Any burning anything poisonous; I don't think the UK gets poison ivy, does it - but other plants might be similarly hazardous, in that burning them releases toxins which can cause quite nasty respiratory problems if inhaled... not fun :-(
I used to use one in the good old days for keeping paths clear. Better than sodium chlorate IMO and has the advantage that it reduces the weeds to ash on gravel paths.
We don't get poison ivy, but there's a plant that grows in rocky ground/stone walls/my driveway with yellow flowers and flat thin leaves that produces something nasty to breathe if it's strimmed.
I went into a hardware shop recently to ask for a stove pricker. They looked at me as if I were mad. I managed to make my own by unwinding a steel bicycle brake cable and making handles from steel cut from a baked bean tin.
We have a gas version, useless. There was also a paraffin version that we used to have like a steel scaffold pole with a pump at one end and a burner at the other.
Shame about the arson. Some mindless scrote, I assume? I was saddened to see that the amphibious aircraft used in "The Wicker Man" ended up burnt to cinders in an arson attack.
But you don't need to "burn the leaves off". The blast of heat damages the cell structure and the leaves will wither in a couple of days. You do need to repeat the scorching when growth returns to actually kill persistent weeds.
Yuck. I don't think poison ivy's a problem if cut up, thankfully, only if burnt or the oils come into contact with skin. Our woods are full of it - thankfully I'm mostly immune!
Between my fingers, oddly enough. Despite being up to my elbows in the stuff, and walking through it in shorts etc, I've only ever shown signs of its effects between my fingers, and even then it doesn't always happen when I've been near the stuff.
It does seem to affect some people more than others, plus I've heard that susceptibility can come and go - so maybe one day I'll have to be a bit more careful.
:D Judging by his latest 'performance' - Soldering directly to button battery - of 28th Aug. That's prolly the best thing to do with him. His posts suggest that he's running on fumes in the tooth department (or should be).
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