago, Old Mill Tree Care said:

Yes it is true.
Ivy out paces the tree and completely covers it, at which point the tree doesn’t get enough sunlight and dies. Simple.
It the same as slowly wrapping a human in cling film, starting at the feet.

This is true to an extent in the simple causal sense but it's not the whole story. It's more complicated than that. Though it's obviously a good enough explanation for most suburbian tree owners etc.

 

It's not just strangulation, sail-effect, insects/grubs boring down into the covered bark, nutritional deprivation by competition nor is just a declining tree having a less dense canopy that then lets more light down to the ground either.

 

Back in the day, someone like @Tony Croft aka hamadryad might write something cryptic about needing to investigate symbiotic fungal-chemical signals between the roots of the opportunistic ivy and the tree it uses to climb.

 

This isn't the place to write an essay and work is calling. Read Gimlet 's post back abit.

Edited May 21, 2022 by Sutton
symbiotic spelling

[Billhook]

 

[Guest Gimlet]

5 hours ago, Old Mill Tree Care said:

Yes it is true.
Ivy out paces the tree and completely covers it, at which point the tree doesn’t get enough sunlight and dies. Simple.
It the same as slowly wrapping a human in cling film, starting at the feet.

Ivy kills hedges through smothering for sure (especially garden hedges because people clip off any leaves that do manage to break through the ivy), but when a veteran tree is fully shrouded, the ivy generally does not extend to the branch tips where the leaves are, so the tree can still see the sunlight and can still photosynthesise. Ivy hugs the trunk. 

It seems to me something else is going on.

 

[Steven P]

So casually following this thread, 2 mature trees the other evening 15m apart, one covered in ivy with no leaves and the other with no ivy and quite a few leaves. The one with ivy had access to more light in the wood. But which came first? The dying tree or the ivy?

 

Made me think you see, since both trees are a similar age, both with the same growing conditions, you'd expect them both to be as healthy as each other.

 

Since it is a long term issue, you don't get a poorly tree covered in ivy overnight, you'd need some research to work out the cause and effect, which way around is it, and that would take years to do I reckon.

 

One thing this forum might have experience and knowledge of is what happens if you strip the ivy from a tree, does the tree recover or do you just get a more attractive dead tree (in my view). That might give a clue of cause and effect. If a cleared tree recovers then the ivy was the problem

[Guest Gimlet]

34 minutes ago, Steven P said:

So casually following this thread, 2 mature trees the other evening 15m apart, one covered in ivy with no leaves and the other with no ivy and quite a few leaves. The one with ivy had access to more light in the wood. But which came first? The dying tree or the ivy?

 

Made me think you see, since both trees are a similar age, both with the same growing conditions, you'd expect them both to be as healthy as each other.

 

 

And why did the ivy climb one tree but not the other?

[Stere]

Proabaly because its canopy was thinner plus also some randomness  in nature...

[Steven P]

46 minutes ago, Gimlet said:

And why did the ivy climb one tree but not the other?

Think the conclusion is heading towards "no one knows... yet"

[Mick Dempsey]

1 hour ago, Gimlet said:

And why did the ivy climb one tree but not the other?

Cos the pigeon took a shit whilst sitting in one tree but not the other.