You really don t want the insects getting into your roof sheaves and other structure from that ivy.
Get dead vine off of siding.
Pressure washing is appropriate only for wood siding when you don t care whether any paint or stain comes off.
A power washer took off some from the steel siding and didn t hurt the siding but i used a knife to remove it.
4 sand the siding with orbital sander to remove stubborn ivy stains and residue.
If you ve let the vine wilt most of it should come off as you pull but there will inevitably be sap discoloration on the siding left after the vine is gone.
Remove a chunk of the stem so there s a gap between the stem and stump of the vine.
I ve had ivy growing on stucco and steel siding.
Vinyl siding may appear maintenance free but if you are the proud owner of a home with siding you have already learned that it simply isn t so.
Step back from the wall and examine the growth of the vine at the base of the wall.
6 collect ivy and stuff into plastic trash bags.
They can creep between masonry and stone joints under vinyl siding and into the mortar between bricks.
Be sure to wear gloves if you do this because tsp is caustic.
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It needs to be properly cleaned and stains removed to keep it from looking dirty and dingy.
Pamela your husband s right.
Vinyl siding requires care to keep it looking its best.
Look for the main vine shoots.
Don t leave the dead suckers on the siding for more than two or three weeks.
The only side effect was a very clean section of siding as you can see in the last comparison photo the top section was not cleaned and the bottom was clean as a whistle.
Use shears to clip the main vines level to the ground or as close as you can get.
Now if you are still bent on having some ivy just do what i do and go to dollar tree and get lots of those 1 00 strands of ivy and push pin them wherever you want.
Best to pull it off.
You may be able to clean most of this off by scrubbing with a solution of tsp and water.
If you think pulling the vines off your structure will do more harm than good first kill them by cutting them to 4 to 6 inches above the ground.
Remember if you don t kill the roots the ivy suckers will sprout back up and around the siding.
3 scrape siding to remove dead branches and dried leaves.
Don t tug at the ivy suckers until they have turned brown and withered an indication the ivy plant is dead.
If you leave the suckers too long they ll rot oxidize and harden.
If you are paying for labour it would probably be cheaper to replace the siding.
5 cut the ivy stems close to ground with loppers.
7 in spring brush herbicide onto leaves of ivy stem to kill plant.
At that point they ll be impossible to remove without damaging the siding.
