At some point I may have to remove large quantities of virginia creeper (Boston Ivy, technically) from a brick wall - it's 40 years old, very vigorous and covers about 100-150m2.
I know that the usual technique is to chop the trunk and let the branches
die off so they become brittle, but then how do you remove them? The
suckers shrivel and become easy to break, but with this kind of an area it feels like it needs some kind of power tool to slice the branches away from the wall. Just pulling them when they're all matted together is going to be very hard work.
I was looking at reciprocating saws (the smaller one-handed variety like the Milwaukee Hackzall rather than the bigger two-handed Sawzall), but is there something out there that will do the job more efficiently?
Also, is there anything that will effectively clean up the little bits left behind, some kind of power wire brush perhaps?
Thanks,
Theo
Hook up a rope to a car or tractor style lawnmower. Let the VW Golf take
the strain. Once the suckery things dry out it more or less falls off
quite easily - Ivy does, anyway...
Cutting them up is a recipe for having buts left behind IMHO.
I'd use a chainsaw if it were me, cos I have one. If it were needed, but
I'd start by pulling with the lawn tractor.
In uk.d-i-y The Natural Philosopher <[email protected]d> wrote:
Hook up a rope to a car or tractor style lawnmower. Let the VW Golf take
the strain. Once the suckery things dry out it more or less falls off
quite easily - Ivy does, anyway...
Cutting them up is a recipe for having buts left behind IMHO.
I'd use a chainsaw if it were me, cos I have one. If it were needed, but
I'd start by pulling with the lawn tractor.
Unfortunately there's other buildings in the way so there's only about a metre to the side. Enough to get a ladder/scaffolding up, but any large scale pulling would be parallel to the wall - probably won't do very much.
Ratchet straps pulled from the base of the wall are a possibility, but not
to much height due to risks of wayward branches damaging other things.
Theo
On 23/01/2025 16:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
That might do the trick actually - pulling parallel too the wall.
Or use a snatch block...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q9OGaX6tG_U
Similar but with many more ideas to remove the stubborn bits and using a
blow torch and wire brush at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpPIOErt3lU
On 23/01/2025 16:59, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
That might do the trick actually - pulling parallel too the wall.
Or use a snatch block...
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Q9OGaX6tG_U
Similar but with many more ideas to remove the stubborn bits and using a
blow torch and wire brush at the end.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpPIOErt3lU
That might do the trick actually - pulling parallel too the wall.
Or use a snatch block...
I note that's green - is there any downside to killing it first? I suppose it's more liable to snap and come off in bits, but if it's so tightly intertwined then presumably it'll still want to come off as a sheet?Ive had the most success with ivy by killing it first
On 23/01/2025 17:57, Theo wrote:
I note that's green - is there any downside to killing it first? IIve had the most success with ivy by killing it first
suppose
it's more liable to snap and come off in bits, but if it's so tightly
intertwined then presumably it'll still want to come off as a sheet?
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