English Ivy (Hedera helix) is highly invasive and is all over Lansdowne. Sure it may look pretty on the ground or climbing up a wall, but it will wrap itself around your trees and suffocate them. Right now while the trees are mostly bare is a great time to get out and see just how many trees are covered in English Ivy. This is also a great time to save as many trees as we can. Left untreated, the English Ivy will climb up to the top of the trees, out all of the branches, and eventually suffocate the tree. Then it will cost you several thousand dollars to have the dead tree removed.
Anyone can save their trees from English Ivy. It’s a fairly simple method, often called “skirting.” It involves cutting the vines in a 2-foot circle (“skirt”) around the entire tree. Once the vines above the cuts dry up on their own (in a year or so), they can be pulled down. Don’t try to pull them off the tree while they are still alive – you can damage the bark and hurt the tree further.
Here is a YouTube video that explains the process:
Some people recommend putting an herbicide on the cut stumps, but if you don’t want to do that, just check your trees every month or so to make sure new vines are kept away from the trunk. It’s a lot of work, but if you like English Ivy as a ground cover, then you’ll have to keep trimming it back away from the tree trunks.
Even if your tree is 90% covered, it can still be saved! Lansdowne is a tree town (could that be our next slogan?) but we are losing trees rapidly to English Ivy. Do your part and check the trees on your property. Then get out there and get skirting. Your trees (and your wallet) will thank you!