Control Vines Growing into Trees

Q. Is there any risk to my Chinaberry tree from the ivy that has grown exponentially through the canopy of this tree during the past few years?  It was kind of charming when there was just 4 or 5 feet of ivy on the trunk but now it looks a little too successful. Should I rip it off and if so, how? The Chinaberry tree is more important to me than the ivy, FYI.

A. I looked at the pictures you sent to me and you're right, the vine is an ivy. Probably English Ivy. Two things you should be thinking about with English Ivy growing in the Chinaberry is what kind of damage it can create for your Chinaberry and, secondly, how much shade it might produce if it gets a foothold throughout the tree canopy.

            From the pictures it’s obvious to me that both plants are successful in that spot and it does look nice to have the ivy climbing on the tree. Congratulations.

            Is that a single vine climbing that tree trunk or are there multiple vines? If there are multiple vines coming from the soil around the tree then pull the oldest one, or the one with the thickest stem, off the trunk. Cut it two or 3 inches above the soil. This will cause the vine to grow multiple shoots up the trunk and keep it young.

            When you pull English Ivy from anything, it leaves woody aerial roots behind still attached where the vine was attached to the tree. That’s normal for Ivy and it’s one of its problems when it’s allowed to climb things. But the new growth of the young vines will cover anything unsightly left behind on the trunk when it’s pulled off.

            If the vine is starting to climb inside the canopy of the tree,  prune this growth back to the largest limbs or the trunk. You don’t want the vine growing inside the canopy and smothering the tree. That will happen as you suspected. You might have to carefully prune it back two or three times a year to keep it under control.

            If there is only a single vine climbing the trunk of the tree, then I would cut the single vine two or 3 inches above the soil and allow it to regrow up the trunk from several locations rather than just one. After it climbs the trunk you can pull off a larger vine like I described earlier and still allow others to grow on the trunk.