Brookhaven launches battle against English Ivy, 'the plant that has eaten Long Island'

Vines are not divine to some Brookhaven Town residents.

A North Shore community group and public officials have found a common enemy in English ivy — an invasive plant that climbs up chimneys and has been known to smother trees.

Though legal to sell and not considered inherently dangerous to humans, English ivy can become heavy enough to collapse trees — which then potentially can fall on people and vehicles, experts say. 

The Three Village Community Trust, a civic group in Stony Brook and Setauket, launched an awareness campaign two years ago called “Simply De-Vine” to help educate residents about the issue. In extreme cases, the vines act as a sail that catches stiff breezes and causes trees to tip over, the group's website says.

“It’s the plant that has eaten Long Island,” said group president Herb Mones, who lives in Stony Brook. “It just becomes something that consumes the entire ecosystem and creates this monoculture of ivy and only ivy.”

Unlike poison ivy, which is native to the United States, English ivy originated in Europe, Western Asia and Northern Africa and European settlers likely brought it here about 300 years ago, according to the University of Georgia's Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health.

While often used as an ornamental plant — think “Ivy League” colleges — English ivy is a “moderately invasive” species that kills leaves by blocking sunlight and impeding photosynthesis as it wraps itself around tree branches, said Mina Vescera, a nursery and landscape specialist at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County.

It's impossible to estimate how many Long Island trees might be affected by ivy, Cornell officials said.

The plant is difficult to control because it spreads far and wide when birds eat its seeds and deposit them elsewhere, Vescera said. And the vine is impervious to cold and doesn't die during the winter, she added.

“While it may not kill your tree … it likely will affect the number of leaves on your tree,” Vescera said.

“I’ve seen some trees that are nothing but English ivy. It’s using the structure of what used to be a tree, and then it’s all just English ivy,” she added. “If one of these trees starts to die or is dead … the sheer weight of that vine can slowly bring down that tree.”

Port Jefferson Mayor Lauren Sheprow said the village is removing vines on village property and starting an education campaign for residents.

“It’s more prevalent than you would ever imagine,” she said. “People think these vines are beautiful … but it's not good for the trees.”

The Three Village Community Trust website recommends using pruning shears or a saw to cut vines as close to their roots as possible. The ivy eventually will die and fall off the tree, the site says.

Vescera warns residents not to pull vines off a tree — because that is likely to rip off bark. She said it's also important to place cut vines in trash bags or let them dry out before disposing of them so the seeds aren't planted elsewhere inadvertently.

Mones likened the vines to the plot of the 1958 Steve McQueen movie, “The Blob,” about a mysterious, jellylike, extraterrestrial creature that lands on Earth and grows out of control.

“I don’t think we’ll ever see its eradication, but we can try stemming it,” Mones said. “You’re in a continuous battle over it and up to this point it’s been winning.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.