Poison ivy

I have Poison Ivy growing up the sides of my house. It has run up to the second floor and is now chasing the eaves. It seems like its doubling in volume in a few days. Does anyone have any tips on getting rid of this short of burning the house down. I've called a bunch of lanscapers and the only one who would give me a price wants nearly $1000. to take it down. The must be something similar to paraquat that I can spray on it. Anyone know the name of the chemicals I should be looking for? I've sprayed it with Round-up from home depot and it just wilted it a little. In a few days you couldn't even tell. This is my mission for this weekend. Advice will be appriciated and snide remarks or wise cracks will, of course, be tolerated. (After all, this is usenet.)

Thanks in advance for serious replies.

Kathy

Reply to
Kathy
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I haven't had any trouble killing poison ivy with a poison ivy-specific killer. It needs to be made for "brushy" (woody) plants.

Reply to
jeffc

One thing you can do is (carefully and wearing gloves and long sleeves) is clip the stems at the bottom and the parts above will die.

Once that is done, the sprays may work better on the roots as there is less of a network of leaves to gather nourishment.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Are you positive this is poison ivy? Could it be Virginia Creeper? Try alt.landscape.architecture with a link to an image. Try your local extension agent.

Even if it is not poison ivy, vines can cause damage to buildings. TB

Reply to
tbasc

Reply to
Phisherman

In article , snipped-for-privacy@comcast.net says... :) couldn't even tell. This is my mission for this :) weekend. Advice will be appriciated and snide :) remarks or wise cracks will, of course, be :) tolerated. (After all, this is usenet.) :) :) Thanks in advance for serious replies. :) :) Snip the main vine near the ground, then apply to the fresh cut the round up or "brush killer" leave it be for a few weeks till the leaves die and drop, then with gloves remove the vine from the structure.

Reply to
Lar

Also make sure the Roundup you use is strong enough. I'd go with a 10% solution to deal with poison ivy. Get the concentrate and apply it with a tank sprayer, not the weak pre-mixed stuff, which is around 1% and fine for general weeds. Also, you can get an additive that can be used with any spray that make it stick to the leaves better. This is important with poison ivy because the leaves are slick and oily, so a lot of the spray tends to run off. That's one of the reasons you need the Roundup to be strong. There are also other herbicides that are labeled as brush killer that are effective as well.

Reply to
trader4

In article , snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net says... :) Also, you can get an additive that can :) be used with any spray that make it stick to the leaves better. This :) is important with poison ivy because the leaves are slick and oily, :)

2 drops of liquid dish soap per gallon mixture will also work
Reply to
Lar

Suggest spray with liquefied Beef Jerky--dilute sufficiently and you have a marketable commodity.....

It's definately nasty shit, Kath.

Perhaps ( carefully ) beat it with a baseball bat first to injure the plant tissue. Then spray....the injured tissue will likely intake any available moisture in humidity from the available air rather than to dessicate..

Well to note probly additional urushiol is rapidly exuded in order to help protect the plant after any tissue injury.....

If its only a few plants, suggest snip at the base--everything above should die, this due to the subsequent inability to uptake water into the above plant tissue.

Brush round-up at full strength on the cambium layer of any the root bases that are left in the soil.

Treat any plant material removed as being highly hazardous......suggest dispose onsite via deep burial....else bag and send to an approved landfill ( clearly mark the bags )

Reply to
PrecisionMachinisT

Anyone able to interpet what this sentence means??

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Well to note probly additional urushiol is rapidly exuded in order to help protect the plant after any tissue injury.....

Reply to
James

Yes, but then again, I'm from the South. ;-)

RJ

Reply to
Backlash

Kathy, There are "Poison Ivy Killers" made specifically for this purpose. They usually have a directed spray so you can pinpoint where it gets applied. That's important because a spray mist would takeout many of your desirable plants nearby.

Do not snip the plant near the ground until it is dead. You want the killer to be transported to the roots.

Expect to apply at least 3 times, a week apart. Check the label.

When the poison ivy is dead, you can carefully remove the plants and any roots you can early pull up. But it may take until Fall for this. Wear cheap clothes and gloves and dispose (not burn) every when you're finished. We used to bathe in Fells Naptha soap afterwards. (I always suspected that was an early version of an acid peal!).

Reply to
William W. Plummer

Yes, no problems.

Reply to
ZsaZsa

She/he should pay attention to the fact that the plant (poison ivy) will give off a lot of urushiol (what makes it poison) when the vines or leaves are damaged in order to protect itself. Sort of like the white or red blood cells (can never recall which it is) in our bodies fight an injury, scrape, cut, etc.

Does that help?

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

specifically for this

you can pinpoint where

spray mist would takeout

dead. You want the

Check the label.

remove the plants and any

until Fall for this. Wear

every when you're

afterwards. (I always

peal!).

Thanks for your input. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I have to get rid of it before fall because I'd like to have siding put on my house soon and the contractors have all said they won't deal with the poison ivy. I searched the web and found 2 chemicals that should be able to kill it. Glyphasate and triclopyr. I am going to try and find a concentrate of one of them. Another poster suggested Garlon but I don't see that for being for poison ivy, just blackberries. I've got the sprayer but I think I'll get another to use just for poisons. I plan on getting those paper suits and coving every inch of my body. I wish I had a friend who wasn't allergic!

Thanks again to all who responded.

Reply to
Kathy

You are not making the Roundup strong enough. Mix it double strength or even a little stronger than that.

I question whether this is poison ivy though. I never heard of poison ivy crawling up amything. It's normally just a ground plant getting a foot or so tall. Of course there could be other varieties that I dont know about. However, this sounds to me like the decorative ivy that people use intentionally for decoration. If that's all it is, you can just start ripping the roots out and pulling it. Some of the universities have photos of nearly all plants online.

If it's only growing against the house and not in the lawn, I highly suspect it's the decorative ivy.

Mark

Reply to
maradcliff

There is definitely poison ivy that grows as a vine. I just whacked some here in NJ yesterday that was growing up a tree in the woods at the border of my lawn. The root was about 1 1/2" in diameter at the base. It went a good 20+ feet up the tree. You're right about needing the Roundup to be strong. I used it at about 10%, whiere 1 or 2% is fine for most common broadleaf weeds and grass.

Reply to
trader4

I cur it off at the base and let the vines die, then when the roots start to put out new ivy in a few weeks or a month and it is a small area of green then I hit it with round up. Kills it dead without using a lot of chemical. make sure to cover up when working with the ivy or poison. By then the vines have died and removal is less hazardous. And whenever I mess with poison ivy I clean up with orange gojo any where I might be contaminated before turning on the shower, really cuts the oil of the plant off your body. ;)

Reply to
red

Clip at the bottom. Cover stem with coffee can.

Reply to
HeyBub

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