poison ivy help

[momofmine]

Hi all,
I'm not sure if this belongs here or in the green living forum. We have a patch (or maybe more) of poison ivy in a wooded section of our backyard where my children play constantly. About 2 months ago, my son got into it unknowingly and had a miserable case of it. I haven't let them go near it since, because I want to get it out of there first. Everything I read about removing it is scaring me a bit. Most sources say you have to spray the roots with chemicals because if you just pull it up it will return. Of course I don't want to use chemicals, especially because it is right next to my garden. Anyone have any advice for me?
Thank you!

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Honestly ,there are some things you just have to poison. If you don't want to use the ivy killer (I think I used Ortho), you can always use gasoline. But with the ivy killer, what we did was cut what was growing up at the base and paint it directly on the cut stalks full-strength with a disposable paint brush. This way you don't have to worry about it getting sprayed on something you want to keep. It has a pretty fast half life. So just watch when you do it so it's not going to rain for a few days. And get yourself some gloves you don't mind throwing away and a bottle of Tecnu Ivy Wash.

[momofmine]

Thank you! So, did you feel like the product you used was fine?

Did you just completely suit yourself up and then use the Tecnu wash afterwards?

I think I am a bit nervous that I won't get it all. It has had two months to grow back there now. Aack, I wish I had taken care of it then. I just have been busy and procrastinating about it.

[jocelyndale]

I've been trying to kill poison ivy for years now without resorting to something like ortho or round-up. Bleach, orange oil, hot water. Nothing really kills the *roots* and therefore, it just grows back. Poison ivy really thrives in our climate.

This year, I bought a spraybottle of poison. Hubby will pour into a disposable cup and paint it on, then toss cup, gloves, and brush. I hate hate hate that we've resorted to this. The poison makes me *really* sick to be near, but DH is horribly reactive to the poison ivy. So I'll cut the poison ivy back, then stake a visible stem where hubby can dart in and paint the poison. I hope this can keep us both safe. When the rest of the foliage is dead, I'll suit up and bag it as well as I can, then try to get it into trash bags or something where DH won't touch the oil at all. I don't react as severely (yet).

I really hate killing a native vine, but it really does make my husband horribly ill.

We have tecnu, too. Cure is worse than the rash for me.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Oh, well, ours wasn't too bad. But if it's all over, I'd follow the regular precautions:
longsleeve shirt tucked into gloves
longpants tucked into long socks
scrub w/ tecnu if it touches your skin or you wipe your brow (but especially your hands from taking off clothes)

Go directly to the washing machine and undress, wash it all on super hot, maybe twice. DH is the king of going into the field (he's an environmental scientist) and not telling me he was near poison. I'll just wash it regular and then I'm like "why do I have three spots of poison on my hand?" oh! you! it's to the point I put all has work clothes in the whites so they get washed on hot, just to be sure.

Honestly, a lot of those products, as long as you follow directions (especially the rain one) and are careful, go away pretty quickly. I mean, it's not ideal, but there are some things that just require poison.

[Quirky]

There are some organic weed-killers out there (they are still poisonous to plants and not safe to drink or touch, but they are plant-based and organic) that you could try.

Nature's Avenger and Burn-Out are two that spring to mind. I used Nature's Avenger when I was putting down my raised beds to beat back the grass and dandelions as dh didn't have the energy to spade up the earth, which was very compacted anyway, and it worked pretty well. I believe it's OMRI certified.

But honestly we have a squirt bottle of Round-Up in the garage that we keep just for poison ivy. We're never going to get rid of it all -- the birds spread it via the berries, plus it grows from tiny pieces of plant that runner/vine -- and my dh is horribly allergic. So I don't feel the least bit of guilt about using it when necessary. We're not in a wetlands or a pond area, so it's not getting into any aquatic habitat.

[birthgreeter]

heavy dose of salt on plants often will eventually kill out stuff. Where we put our salt block for animals, that area does not grow anything. I admit that I have never tried it for poison ivy though.
another thing is a goat. they will eat it.

[jocelyndale]

I don't use salt because the poison ivy grows on plants I want to keep. And it's growing in plants which are highly toxic to goats (rhodies, azaleas). Are goats smart enough to not eat rhododendrons? If so, I might just call up the local goat service (seriously, we have folks in town who rent out their goats for clearing stuff like this). I guess I could call and ask.

[jojoboy]

I know I'm late to this post, but if you're absolutely against using round-up, you can pull out the poison ivy by hand. I've done some patches. It's kinda cathartic to spend time killing something that you hate. Sorry, but I have 2 kids, and a hubby that is super allergic. I really hate the stuff.

Pull it up, and carefully pull up as much of the roots and vines as you can. The more you pull from above and under the ground, the less will come back up. Use a small trowel to dig out roots too. But carefully - all parts of the poison ivy are poisonous - including roots.

When I do it, I cover myself head to toe - sleeves tucked into gloves and taped with duct tape, pants tucked into socks, hat and cover my face. When I'm done, I throw all clothes in the washer with a little liquid dishwashing detergent (like Dawn). Lather myself up in shower head to toe with the same dawn, including hair, and repeat once or twice depending on how much exposure I've had. I rarely get a rash if I follow that procedure. Dawn's cheaper than the poison ivy wash, and I think it works great.

Once I pull the poison ivy up, I just revisit the site every so often, walking by when I walk in the year. The ivy will keep coming back for a few years, but less and less abundantly if you keep pulling, and eventually you get rid of it.

Round up makes a "poison ivy and tough bush" variety that works great. I had some poison ivy "trees" (dead trees covered in poison ivy) out here, and I sprayed those with the round up and they haven't come back ever.