Realizing this is an old thread I will add... I also don't like to use weed killers. Manual removal of poison ivy works best but seldom gets it all and can take years. A good use for those plastic shopping bags... Placed them over your gloves hands (w/long sleeves, right?) so when you grab the ivy you can pull it into the bag and turn the bag inside out to contain the ivy for disposal. Does that make sense? As mentioned you prob won't get it all so you can leave a length of the vine and treat it with some Round-up using a quart plastic bottle (milk or juice bottle, etc). Mark the bottle "Weed Killer" so it is easily identified.. Insert a length of the vine into the bottle. Trim the opening if you need to make it large enuff to get any leaves inside the bottle. Use a piece of string or wire to tie the handle to the vine so the wind or children don't remove or play with it. Then pour in a bit of Roundup so that it touches all the leaves. Shake the bottle daily or as many times as you walk by it - so the Roundup wets the vine and leaves. This also works for other invasive weeds/vines such as bittersweet. Esp. effective when a vine has just sprouted up in the middle of your perennial bed (to kill just the vine).

What I had read, and what I am trying to do is... 1. Apply several applications of premixed Round-Up Brush Killer to all the leaves, until the entire plant seems to be dead and wilted to the point where the leaves a crumbly - although I'll let you figure out how to determine that by yourself, lol. 2. Cut all of the plants away so that only a 12" stump of the plant is sticking up out of the ground and place markers in the ground next to this spots identifying these stumps as being poison ivy. 3. Apply the Round-Up concentrate, without diluting it at all, over the stump as directed in the stump removal technique and leave it be for the rest of the year. --- Then, periodically, check the area near the markers and apply more round-up to any new shoots you see coming up out of that area. Over the course of a year or two, you should be able to get it under control to the point of it just being sproutlings and not *** FIFTEEN FOOT TALL BUSHES *** -- lol that still kills me that it was that pervasive in my yard.

Hello Battalina - A couple of thoughts regarding your posting... You mentioned that : "Some of them had dried up bluberry looking black fruit on them." Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) does NOT have dried up looking blueberry type fruits , although Parthenocissus quinquefolia (commonly known as Virginia creeper and Parthenocissus tricuspida aka Boston Ivy)do. There are some people who have an allergic type reaction from Parthenoccissus species although in my case , although I am extremely allergic to Toxicodendron species , I handle Partheocissus species frequently with no bad reaction at all. The plants I mentioned are frequently encountered growing together. The offending plants are best removed during the Winter (when urushiol levels will be lowest) by an individual who is not allergic by pulling / digging the roots out of the ground. The oil in the Poison Ivy is what some people are allergic to and the stems during the winter don't have as much sap in them as they do during the summer. The oil (aka catechol) is released most easily from bruised leaves or any other part which will place tiny droplets of the oil into the air (where it may land on the skin, clothes or be breathed into the respiratory system. People who are extremely allergic to Toxicodendron species can get the allergic dermatitis simply from being near the plants as a certain amount of the oil is evaporating into the atmosphere , most especially on hot summer days. People who are extremely allergic to Toxicodendron can pick up the oil from the fur of pets that have brushed up against the leaves , from clothing or anything (!) that has the oil on it and can transfer it to the allergic person. People who are extremely allergic to Toxicodendron catechol can get it from other people while the exudate from the encrusted ares is still yellow and it can definitely be spread to other people or other parts of your body from the oil being transferred from any contaminated object e.g., q-tips, washcloths, bedsheets, etc. The Poison Ivy Catechol is the aromatic portion of some of our neurotransmitters and the formula in brief is catechol + an amine = catecholamine (!)...The human catecholamines are serotonin, dopamine, epinephine, norepinephrine, metanephrine and normetanephrine. The catechol oil in different species of Toxicodendron and plants with related catechols consists of a mixture of different oils, so that is why some people are allergic to Poison Ivy but not Poison Sumac because the ratio of the different oil fractionations is different. Poison Ivy dermatitis may one day act as an indicator of certain types of auto-immune disorders. I am fully aware that some of what I stated is listed as untrue by some dermatological sources although what I have stated regarding extremely allergic people is based upon my own hyper-allergic experience and research regarding my own condition. I have found that most practicing dermatologists will not know about the specific info I have shared, although a few doing specialized / focused research into urushiol related toxicity / allergicity might... I have added a link to a similar post on plants in the Sumac Family including Toxicodendron and edibles like cashews , pistachios and mangos. I hope my offerings may prove to be helpful... Here is a link that might be useful: Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) identification dermatitis rash prevention and remedial cures info

The urushiol that causes the rash is present in all three of those plants, so anyone that reacts to one will react to all three. Poison Sumac has a very limited growth area, generally very wet places, so it is unlikely to be found where it is high and dry. But the other two do grow almost everywhere, although I have not seen any in years. Poison Ivy is a vine. Poison Oak tends to be more of a shrub and the leaves closely resemble those of Oaks, Poison Sumac is a shrub and looks similar to most of the other Sumacs.