How to get rid of Poison Ivy??

Island Life · 06-15-2009, 01:10 PM

If you have the time, you can pull these plants out by hand. I've done it but you need to be very careful to cover up completely. Wear long gloves (such as dishwashing gloves) and a spring weight coat. Tape the wrists of the coat so you don't accidentally expose any skin. Be sure to pull the roots up carefully, they'll be long and lead off in many different directions. Then be sure to wash all of the clothes you were wearing through a hot cycle in the washer.

ApS · 06-15-2009, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Island Life

"...If you have the time, you can pull these plants out by hand. I've done it but you need to be very careful to cover up completely..."

Our acre lot got a "poison ivy invasion" after a major cutting of trees that opened the forest floor to sunlight. I got a bad case of poison ivy, and my Mom "retaliated" by doing what you suggest here.

The forest canopy has since grown back to shade us again, but no poison ivy has been seen on this acre for 50 years!

But "just to make sure", I sprayed some suspicious "leaflets-three" a few years ago.

.... They turned out to be dozens of flowering—"Jack-in-the-Pulpits"....

Coolbreeze · 06-16-2009, 06:21 AM

Use round-up. It works great for me. Just get the leaves glossy wet and wait 10 days for the results, a second app may be needed and avoid spraying before rain or during droughts.

chipj29 · 06-16-2009, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Island Life

If you have the time, you can pull these plants out by hand. I've done it but you need to be very careful to cover up completely. Wear long gloves (such as dishwashing gloves) and a spring weight coat. Tape the wrists of the coat so you don't accidentally expose any skin. Be sure to pull the roots up carefully, they'll be long and lead off in many different directions. Then be sure to wash all of the clothes you were wearing through a hot cycle in the washer.

I have had to throw away a jacket before that the oil wouldn't wash off of. I couldn't figure out why the patch I had on my wrist kept getting worse and worse. Stopped wearing the jacket and solved that mystery. I washed it 2x then wore it, and got PI again in the same spot. Jacket went straight to the garbage. No thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coolbreeze

Use round-up. It works great for me. Just get the leaves glossy wet and wait 10 days for the results, a second app may be needed and avoid spraying before rain or during droughts.

Round Up is great, but only if you want to kill the PI and everything else around it. The Ortho Poison Ivy killer that I mentioned earlier is better IMO, in that it only kills the ivys.

Kamper · 06-16-2009, 07:08 AM

You can kill almost anything by putting a sheet of heavy black plastic over it for a while. This deprives it of light and water, and the heat cooks it. The downside is you will end up with a completely dead area.

Since this does not disrupt the ground cover you could allow the area to recover naturally but I would suggest using good judgement over how large an area you do this to. I have only done this on flat areas.

I found this out by accident one year when I laid out sections of roofing paper for a shed I was building. This technique saved me from renting heavy equipment to pull some hedges when my grandfather decided to switch to a fence. I trimmed the hedge to the ground level and laid the cover about a foot to either side of the stumps. That cover, I left down for a couple months to be certain. There was over 200 feet of hedge and none of it grew back.

06-15-2009, 01:10 PM	#1
Island Life Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 273 Thanks: 12 Thanked 6 Times in 2 Posts	If you have the time, you can pull these plants out by hand. I've done it but you need to be very careful to cover up completely. Wear long gloves (such as dishwashing gloves) and a spring weight coat. Tape the wrists of the coat so you don't accidentally expose any skin. Be sure to pull the roots up carefully, they'll be long and lead off in many different directions. Then be sure to wash all of the clothes you were wearing through a hot cycle in the washer. __________________ Island Life the way my grandparents' grandparents enjoyed it - but with a faster boat!!!

06-16-2009, 06:21 AM	#3
Coolbreeze Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 332 Thanks: 0 Thanked 51 Times in 26 Posts	Use round-up. It works great for me. Just get the leaves glossy wet and wait 10 days for the results, a second app may be needed and avoid spraying before rain or during droughts.

06-16-2009, 07:08 AM	#5
Kamper Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Thornton's Ferry Posts: 1,312 Thanks: 67 Thanked 172 Times in 128 Posts	You can kill almost anything by putting a sheet of heavy black plastic over it for a while. This deprives it of light and water, and the heat cooks it. The downside is you will end up with a completely dead area. Since this does not disrupt the ground cover you could allow the area to recover naturally but I would suggest using good judgement over how large an area you do this to. I have only done this on flat areas. I found this out by accident one year when I laid out sections of roofing paper for a shed I was building. This technique saved me from renting heavy equipment to pull some hedges when my grandfather decided to switch to a fence. I trimmed the hedge to the ground level and laid the cover about a foot to either side of the stumps. That cover, I left down for a couple months to be certain. There was over 200 feet of hedge and none of it grew back.