"Is any type of vine growing up ANY type of tree deadly?" No, many types of vines won't damage the tree and won't grow to the point that they compete with the tree for light or nutrients.

English Ivy is probably a different story. Given enough time, it will likely cause problems and may eventually even lead to the death of the tree. Besides, I don't like the looks of a tree getting swallowed by ivy. If it were me, I'd definitely remove the ivy.

OK, maybe I'll come back here with a photo of the vine, so you all can confirm if it is in fact English Ivy. BTW, how does one imbed a photo WITHIN a post??

Thanks!

To embed a photo in a post, you have to put the picture somewhere first. Most people put it on a photo-hosting site (photobucket.com is one and the one I'm familiar with). On photobucket, once you have saved the picture there are several lines under the photo. Click on the one that says HTML. Then just come here and paste it in the thread. When you preview your message, the photo should show up.

I know where a poison ivy vine is growing up a pine tree and the vine is as thick as a mans arm. It's at least forty years old. No harm to the tree but poison ivy grows a bit different than other vines,... it grows without winding around the tree, almost straight up the tree.

Oddly enough, despite not harming trees, poison ivy has failed to catch on as an ornamental.

Terry

Terry - :) It is odd, isn't it, especially considering that it has such pretty leaves in the spring. I'm carrying a little reminder of it with me now, on my arm.

Over here where it is native, ivy (Hedera helix, H. hibernica) is highly valued as a massive habitat provider for wildlife, with abundant late season nectar, dense evergreen cover (ideal for roosting owls), and late winter ripening fruit when little else is available. A flowering ivy is audible from a surprising distance, with all the buzzing bees, flies, etc. Ivy can eventually smother very old decrepit trees, and occasionally the weight of it can cause a tree to blow down in a storm, but as a general rule, it does not harm trees; many carry a good head of ivy for centuries without problems.

"poison ivy grows a bit different than other vines,... it grows without winding around the tree, almost straight up the tree" - so does Hedera.

"Oddly enough, despite not harming trees, poison ivy has failed to catch on as an ornamental" . . . and very good autumn colour, too!

Resin

English ivy (just plain ivy to me, we don't have p.i., thank goodness) is not parasitic and will not damage a mature tree. It is a haven for all sorts of wildlife. However, it might shade a young tree. The problems start when the ivy reaches the top of the host and starts to produce its flowering form. Then it can cause windthrow in high winter winds because even if the tree is deciduous and offers little wind resistance the ivy is not and can catch the wind. On the other hand I have had a tree topple AFTER cutting through the ivy roots because effectively it was acting as guy ropes and keeping the tree up.

I love all kinds of Ivy but it's a big no-no here. Still planted needle nose, webfoot, glacial and other miniature ivies.

Have a deciduous clematis vine starting to grow up a redbud tree. Hope it does not become a problem. Looks so pretty when it is flowering. The redbud is newish and a bit sparse.

The neighbors (from a previous owner) had wisteria growing over everything. Was so pretty and smelled so good. Unfortunately they hacked it down. It blows my mind that ppl resent plants and beautiful greenery. Tragic. Idiotic.
The wisteria wasn't hurting anything and the birds loved it.

I saw one person on Gardenweb asking for new forms of PI. He claimed to be growing multiple specimens in his yard from all over the country and was asking anyone with interesting or unusual specimens to ship them to him. I thought he might be joking, but it turned out that he was completely serious.

I was scanning through the posts above and saw a couple of posters indicate that English Ivy wouldn't generally hurt healthy trees. I've watched this beast consume a number of trees around here. It can grow so aggressively that it blocks almost all the light from even a large tree's leaves. In a wooded area, it can blanket a large area and grow from canopy to canopy to take over an entire area. Some of the nature parks in this area are having to fight this vine aggressively to keep in from becoming a monoculture. From what I've seen, if this plant is given just the right conditions, it can almost rival Kudzu in its invasiveness.

Thanks all. Well...seeing as the vine growing up my tree isn't necessarily adding any value, and it may in fact hurt the tree over time, I'm gonna go ahead and cut it off all along the base of the tree. Tx!

Brandon - sounds like another case of good plant, bad place. I can only say that in its natural habitat I have never seen ivy destroy a healthy tree nor grow from one tree to another. Nor does it generally cover the woodland floor unless the balance of native flora has been upset. I have a 25 acre native woodland which has plenty of ivy and it is a major contributor to biodiversity. I am sad that yippee is going to destroy a vine before it has even been correctly identified. How about posting a picture on the Name that plant forum before taking any action? Even if it is ivy it can be kept under control.

