how much to remove English Ivy?

bstewert

Here are five pictures of some trees with a slight ivy problem. I'm curious what some of you guys would charge to strip off the ivy all the way up.

I did the fir tree next to the "bump" sign in pix #1 last summer. It was dripping sap at about 1 drop/5 sec. Don't know if that was related to the ivy, but it has since mostly dried up, and you can still see the white residue. All the trees pictured look fairly healthy and have plenty of new growth on them.

Attached Thumbnails

         

treeseer

Nice pics, thanks.

I'd hate to bid a fixed rate, without experience on similar infestations on that species. Vines are best done by the hour.

Attached includes a related job.

Attached Files

Dendro 5 Lianas.pdf (138.4 KB, 160 views)

pomme

just sever it at the bottom let it die and fall off by itself. will reduce the risk of sun scorch. cheap too

Eric Frei

Is that ivy itchy or give you a rash?

__________________

treeseer

no, that is hedera helix, not rhus toxica. It's worse in that it holds onto the trunk tighter.

" just sever it at the bottom let it die and fall off by itself. will reduce the risk of sun scorch. cheap too"

This is commonly done here, but sometimes this is too ugly for the client. It took 2 man-days to strip ivy off a beech tree once. Working by the hour, of course.
One compromise is to strip the leaves but let the stalks be. Less time, less money.

The best treatment imo is to leave it on the lower stem and just cut it at a chosen height every few years.

Drouin Tree Service

$1800 +taxes,its not that hard done worse than that..

__________________

Drouin Tree Services | Excavator Hire - Drouin and SE Gippsland | Landclearing Melbourne

bstewert

I was hoping someone would say, in pix #1 I would charge about $$$, and so on. I realize it's pretty tough from just a little pix, but I want to present the property owner a per tree estimate.

On the big fir in pix #1, I did that gratus, because the owner gave me permission to climb, and I wanted a a nice 140' tree to "practice" climbing stuff. I cut the ivy about 5 ft up at first, but after a couple months it started looking really bad. Then I started cleaning a little bit each time "going up" over the next two months, so it's hard for me to estimate how much time was spent on that one tree.

Hourly is great, but from an owner's perspective, I'd want to know a ballpark cost, at least.

Eric, I don't remember the ivy being itchy, but after choking on the dusty debris coming off I grabbed my facemask.

treeseer

Well, the best you can do is to recollect how long you were doing it.

Yes, masking up is key PPE; that stuff has been trapping lots of pollutants. Another good reason (plus money) to keep the lower stuff on imo.