[permaculture] English ivy on site of future forest garden

Niels Corfield mudguard at gmail.com
Fri Nov 16 11:51:38 EST 2007


Make sure when you cut it from tree trunks that you cut out a good 1' 
foot section.
No need to remove it from the tree, it will dry and become much easier 
to handle.

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Mathew Waehner wrote:
> Thanks Paul.
>
> I am actually in North Carolina- known more as "kudzu country", but ivy is
> quite a problem here.  It takes over the forest fragments in suburban areas,
> and it seems to weaken and sour the soil- as you said it devotes little
> energy to roots.
>
> The japanese sickle looks like a perfect tool for cutting vines, as well as
> repelling ninja assaults.
>
>
> On 11/15/07, Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino at comcast.net> wrote:
>   
>> I'm guessing you are in the Pacific NW USA.
>> Ivy devotes little energy to roots, light weight grubbing tools work
>> well.  I have often used a japanese sickle or hedge shears to cut an ivy
>> carpet into long linear strips, grubbing while backing downhill,
>> compacting a bolus of ivy underfoot which can be left to decompose on
>> site -- once dry it lacks vitality.  Not much seed bank.  Come back
>> through after a growing season and pick off the roots you missed in the
>> first pass.  Don't count on shading out ivy by any means, even in the
>> deepest shade it just crawls around looking for something to climb.  It
>> is VERY shade tolerant.  1 grub with 2 follow-up passes should give
>> control.  I believe it has become such a problem locally simply because
>> no one tends the land.
>> Some good summary of ecology if you can see past the 'war of the world'
>> world view
>> http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs/hedeheli.html
>> Lots of volatile oils... and no local predators -- I wonder if there is
>> a yield there... Any one know of traditional uses related to its
>> stinkyness?
>> As a child of the thickets, all our improvised 'man traps' used a
>> innocuous vine of ivy as the tripwire :)
>> Regarding successful sowing, in the PNW, it would depend a lot on soil
>> moisture... toward the dry side of their distribution, bigleaf maple can
>> be very hungry for water creating a drought shadow in its root zone.
>> here's a native bigleaf maple forest template as a source of inspiration.
>> http://www.dnr.wa.gov/nhp/refdesk/communities/pdf/acma-alru-pomu-tegr.pdf
>> Paul Cereghino
>>
>> Mathew Waehner wrote:
>>
>>     
>>> I would appreciate any other suggestions for dealing with ivy, and any
>>> insights into the ecology of the ivy.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>       
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>>     
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