Closing on a new house next week in SE Virginia, went by today and since the last visit poison ivy has sprung up through the leaf litter in multiple places.
My wife is highly allergic, we're talking 2 months of weeping blisters for the slightest contact. It is unknown what the reactions of my 2 young daughters might be.
I seem to be barely affected by minor contact. Haven't rubbed the sap all over myself yet to see if I might get a more severe reaction. (probably not going to try)

Any removal advice? I have read that hand pulling then spraying the area from which the plants were pulled with herbicide is the best remedy. Lots of local "removal specialists" just spray. This will leave the acid/sap/oil which causes the reaction all over the place, lying in wait.
Wife is really kind of having a meltdown about it, which is somewhat understandable given the reaction she gets. Tales of successful eradication are particularly welcome.

It’s the oil in the plant that gets you, I wonder if you sprayed the area with dawn and water mixed if that would help break it down

Drat, I thought this was going to be a discussion of one of the greatest movies ever made!

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
It’s the oil in the plant that gets you, I wonder if you sprayed the area with dawn and water mixed if that would help break it down

It's a thought. Lots of websites claim it can linger for years. I have over an acre, with lots of trees, so I'm not thrilled with the idea of crawling the whole property.

Poison, fire. Repeat.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Drat, I thought this was going to be a discussion of one of the greatest movies ever made!

How did I ever miss that Masterpiece!?!?!?!

Well, both the most permanent and entertaining way would be...

Nozzle and trigger discipline are important though.

Short of literally pulling it up by hand, an herbicide such as Roundup® is the only way. And you have to get when it just starts its growing season.

Then, yes, as confirmed by my wife: The oil that results in the allergic reaction will remain in the area for a while. She was unable to define just how long "a while" is.

quote:

Originally posted by Greymann:
Poison, fire. Repeat.

Fire?!?! ABSOLUTELY NOT! The resulting smoke, if it contacts skin, will have the same effect as touching the plant or its residue. If inhaled it can be deadly, as it will do to your lungs what it does with skin contact.

Also think twice before using power tools on thick poison ivy vines climbing trees or other structures. When cut with such things while active, their sap can spray out like an aerosol. See cautions, re: fire, above. My next-door-neighbour on one side learned this lesson the hard way. He was in the hospital for about a week and nearly lost his life after cutting a very thick vine with a chainsaw.

We spray the stuff we find in our open field and woods. I carefully cut any vines I see growing up trees with a pair of long-handled bypass loppers. My wife carefully hand-digs any she finds in her gardens and disposes of it in plastic bags, which go in the garbage can.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
Short of literally pulling it up by hand, an herbicide such as Roundup® is the only way. And you have to get when it just starts its growing season.

Agreed. Both glyphosate herbicides (Round-up) or triclopyr herbicides (Brush-B-Gon) are both good poison ivy killers. Might have to bump up glyphosphate concentration to kill poison ivy, and you'll get more bang for your buck buying generic glyphosphate because it's likely nearly 2x more concentrated for less money than Round-up. The best way in how to get rid of poison ivy with these herbicides is to apply the herbicide to the leaves of the poison ivy plant while the leaves are in the sunlight (i.e. don't do it when shaded or at sunset). The poison ivy plant will likely regrow so you need to stay on top of it by spraying any new growth with the herbicide. A few applications on new growth will deplete the poison ivy plant’s ability to regrow and the plant will die back completely.

DO NOT BURN POISON IVY

I was present when my dad burned a cabin that had poison ivy on it, I got a dose of the smoke and I got it from the smoke. It got into my blood system and I had rash all over me.. the doctor had my mom dose me several times a day with Benadryl to help with the itch. It was fucking terrible. Imagine poison ivy in your ears , mouth, and everywhere else.

If in a little used area, spray. Consistently, keep watch every year, eventually it will fade out. Behind my fence in the backyard the trees were well infested. Lopped the tree climbers and left them, sprayed the young shoots. Eventually it stopped trying to come back. Last I read, the oil is active for approximately 5 years after the death of the vine.

Heavier traffic areas, pull/bag/toss. I hate the stuff, so long heavy latex covered gloves at a minimum for me, likely long sleeves. Maybe one of those disposable overalls.

Sung to the tune of " My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"

My body has calamine lotion
My body's as sore as can be
The flowers I picked for my Granny

Turned out to be Poison Ivy!

Refrain: Don t touch, don t touch,

Don t touch Poison Ivee eee eeeeee ...
It will itch bad,
And it looks worse than acneeeeeeeeeeee! ---

( I don t remember tbe rest. All that second hand smoke in the 60's)

---- Mad Magazine, circa 1960's.

You're welcome.

I've used the Ortho brand of poison ivy spray that has the battery powered spray wand. I got it from Home Depot. It worked great! It killed the entire plant in about 2-3 weeks and it didn't return.
Two other points: After coming in contact with the plant, if you can wash the oil from you skin in about 10 minutes or so with Dawn dish washing soap, you'll most likely not catch it.
As mentioned before: DO NOT burn it, the smoke will cause you to get the oil in your lungs and it can easily be fatal!

Yeas...don’t burn it. The smoke can get you.

A brush killer and a hatchet.

Long sleeves.

Wash affected areas with bleach after contact.

Rinse with water.

When I was a kid, my old man burned the poison ivy out of a fence row. I ran through the smoke. Put me right in the ER.

I have used poison ivy killer from Home Depot. I noticed it kills a lot more than the ivy. So be careful.
I am lucky I don't get the itching but my brother has to get every medicine imaginable.

Even though I don't have a large property...I deal with poison ivy from time to time...I pull it by hand wearing cheap-assed gloves (throw the gloves away afterwards)...properly washing up afterwards has kept me rash free for years...the following YouTube video really adds some light on what you are dealing with when you come in contact with poison ivy (as my grandfather told me "there is washing your hands and there is washing your hands right"...this was about being around chicken shit as a kid...chicken shit is like grease )...

Good info here (for chicken shit or poison ivy)...




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/4oyoDRHpQK0

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
Both glyphosate herbicides (Round-up) or triclopyr herbicides (Brush-B-Gon) are both good poison ivy killers.

I use glyphosate PLUS a bush killer both on fence rows and overgrown thickets etc... at the same time. Tank mixed at their regular mix rates. (It's actually a somewhat common practice around here when you get people to admit their secret) I call it the nuclear option. Some respraying will always be necessary on new or missed vines. I cut vines that run too high to spray at the ground with a hatchet and spray the cut end. Adding plenty of dishwashing liquid for a surfactant is a must.... the spray should spread out and cover the leaves and not bead up.

quote:

Originally posted by cparktd:
Adding plenty of dishwashing liquid for a surfactant is a must.... the spray should spread out and cover the leaves and not bead up.

I use this Bonide product as a surfactant for glyphosphate and other herbicides for my lawn.

I use this plant-based surfactant in my herb and vegetable garden.