Hi Fairy,

I'm assuming you can pull the vine itself off, just leaving all the little tendrils still attached, as I have seen that b4. I have wondered if after those tendrils are left to age and soften a bit, if they could maybe be removed easily with a power washer.

Maybe someone else here can verify if that would work, or if they have found anything else that works.

Sue

It's been my experience that the only thing that effectively gets rid of ivy is Round-Up or some other nonselective herbicide. As far as the tendrils go we just let them dry out for a good while then brushed off the ones that the wind didn't remove. You're absolutely right to remove ivy from brick. It can be very destructive.

Good luck!

~~Mimi

Just a follow-up on the ivy removing - we were able to remove a majority of the ivy by pulling on the living growth. It came off pretty well although there's still some work to be done. It's the dead stuff that's stuck like super glue. I'm think perhaps a wire brush might help get them off. We'll have to remove one of the shutters as the ivy grew behind it and is still peeking out in certain places. But overall, I'm really happy that most of it is down. In theory, it's a lovely look, but in reality, the house looks so much cleaner without.

Fairygirl,

When I moved into my house, the front yard (about 20' in depth) covered in ivy. The next summer I hired it to all be removed...it took 7 truckloads. We then had to spray it a couple times pretty heavily, then as needed when things would pop up. It died out rather quickly and all the remains that was strangling a tree have fallen out and the tree doing much better. My immediate neighbor has not removed theirs, so I keep a close eye on the property line. :)

Rache