Another opinion of what to do was to dig the whole area up and pull all the roots you could find. A rototiller would be a good tool for that.
That reminded me of what I did to get rid of dandelions. I don't think ivy is in the same league as dandelions though. Ivy is much more like crab grass in its root system. Dandelions aren't linked and grow very slowly.
I was having a frustrating period at work, so what I found to do as a therapy to help with the stress was to go out and dig the dandelions out, one by one. It took me me several weeks but after several passes going row by row on my knees I got every single dandelion. It really worked well on the stress too. Never saw another dandelion in my lawn again. I got really good at spotting a dandelion and a method for digging them out. Must have pulled a couple of thousand of them. Made a huge difference in my attitude at work at the time.
Steve
On 2/12/2012 4:20 PM, sandaidh wrote:
I suspect that, with the black plastic over the ivy roots, they may do what
my trumpet vine did after I took it down. The roots will sprout elsewhere.
Keep in mind that the roots you see are only a small portion of the whole
root system. And that plant *wants* to survive.
Ironically enough, just before reading your post, I was looking through my
latest issue of The Family Handyman magazine. In it is a small article
titled - Poison your ivy, not your shrub. They suggest buying a few floral
water tubes. Fill the tubes with a little herbicide (like Roundup) and
replace the rubber cap on the top to keep out rain and pets. Then stick
the tube in the ground beside the vine, and stick the tip of the vine into
the tube. The vine will "drink up" the herbicide, right down to the roots
and should die within a few days.
Wish I'd thought of that.
So you might want to let the ivy grow enough to stick the new growth ends
into some floral tubes (available at florist suppliers and/or nurseries). A
lot easier than digging and pretty much guarenteed to get all the roots.
And should take a lot less time than my method of dealing with the trumpet
vine. I kept cutting down every shoot I came across. When they came up in
the lawn, the lawn mower cut them down nicely, otherwise I used pruning
shears. It's taken about 6 years, from the initial removal of the vine,
however last summer was the first in which I saw *no* runners/sprouts
anywhere in the yard.
Hope this helps.
Sandaidh bean-fhigheadair a' bhreacain
sandaidh@localnet.com
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