Happy Tuesday!

[dwight]

Nothing special about this Tuesday, other than the fact that I was going through my property this past weekend pulling out everything with three leaves.

48 hours later, no sign of a misstep. No scratchin', no itchin'. And when I get poison ivy, I tend to get it BAD.

I use gloves and wear long sleeves and sweats. Normally, when I'm done pulling all of the ivy I've spotted, the gloves are the last thing to go into the bag, then I take a thorough HazMat shower immediately. If there's any doubt, the sweats are also disposable.

I hate that stuff. Poison Ivy is, to me, like mosquitos - what possible purpose could it serve on this Earth?

dwight (Sorry to rant, but I knew you'all would understand.)

[enigma]

"dwight" wrote in news:CqadnaxIeZ2kIIrVnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

bird food. i am also highly allergic, but i allow it to grow in certain areas of my property because the fruits are an excellent native source of food. now, Norway maples, those should be wiped from the face of the planet... lee

[Charlie]

Heck yeah! Poison ivy sucks. Something that has become invasive in my part of the world is wild parsnip. Son got burned pretty badly fishing two years ago. He didn't realize what the weeds were that he was knocking down. Can cause blistering, photodermatitis, if sap is contacted and then you are in sunlight. Darkened areas can remain several years.

of info online about this invasive plant. I found some starting up last week under a bush.

Poison hemlock is showing up also.

Charlie

[Phisherman]

Poison ivy produces berries that are food to some birds. Unfortunately, the birds scatter the seeds with their droppings making it a never-ending eradication battle. I have learned to quickly recognize the plant, both on my property and on hiking trails. Interesting, it doesn't grow in California. Also, can you believe some folks have poison ivy as a house plant? Makes me itch just thinking about it.

[MajorOz]

...really...?

Tell that to the hospital folks at Vandenberg AFB. Some years back, when they sent volunteers to help fight a fire in the coastal mountains nearby, a wind shift caused smoke inhalation from burning PI that put a bunch of folks in hospital with PI burns in trachea and lungs. Good friend, with a PI allergy, almost died.

cheers

oz

[dwight]

I always thought it was the Ivy in the East, Poison Oak in the West. My son, also VERY allergic to the ivy, moved out to California a few years ago, knowing nothing about poison oak. He learned quickly.

dwight

[dwight]

I'd never heard about this plant. Apparently, Pennsylvania may be part of its current range, so I'll be keeping an eye out. So, that's two plants now that I want no part of on my property.

I'll stick to my kudzu, English ivy, purple loosestife, and tree-of-heaven, thanks.

dwight

[Cheryl Isaak]

I'm with you, I'll allow the PI and pull the Oriental Bittersweet and the Norway Maples. C

[enigma]

Cheryl Isaak wrote in news:C43DC80B.8B752% [e-mail]:

i'm still working on the damned Oriental bittersweet after almost 9 years here. that stuff is hard to get rid of if you don't use herbicides. i think i'll have a party when we take down the big nasty Norway maple next to the house. i couldn't get the loggers to cut it... too close to the house & useless as lumber :p i drove past Scenic Nursery yesterday. they are open & were pretty busy, despite the rain. the river was edging up to some of the shrub pots, but they weren't under water again at least. lee

[Val]

Correct, Poison Ivy does NOT grow in California. Poison Oak west, Poison Ivy east. PO is a sub species of PI. Because PO often grows in a vine-like manner it's sometimes confused and the names are interchanged. That fire was in 1996 and even the news papers interchanged the names, hence the confusion. People as much as 10 miles from that fire were reported suffering effects from the PO smoke toxins carried in the wind. Inhaling the smoke of burning plants can cause the same blisters, inflammation and swelling internally as direct contact on the skin. Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) and its eastern counterpart Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) are two of the most notoriously painful plants in North America.

I remember in the late 60s camping in California, in an area where PO had been cut and cleared. No signs were posted or warnings made. By day two a dozen of us were showing signs of PO. We had picked up the sap from the cut vegetation stubble and it was on our shoes, clothing, camping equipment, etc. What a mess. A dozen of us ended up in the ER at NAS Alameda. I haven't been camping since.

Val

[Val]

You thought right.

Val

[Cheryl Isaak]

Snip the vines going up. Not the fastest way, but it works

Burns OK though. Not hard, not soft, so not an over night wood or a starter, but it does produce BTUs

Hurrah! not next week, I'm working a ton of hours, but maybe the week after.

C

[enigma]

Cheryl Isaak wrote in news:C43E1890.8B78A% [e-mail]:

i'm getting a lot of little vines from the roots. not bad in the areas i can mow, but hard to keep up with in the bog & on one tree stump. i swear the previous owner planted every invasive on the list... the only things i don't have are Japanese knotweed & hogweed... & there's Japanese knotweed up

43 headed towards my swamp :p

i'll add it to the sap boiler fuel pile (unless i get my greenhouse & outdoor wood furnace to heat it)

i have an appointment with the cancer doc on the 12th, but otherwise nothing on the schedule that week. lee

[Billy]

Break out the "come alongs" and be prepared to run like hell;-)

[MajorOz]

I stand corrected. The hospital folks referred to it as PI. This was a fire in the mid 70's.

cheers

oz, who, happily, is not bothered by any of them