The Best Time to Prune Ivy

Pruning Time Frame

• Prune ivy vines anytime of year. Typically, ivy plants are not pruned to induce flowering, more branches or reduce size, as in the case of garden shrubs. Gardeners usually want more growth from the ivy to blanket the ground or cover a fence or building face. When a branch or main vine of an ivy becomes too large or spreads into an undesirable area, prune it. Do not become preoccupied about seasonal timing. Ivy is a resilient plant and will sprout new growth from the cut area when conditions are conducive with moist and fertile soil and seasonal temperatures remaining above freezing.

Reasons to Prune

• Certain circumstances warrant pruning. For ivy, monitor growth to protect people's safety or personal property. When vines dangle and block views to the street, access to a door or pose a tripping hazard, prune to correct the situation. Proactive pruning prevents numerous stems from growing into sidewalks or doorways and wall-clinging stems from encroaching into windows or onto utility lines.

Seasonal Insight

• Pruning deciduous types of ivy may be best in winter since you can see the stems better. Evergreen ivies require more patience, as you must take time to find stem tips and clip them, and then remove the debris. If you want lots of attractive new growth, or you tend to be overzealous and often create bald spots in your ivy pruning maintenance, pruning in late winter or early spring is best. This time of year the ivy is leaving dormancy and will more quickly sprout new stems to cover any pruning boo-boos.

How to Prune

• Regardless if the ivy is evergreen or deciduous, prune the same way. Using a hand or bypass pruners, cut back stems to the desired length by making the pruning cut 1/2 to 1 inch above a leaf or dormant bud. A bud exists in each leaf node, the area where the leaf petiole stem attaches to the vine. After pruning, these buds sprout to produce new leafy stems, becoming new growth tips in place of the pruned vine.

Rejuvenation

• Sometimes an ivy plant simply becomes too large and aggressive, or other garden or building maintenance requires removal of the ivy on a building or over a buried meter or cable line. If property maintenance resulted in a tattered ivy vine, rejuvenate the plant with severe pruning in late winter or early spring, followed by a light fertilizing. Cut back stems to no shorter than 18 inches. New growth that appears in mid spring to early summer may then be trained to grow where you want. Rejuvenation pruning may occur as late as late spring or early summer, but there's less time for new growth to sprout and mature before the onset of cold weather in fall.