Remove stubborn ivy from fences with 75p ingredient that won't harm animals
Ivy can make a beautiful feature in any garden, be it trailing over a fence, or covering the outside wall of a house. But it can also quickly overrun and even cause serious structural damage because of the extra stress it puts on trees and buildings.
Just recently one budding gardener reached out to ask for help on how to deal with his 'ivy problem' - and people were quick to recommend a 75p ingredient you probably have in your kitchen cupboard.
The man asked for advice on the Facebook group, Mrs Hinch Gardening Tips. He wrote: "My wife and I have spent the last couple of weeks removing next door's ivy from our side of the fence panel. We thought we'd got it all but now it's growing back.
"The fence is paper thin and I'm concerned it's going to collapse. I've considered shoring up the panel with some planks but how do we stop the ivy from continuing to grow through?"
He was quickly inundated with suggestions with a number of people urging him to try lemon juice. The post was flooded with hundreds of responses - but one of the most natural solutions was to use lemon juice.
Make-up artist's eyeshadow trick to get 'Charlotte Tilbury' look for less money
One wrote: "We use lemon juice on our ivy. I use the pancake lemon juice that comes with the squirty lemon. I tend to keep the last one so I can water it down a bit and then I just squirt it on. I was told it wasn't harmful to wildlife so we have always used it."
A second posted: "Neat bleach Domestos (if there are no animals) but natural lemon juice (if there are)."
Lemon juice is a natural weed killer. The acid in the juice erodes the waxy coating on the outside of the plant, which dries it out and kills it. It can in fact kill any kind of plant, so you need to make sure you're not accidentally spraying your flowers or lawn.
Other natural suggestions for tackling ivy included boiling the kettle and pouring the water over it, or throwing vinegar in the ground where it is growing from. Another person said: "My friend uses salt. Water and Fairy liquid also do the trick. Kills it off."
When it comes to permanently getting rid of ivy, the trick is to completely destroy the roots. Gardeners rallied together after one man asked how to kill ivy on the Gardening UK page on Facebook. They told him that while natural methods such as pouring boiling water over the plant might temporarily kill the leaves and stunt the plant's growth, it won't do anything to kill the plant's resilient roots.
Instead, you should cut the branches at the root and then dig into the soil below to pull out the root of the plant. Only then, once all the roots have been taken out of the ground, will the plant stop trying to grow back.
One commenter said: "Cut at the bottom, let the branches die and then pull off. To actually stop it from coming back, dig dig dig, the roots spread and you'll likely pull up ivy shoots for years, but small shoots are easily managed."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
