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Is Ivy taking over the planet?

(60 Posts)
MayBee70 Tue 05-Mar-24 19:07:49

Just be careful to wear gloves when dealing with ivy. After a weekend we’d often get people at the doctors suffering from problems due to handling the stuff.

Katie59 Tue 05-Mar-24 19:05:04

Same here but I’ve declared war on it, cut out as much as I can and a squirt of roundup on the cut end, no idea if it will work, anyone else got a better idea?.

Septimia Tue 05-Mar-24 18:21:39

We have ivy growing on several trees in the garden. It only kills them, apparently, if it smothers the tree's leaves and it can't photosynthsise - or if it causes the tree to fall, as Grammaretto says.

Although we'll limit how many trees it colonises, it is great for birds, providing winter food and shelter. Lots of birds are nesting or roosting in the ivy on our trees. So is an annoying grey squirrel...

J52 Tue 05-Mar-24 18:14:56

I agree that’s it’s virtually unstoppable, I seem to be always removing or cutting it back.
It amazes me when I see pots of Ivy being sold in garden centres for £4.99.
I could make a fortune.

BlueBelle Tue 05-Mar-24 17:22:34

I really dislike Ivy it takes over it spoils brickwork and some folk are allergic to it
Horrid stuff

Casdon Tue 05-Mar-24 17:18:08

Ivy likes damp murky weather, that’s probably why there’s so much of it. I spend hours preventing it colonising the walls and fences in my garden, it’s a damn nuisance!

MissAdventure Tue 05-Mar-24 17:13:04

It's taking over around here, and the worst of it is, I'm the culprit!

Grammaretto Tue 05-Mar-24 17:00:59

Yes I notice this in some woodland areas, though not all.
My own garden has ivy growing up many trees. I was told by a tree expert that it doesn't kill the tree but if allowed to take over the canopy, it can make the tree top heavy and liable to fall down so it's best to cut the ivy away at the base.

M0nica Tue 05-Mar-24 16:56:50

What we are being colonosed by is - mistletoe - . When we moved here nearly 30 years ago there was no mistletoe to be seen anywhere. but we first began to notice the odd clump about 10 years ago and now it seems that every tree in this generously wooded village has up to a dozen balls of mistletoe in it.

I assume it is caused by subtle changes to the micro climate caused by climate change.

Nandalot Tue 05-Mar-24 16:53:13

I feel I may have posted this before, but driving back from our local city, nearly every tree of size, even hedgerows seem to be swamped by it. I don’t remember this a couple of decades ago. Certainly not in my childhood, when we wandered quite freely in fields and lanes.
Is it the same where you live?