Removing ivy from my external wall

Question

I have some wall-climbing plants in my external wall, I believe those are ivies (clearly not sure, pic below).

I neglected my terrace for some years and I want to clean it up. It involves removing those ivies. I already used some vinegar on the roots to kill it (seems like it worked a bit, considering how dead most of it looks).

This week, I tried to "physically" remove them : tear them from the wall, cut them from the roots and throw everything in the local landfill. Issue being, I couldn't remove them. They are too stuck onto the wall.

Do you have any advice on how to remove them with minimal damages to the wall ?

(Also, I know there are poison ivies... How can I identify if those are poisonous ?)

Answer 1

Welcome to Gardening & Landscapes.

What you have there is Hedera Helix - plain old 'English" ivy and the bane of every Brit with an overgrown garden.

Killing the root will have very little effect upon this plant since each little root it throws out is capable of supporting quite a decent length of ivy.

I have no idea where you are from, but poison ivy looks very different to this 'regular' ivy and does not grow in the UK and Europe and seems limited to the Americas for some reason.

I have had to remove countless metres of this stuff in my life and the easiest place to start is at the stump that is buried in the soil and with a screwdriver, secateurs and a paint scraper , pull away a sizeable piece at a time. If you start at the stump, you are more likely to pull off a bigger length than starting at the top.

As you work upwards, you will probably pull off some sizeable chunks leaving only a few strands for you to use a paint scraper and a screwdriver to prize off the wall but do not leave any of the stalks in place since they can self propagate easily from half way up a wall.

Once you have removed all the stems/stalks there will probably be a few left over roots and if you allow them to dry for a few days, you can use a wire brush to get them off the stucco/render and then repaint it all with some gritty masonry paint.

Then all you have to do is keep cutting back any new shoots from the stump and your troubles will be over. I cannot imagine vinegar will assure a permanent death to this plant and if you are feeling big and strong, you can dig up the stump and root but it will be rather woody after being given so much room to expand.

This ivy is not toxic but there will be many little bugs living in amongst the leaf litter so wear gloves if you are squeamish and/or worried about damaging a nail.

Just make sure you remove all living stems from behind the shutter - the stems can sustain beyond 4m of growth in the dark. In my last house it had worked its way in via an air brick and then under my floorboards and popped up by the door to my lounge !

If you have a organic waste recycling system where you live, check with your council but in the UK, it is perfectly possible to put it in the Green Waste bins for hot composting by the councils.

Answer 2

Based on what I can see in the picture, this is Hedera helix, better known as ‘English ivy’. The general shape of the leaves and their clearly visible palmate veination combined with the climbing habit and the extremely strong attachment to the wall is rather distinctive. You can further confirm by watching for flowering in the late summer through to late autumn (the flowers are not highly noticeable, each one is tiny and pale yellowish-green, clustered in umbels a few centimeters across) and then fruiting in late winter (fruits are clusters of small berries, either purplish-black or orangish-yellow depending on the subspecies), as well as being evergreen throughout the winter.

Removal is covered well by Nikki’s answer so I will not repeat it here.

Hedera species are mildly toxic to humans. Contact is generally harmless, except for a small percentage of the population who are extremely sensitive to falcarinol. Affected individuals develop contact dermatitis, possibly severe but generally not debilitating, and may also be sensitive to carrots and ginseng (which also contain falcarinol).

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For reference, Toxicodendron species (such as poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac, but also including laquer trees and the South American manzanillo) are rather different. The leaves are pinnately compound (paired leaflets on opposing sides of the stem, possibly with a singular one at the end), typically with an odd number of leaflets with individual leaflets being of highly variable shape, and are almost never varigated. Toxicodendron species are also deciduous (even the vining species), the vining species typically have distinctively hairy vines, and the fruits are small white or gray berries (in general, if something has white berries, it’s almost certainly poisonous, the only notable exception to this rule is some varieties of gooseberry).

Additionally, if you are in Europe, it is highly unlikely you will encounter any of the vining Toxicodendron species, as they are not native and AFAIK have never been intentionally cultivated (unlike some of the trees in the genus, which unfortunately have been cultivated outside of their original range for ornamental purposes).