" writes
For years we have had a small patch of ivy with small very dark green
leaves and light veins - the classic sort of ivy. This has been no
problem.

But this year there has been an explosion of an aggressive ivy with
larger narrow leaves of a lighter green. I must admit we have
neglected it a bit and it has shot up the side of our single story
outhouse and started to climb across the roof.

I've just been out and started to pull it down, but it is well
established and there has been a lot of snapping of stems.

No doubt it will just start growing again.

Is there a way to kill the roots? .... preferably without killing the
darker green ivy that it was intertwined with?

My guess is that this is not a different ivy but just the explosion of
growth of the original ivy, lighter green because it is growing fast to
cover ground. A lot of plants (including ivy) have different leaves at
different ages or different growth stages, so the difference in leaf
shape is not significant.

Ivy tends to grow slowly for the first few years and then take off. You
may have just reached the stage where you begin to wonder if a less
vigorous climber would have been a better idea ;-)

If they light green ivy is indeed just a growth spurt of the dark green,
then obviously using a systemic weedkiller on the light green will also
kill the dark green.

(I'm in the process of getting rid of most of my ivy for a similar
reason)
--
Kay