You can use ammonium sulfate as a surfactant to cut through English ivy with glyphosate. It works great, and in theory you don't have to use as much Roundup that way either.

This is the only way I was ever able to kill English ivy in the back yard of my old house. I bought glyphosate concentrate, some disposable plastic cups, and a disposable foam paintbrush. I painted it on every damned leaf in the yard.

It works. It may take several applications to do so, but it works.

Burning the visible part would just make food for the roots.

Thanks ChatGPT, I’ll keep that in mind.

I found that chlorine triflouride is more effective

I understand your sentiment and share to some extent, but the reason this came into being wasn’t vanity. Having large shrubs or weed areas leads to pests and the spread of disease, while large trees become deadly during storms. In the AmericanSouth and MidWest, seasonal tornadoes make this latter threat far worse. Homeowners then become incentivized to clear their yards of both hazards. Kudzu and English Ivy kill the trees and make them more likely to come down. Once people clear a lawn, the only way to make it look good is by getting that rich green and uniform golf course like appearance brought to you by Bayer.