I had poison oak and dug most of it up then used Roundup to finish it off. It should be safe with the oak.

Here is a link that might be useful: Propagating Perennials

Be very careful- the best way is to make a cut all the way through the stem of the ivy low to the ground and using a paintbrush, brush the roundup on the ivy only. Supposedly if you get roundup on the bark of trees it can kill or hurt them. The sap that weeps out is very allergenic, so don't touch it and get it off your tools asap.

If you're allergic to the ivy, cover up really well before you attempt to pull it and dispose or wash the clothes afterwards w/hot water and a lot of detergent. I've heard that baking soda helps get the oil out of clothes, and it won't hurt to add some. Bag up the ivy and put it in the trash- never burn it. If you have an out of the way corner you can tuck it in to decompose, in our humid climate the oils break down in about 2 years. In dryer areas it can remain active for many years, so it's safer to just dispose of it.

You can buy a soap made by technu that does a good job of getting the urishiol oil off your skin. They also make a pretreatment, but i hate the smell, and it's oily, so i just use the soap afterward.

Oh, and i've found that the weaker solutions of roundup take multiple applications to kill ivy, so you may want to get the concentrate for the paintbrush treatment. The brush killer solution has worked well for me in the past. When we bought our place the back yard was full of the stuff, and over many years we've whittled it down to a few pockets. You just have to be persistent, and if there are areas around where it grows up the trees and can set fruit that you can't control, watch for the seedlings in spring. The birds love the berries and spread it around. Good luck!

Definitely use the brush killer formulation of Round up (the one for WOODY plants) or use Brush-B-Gon.

To pull up the occasional stray piece or new seedling, I take a bag and slip it over my hand and arm (still wearing gloves too). Pull out the seedling and then peel the bag off your arm backwards so that you end up with the plant IN the bag - then throw it away. The plastic sleeves that newspapers come in are great for this and I save a few just for this purpose.

First of all you want to be sure its poison ivy, there are plenty of look-alikes.

I've found that spraying works best in the fall before the leaves have turned yellow. But I sometimes spray in the spring also it all depends on if I have RoundUp on hand or if I feel like going to the store to buy it. The chemicals in RoundUp work by getting inside the plant and killing tissues, so just puting it on the surface of the leaf will transmit it into the plant. But, it would take many applications to really damage a robust plant like poison ivy this way. Some people slit the vines stem and paint on the RoundUp like Tammy said and others swear by cutting the vine completely through and securing the cut tip into a small jar of RoundUp so that the plant takes massive amounts of the poison into its roots. I don't think you have to work THAT hard. Just be warned that RoundUp doesn't always show an effect right away, it may take a few days before the plant collapses and even if the plant looks dead you have to be very careful with the dried vine and leaves.

The sad news is that poison ivy thrives in this area and no matter what you do now, you will have this problem again and again in the future. Bird love to spread the berries around and the vines send out runners far and wide. You will never completely get rid of it.

RoundUp is the only chemical herbicide I use in my yard and I rarely use it. It is relatively safe to use but does a lot of damage to amphibians (frogs and salamanders) and my yard is full of them so I most often pull the poison ivy and honeysuckle rather than spray for it. I keep a pair of washable garden gloves handy and make an evening of it going around the yard pulling baby vines and putting them into a trash bag to throw away. I slather on an extra thick layer of cheap sunscreen just in case the leaves ever touch me and when I am done yanking them I go inside and scrub my arms and hands. I never get poison ivy rash after I go out pulling the plants (probably because I am extra careful) but I do get it constantly from just working in the garden. And from letting my 60 lbs hound sit in my lap to watch tv - I get it from her feet.

The best success I've had is Roundup and using the one for Poison Ivy. It really does thrive around here. When you apply it, try to pick a day when rain isn't likely for a day or two. I've found it gives the best success when it's applied a couple of days before it rains. Thank goodness, I'm not alergic, and don't have to be as careful when pulling the dead plant. My hubby is extreamly alergic so I have to be very careful to make sure and shower well and wash clothes immediatly after a clean out session of the mess. If you get a particularlly tough vine, cut the main vine close to the ground and soak the stump well. Hope this helps.

We had a huge vine of it in an oak tree. We cut the vine at the base, waited for new growth to start sprouting from the cut, and then drownded it with a stronger mix of round-up. Worked great!!

Only ruthless and persistent tenacity will get rid of this vine. I have plenty in my wooded area, and instead of direct spraying (which would certainly harm nicer plants around the ivy), I use a method similar to mentioned above. I first dress up in fully clothed and washable clothing--sweatshirt, old jeans (with no holes in them, though!), and those latex medical gloves--two pairs. Using a blocking pre-treatment with Bentoquatum is an extra step I sometimes take too. Then I go out and rip up the longest vine I can find, cut it as close to the ground as I can, and stick it into a florist's water pick filled with pure concentrate of Roundup. You can buy these green florist's picks at Michael's Crafts four for a dollar.

I check two days later to see if the vine has sucked the Roundup away...and I add more if it has! I had to keep this routine up for almost two weeks with one particular vine colony. But it dies a horrible death--and nothing else around it does. It essentially fills the entire vines, roots, and even leaves with poison--a different poison than it produces, that is! Now is the time to do it, too; before the vines produce the berries that will spread it via those naive and innocent birds.

I also used this technique with some rosa multiflora as well...but usually I like the pleasure of dealing with that monstrosity in hand-to-hand combat. I'll keep cutting it down until it gives up! The thorns make it a fair contest on the rose...but poison ivy doesn't play fair; so Roundup it is!

Good luck getting rid of it...vigilance is the key!

There a number of books on the market that explain how things work in the garden, in the plants, in the chemical used in the garden - one thing that all of them state over and over is that RoundUp only works well when mixed exactly as it is described on the package. Mixing it double strength or more does not improve its effectivness. There is certain amount of pleasure we derive from torturing our enemies but most plants will die the same death with a simple application following the instructions on the package.

I've heard that if you overdose the plants, the tissue closest dies too quickly to draw it far enough up into the plant to kill the whole deal. I get good results following the directions of the brush formula.

Just be very very careful if you pull it- the roots and sap carry even more of the poison than the leaves and you can get a monster of a rash from pulling, even if you've previously been non allergic. Happened to my mom and my hubby's mom the same summer- both had been immune prior, and both get it now (which may indicate the poisons were stronger that year for some reason). My mom's case was severe- you could see exactly where the roots had lashed her legs while she was pulling, until it all blended together into one huge weepy mess.

I didn't get as good results until I used the full concentrate...the correct mixture worked, but dieback was limited mostly to the vine I "dipped", not the whole plant. But I do cut the vine I rip out very close to the main roots (or as close as I can find!).

Regular mix Roundup for the regular weeds for sure.