How to Clear Up Ivy On Woodland Floor to Sow Shady Grass Mix?

[Robert]

Have been asked to look at a small patch of woodland which has recently been significantly thinned and opened up with prolific ivy and general undergrowth scraped off the woodland floor to leave 'bare' soil. Need to devise a plan to clean up any regrowth and try and establish some grass / wildflower mix. We anticipate a large flush of ivy etc - if caught very young will this be controllable with Glyphosate and if not, what might a.i. should work without compromising the intended grass / flower seeding? Does anyone have experience of how persistent the flushes are like to be before we can realistically invest money in planting the grass seed? Thanks

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Pigs.

Most herbicides will have residues that will stuff your flowers for a longer period than they annoy ivy etc, plus they'll keep rooting it up and give you an organic "stale seedbed" of sorts

And bacon

The usual theme with regenerating woodland is that taking out one mature tree creates opportunity for around 7000 new plants to grow to fill the space left, hence my comment re. the herbicides, you'd need a lot of follow-ups?

Whereas if you let animals do the heavy lifting, the amount of labour left for you is minimised, and you will get a couple of fat pigs to ease the pain

 

[Derrick Hughes]

You have changed the natural environment so that will hit the plants that are growing ,also it will be quite acid so be aware of that when you choose what to sow
I would run a shallow rotorvator over it in the spring and see what comes

 

[nick...]

Get a mini digger in with a rake and pull it up and burn it.that will leave a suitable tilth to plant your grass seed
nick...