Poison Ivy

Hi, I am posting for the first time here. I have read many of the articles and this seems like a great newsgroup!!

I have searched the internet and I cannot figure out how to successfully get rid of poison ivy from my yard. We live in a wooded area and are just trying to beat the poison ivy back out of the gardens and out of the lawn on the edges of the woods. I normally don't like to use chemicals, but after a few nasty cases of blistering skin, I ran to get some Round Up. That is very expensive and doesn't seem to work that great. I have also covered up with latex and pulled out scads of vines, bagged them and thrown them in the garbage, but that is a hazardous endeavor. Are there any home remedies that people have used that work?

-kim

Reply to
Kim
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Poison ivy is very fond of wooded edges and that's where you will find it. I have a friend (American Indian) who is non-allergic to PI and will yank it out for the asking; otherwise I use RoundUp which is very effective if applied per instructions. I might kill 15 small plants per year on a half acre lot, but the first two years I used a lot of RoundUp hunting the PI about every month. Seeds are brought in by birds so your only hope is effective control.

Reply to
Phisherman

If the roots are well developed, it will take many applications of Roundup to kill it. It's a sturdy plant.

As with any chemical, I suggest you wear gloves and don't spray when it's windy.

Mike Prager Beaufort, NC (on the coast in zone 8a) (Remove symbols from email address to reply.)

Reply to
Mike Prager

Brush Killer works much better than Roundup on woody plant growth. Depending on your weather, allow several weeks or more for the leaves and stems to dry and the oil to decompose or evaporate. Even so, be careful in cleanup and, of course, don't burn any of it. We have eliminated large patches of it safely in this way. Be on the look out for seedlings for the next few seasons. Birds can always bring in more seeds so you may never be free of it. Tho not as toxic, we have the same problem with mistletoe which can be treated similiarly if the brush killer is brushed on or applied to cut surfaces and kept off the tree. Apparently, not enough of the poison gets through the mistletoe roots into the tree to cause any permanent damage, although I can see the possibility of damage to small limbs. But what's the mistletoe going to do but kill the limb too. What's to lose? Gary

Reply to
V_coerulea

Check Google groups for previous discussions here. There have been many with lots of good information. Do be careful. The irritant oils willl adhere to clothing and animal fur. You say you're bagging and putting in the garbage, which is good. Don't ever burn it.

Reply to
Frogleg

Thanks to all for your suggestions. I guess the problem with the roundup is that we have so much poison ivy that we never seem to get it all, and we don't want to kill all the other plants next to it. Although on isolated patches of PI that i have killed with roundup, new PI plants sprouted back up in a month or so. I have never heard of this brush killer so I will look into that. Thanks again!

-kim

Reply to
Kim

I had expected you to ask if the Indian was available ;) Frank

Reply to
Frank Logullo

Kim writes in article dated Tue, 19 Aug 2003

18:36:36 GMT:

Roundup is less effective against ivy than it is against other plants. A bad choice, IMHO.

A few years ago I got a spray can of "poison ivy killer". It killed the plants I found, but more kept coming into the yard. I even found one 2" diameter vine going up a tree on the edge of the property. Vines going up trees are easy to kill because all you have to do is sever them. If they're on the ground, you have to pull them all the way out because if you leave them they can re-root.

The best thing you can do is encourage growth of competing species and pull out the PI regularly.

While we're talking about poison ivy I should mention -- there is *no* topical treatment which reduces the duration of outbreaks. If your doctor prescribes cream, change doctors. Corticosteroid pills work much better.

Also -- exposure makes you more sensitive to it, not less. If you have had a reaction before, be very careful.

--Thundermaker$yahoo.com (Spud Demon) The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.

Reply to
lewis

That's not accurate, if you'll pardon me for saying so. Teknu, by the Ivy Dri people, is the only topical cleanser I know of that removes urishiol oils from epidermal cells-- although the last time we discussed this, I recall other posters indicating some 'look alikes' had also sprung up since Teknu came on the market.

Dave

Reply to
David J Bockman

I am not reactive to poison ivy (yet), but DH is. Believing that prevention is better than cure, when he's out there, he uses Tecnu Ivy Block. After coming in, he uses a wash that is also made by Tecnu. After a very bad case two years ago made worse by his refusal to see a doctor, we switched to this protocol, and it has worked extremely well.

Suja

Reply to
Suja

Kim -- You may want to consider using a paint brush in areas that have plants you want to keep. If they actually touch the PI, then pulling is generally a better bet but you can still use RoundUp -- just put a piece of cardboard around it as well (that way the RoundUp'd leaves don't even touch the other plants.

A heavy infestation will take a couple of seasons to fully eradicate -- PI is a berry producer which means the little birdies just love it and spread it everwhere. :) Trust me though -- you CAN get rid of it to the point that it's not too difficult to manage.

The other product that I mentioned in my post was Ortho's "Brush-B-Gon". Brush-B-Gon is a bit slower acting than RoundUp but it is equally effective as a non-specific herbicide. I did a one-two punch on an area of weeds here (i.e., I hit it with both) and I'm pleased to say that everything died to the ground and now, almost a month later, I only have 2 or 3 weeds re-sprouting -- good stuff.

James

Reply to
JNJ

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