In article , "Charlie"
wrote:

Cut it down while you have the chance! I've spent the last few weeks trying
to get Ivy off my Victorian house because it's pulling the mortar out!

Charlie.

There are many kinds of ivy. The cultivars with small or with deeply cut
leaves are not invasive. Algerian ivy, invasive in the south, is very
restrained in northern climates. But you're absolutely right NO English
ivy should EVER be trained to the side of a house, as even if not
invasive, it'll leech nutrients out of the mortar until it turns to
powder.

"Heather" wrote in message
...
I have an Ivy that I planted last year that grew really well but did not
attach itself to the brick wall right beside it. How do I go about
'training' it to climb the wall this year? Do you have to 'tack' it in
place for a while until it get's used to being on the wall?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Heather in Toronto, Canda

If it's English ivy it won't necessarily cling to the wall on its own.
Deciduous boston ivy attaches & spreads along a wall much more readily.
But I'm assuming you have English ivy, & do warn as did Charlie that if it
is not a quality cultivar, it could in the very long run really get in the
way & strangle smaller plants all around it, & be a bear ever to get rid
of. English ivy cultivars that have a lot of yellow in the leaves, or
variegated, are deeply cut so look a bit like marijuana leaves, or are
miniature leaves or "curlies", are never invasive. Info on invasive
potential he
http://www.paghat.com/ivy.html

Once you have it actually growing into the wall, the roots will
eventually break down & cause the mortar to powder, & roots will get in
every available crack & possibly widen the cracks. Imperfections in a
brick fence can improve its looks if rusticity is the goal, so attaching
to brick & mortar is not necessarily a negative thing -- just so long as
it's not the house, in which case you'll someday be very sorry.

To train it to a brick fence or barrier is easy enough but not automatic
as the vines will be more inclined to be groundcovers & not climb anything
until they find something wooden (tree or fence), & even then won't
necessarily climb up unless its seeking sun -- if plenty of sun reaches it
it's not that interested in climbing. You might get a trellis to attach
close to the brick, in order to have something to wind the ivy through &
upward; once established on the trellis it will continue to spread left &
right even on the untrellised part of the brick barrier. If it could be
planted ABOVE the wall like on a cliff edge, it would spill down more
readily than it will climb up without encouragement. Or if you even just
train it up a few slender sticks that are placed up against the bricks,
EVENTUALLY each upward-trained vine will find a part of the wall it wants
to adhere to, & then the stick can be broken out of the vine, & it'll
continue to spread on the wall.

If you switched to boston ivy it'd all happen more naturally on its own
with no special training required. There is also an "upright" English ivy
cultivar that grows from a vertical trunk -- usually sold in the
three-foot-tall range, look like little ivy trees. Those can be espaliered
to anything.

English Ivy can take three or four years to really be satisfied with its
root development, & only then start spreading like mad so that you may
want to trim it annually thereafter. The first couple years, many people
feel disappointed because they thought it was going to cover a whole fence
in a matter of weeks.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/