Some smart plant scientist will no doubt see all the positive attributes of Poison ivy, engineer the "itch" out of it, and get rich.

Hey, if they could engineer the itch out of it, I might be interested in that......no, forget it, it would just revert back and get me.

"Some smart plant scientist will no doubt see all the positive attributes of Poison ivy"

One positive attribute: reducing human disturbance of natural environments, thereby making conditions better for more timid species of wildlife.

Bet it would make a good secure anti-intruder hedge, too.

Resin

OK folks, if you click on this url, please focus on the photos of the vines and the tree. So...IS this English Ivy? Should I sever it at the base of the tree, to try and and stop the ivy from proliferating up the tree? Also, there appears to be another type of plant here and there mixed in with the ivy, but I'm not sure where it is....

Tx.

(If webpage asks for password, try "gardenweb".)

Here is a link that might be useful: plants

Yep, it's English Ivy. Might be good to cut it at the base soon before it gets too large (just don't cut into the tree). It will start to grow back up the trunk after you cut it fast if you are wondering about that. Can be invasive in many areas of the U.S. covering up lots of land and covering trees making them much more prone to ice and wind storms (that is usually only if it grows up into the branches). There are tons of English Ivy cultivars that grow much slower, are not invasive, and they also have very cool leaf shapes.

Hedera helix (Common Ivy)

Resin

That hardly looks like a big problem yippee. You could cut it at the base but how about just keeping it at about 6 or 7 feet so that you get the attractive young shoots going zig zag up the trunk of your tree over and over again. It will only spread if it flowers and fruits or you allow it to creep over tha ground . But if it has something to climb it will not go creeping. It will NOT damage the tree. How about training it to cover that wire netting fence?

By the way mystery 1 is a Hellebore, 2 I don't know, 3 and 4 are Pachysandra. The Viburnum is only troubled because it's stuck in a tiny pot. Put in the ground, cut it back and watch it grow.

and very good autumn colour, too

One positive attribute: reducing human disturbance of natural environments, thereby making conditions better for more timid species of wildlife.

Bet it would make a good secure anti-intruder hedge, too

Shoot if you British folks are so fond of it I am certain some plants can be sent your way. Share some of that great fall color the northern New England woods are famous forÂ

Yeh, the colorÂ

This hardly looks like a big problem, flora_uk? How would someone get up there to knock it back down to 6-7 feet?

Here is a link that might be useful: Ivy on tree from yippee's link

It will NOT damage the tree.

That's a bit of a blanket statement to make :-) While in many areas of this country, ivy does not grow rampantly enough to cause permanent damage, it can and does in other areas. There are countless photos online of English ivy climbing well into the canopy of both deciduous and coniferous trees, causing them to lean, to reduce the canopy to mere broccoli-like tufts of foliage, to break off limbs due to excessive weight and in some cases, smothering them enough to cause complete death, both in natural and cultivated garden settings. This is very common here in the PNW and while it may not be common in the UK, it is unreasonable and uninformed to discount entirely. Regardless of one's opinion on how much damage it can cause to trees, English ivy is considered an invasive species in at least 18 states - including New York - and the District of Columbia and the responsible action is to remove and destroy the vine.

Another excellent reason to remove ivy is that in urban/suburban areas it is a primary habitat for rats.

Here is a link that might be useful: The ongoing English ivy issue

Thanks all. Note that in addition to being a gardener, I love birds and in fact try to attract them to my yard via feeders, birdbaths etc. So I would never want to wantonly remove a haven for birds. However, I also understand the value of trees, which are unfortunately grossly under-appreciated, and their contributions grossly misunderstood, by most people in NYC. So this is why if I think a tree is at risk, that I should do what I can to save it.

I also read a terrific book recently, "Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in our Gardens", and it talked about this very thing...how non-native plants (such as English Ivy) can dessimate native plants/trees.

As for those who mentioned that sometimes the ivy itself helps to anchor a tree, well I'd imagine that if a tree needs that kind of help in keeping upright, chances are it wasn't much longer for this world to begin with. But I'd suspect that in many instances, it's a case of ivy simply growing up and eventually masking an entirely healthy tree, and that eventually the ivy will block out its ability to take in sun.

So at this point I still plan to cut as much of the ivy as I can without damaging the tree bark itself.

Tx!