Is there a better way to remove a poison oak plant than with a chainsaw?

[Danny D.]

Actually, I had put a sign in Spanish & English on the green recycling bins, but, then I called the waste management company to warn them, and they told me they won't pick them up because they are a toxic waste biohazard!

So, I ended up wistfully pulling all the mutilated Pacific Poison Oak vines back OUT of the bins (which probably exposed me to more than chainsawing them did!) ... and I carried the bleeding-black vines deeper into the chaparral for safety sake, cursing the day I ever got the bright idea of putting them into the recycling bins in the first place!

Lesson learned, the hard way!

Note: In the picture above, the black ring is a ring of oxidized urushiol, which weeped clear, but then oxidized to a black laquer since Sunday.

[Danny D.]

I WISH I had an excavator/cutter like that one!

[Nil]

On 08 Jan 2013, TimR wrote in alt.home.repair:

That reminds me of my experience. I grew up in southern California and never had much exposure to poison oak. I could recognize and avoid it, but if I ever contacted it I never had a reaction.

After I moved to New England, I discovered lots of mature poison ivy vines entwining all the trees in my back yard. I was determined to get rid of them, and since I thought I wasn't allergic to it, I figured it wouldn't be much of a problem.

The first summer I wore minimal protection, just gloves and long sleeve shirt, and I ripped most of it out by hand. I didn't have any reaction. It came back next summer, though not as much, and encouraged by my previous experience I did it the same way. No reaction. The third year I did it again... and came down with raging rashes on my wrists, ankles, belt line. A little on my forehead and back of my neck. Ever since then I've been VERY sensitive - I'm careful to avoid the stuff, but I sometimes get the familiar rash anyway. It's very common around here, and I guess I touch just a little bit of it, or I touch something else that's touched it. Or, maybe it's from just looking at it.

I'm now also sensitive to poison oak, and have gotten a few cases of it when I've gone back to California.

[Danny D.]

Hi Wes, Wow. You have a lot of good information!

If they chew on the bark, there's no way they're not exposed to the urushiol in huge amounts!

Here is a full-sized picture of what's just under the bark on a small vine, of the type they might chew on. They must have amazing guts!

[Danny D.]

When I first bought the property I live at, which is covered in Pacific Poison Oak, I researched the Internet for weeks, trying to assess my enemy. (Never underestimate your enemy when it's poison oak!)

One thing I learned is that the delayed cell mediated immune response to urushiol is such that NOBODY is ever (truly) immune.

Sure, you might not get the rash this time. Maybe not next time. Maybe not the next. Or the next after that. But, the physiology of the body's immune response is such that everyone 'can' get it at any time after the first exposure. Which is exactly what you found out! :)

What I do, by the way, after a severe exposure, is, instead of buying the expensive IvyBlock/Technu/Zanfel/Prednisole regimen, is the following:

[homeowner]

Hey, I'n going to give the rock salt a try. It's cheaper than diesel fuel too, and probably is safer for the environment.

[Kay Lancaster]

In the PNW, you can rent goats for blackberry control, along with sections of portable chainlink fence.

How about power pruners like: the pro versions?

Do you know about Technu IvyBlock and Technu Extreme?

A friend who is exquisitely sensitive to poison oak/ivy/sumac swears by it.

Kay

[David Kaye]

"Robert Macy" wrote

Sheep also eat poison oak, and you can also clip them and sell their wool. California has many shepherds who use them for exactly this kind of thing.

[David Kaye]

"Danny D." wrote

Look for someone who rents out goats or sheep and have them come by and eat the poison oak. Seriously. They love the stuff.

[TimR]

I wonder if it is possible to build or rebuild an immunity to poison ivy, l= ike you can to iocaine powder (see Princess Bride).

I mention this because there was a recent article on egg allergies. Childr= en with severe egg allergies were given trace amounts of diluted egg protei= n daily, slowly building from something like a millionth of an egg up to th= ree eggs a day over a two year period, and they now eat eggs without diffic= ulty. (not sure I remember the details, but that's the gist of the article= )

[Robert Macy]

arrrggg! what did I do to deserve this punishment?

[Robert Macy]

Makes sense, just as eating local honey helps reduce 'spring fever' reactions.

[Robert Macy]

Is there a market for that product?

[krw]

That's probably why woody plant herbicide works better. ;-)

[krw]

Put it in the pressure washer's soap tank? Do any pressure washers suck up the "soap" when they're running at pressure? Every one I've seen will only draw from the tank when it's running very low pressure (won't spray very far). OTOH, they do sell 20' extensions for pressure sprayers.

[krw]

I love work. I can sit around and watch it all day.

[Brooklyn1]

There are similar cutters that mount on small tractors, that's how roadway shoulders are cleared of heavy brush... they're called "flail mowers". From your pictures it appears one could easily clear your property down to stumps with a small tractor with a cab (for protection) and a brush hog... my set up can clear your property an acre an hour. Once cut treat the stubs with defolient, I'd use a hand sprayer.

[Brooklyn1]

I buy water softener salt at Lowe's, 40 pounds/$4... rock salt costs even less. The salt does no permanent damage and in fact the critters use it for a salt lick. After about a year the salt dilutes from precipitation as though you never placed it there.

[Stormin Mormon]

Sorry, I do like word play, now and again.

Back to helping Danny think about his poison oak growth. I think he's taken on a MAJOR huge task.

Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus

.

arrrggg! what did I do to deserve this punishment?

[krw]

Yes, which is why I never play with poison ivy. One summer I had the kid clean up some vines in the back yard. Nothing I hadn't done but I didn't recognize the PI, either. I have never had a reaction to PI, though I've never been one to tempt fate. He got a little rash but my wife just touched his clothes, taking them from the floor and putting them directly in the washer, came down with blister from head to toe. She was one hurtin' pup for weeks.

Some time later I hired a handyman to cut down a tree by the road. We knew it was loaded with PI, but he said it didn't bother him. Well maybe it never had, but it sure did that time. He was in the emergency room shortly after. Did I say that *I* didn't play with the stuff. ;-)