Poison Ivy...everywhere lately...any way to deter?

18 years ago

Hi,

We have lived in the same house for at least 20 years. We never used to see Poison Ivy until about 10 years ago,a small patch showed up in our front foundation plantings of all places, right next to a large container.

Then we started seeing it come under our fence on one side of the house. Last year and this year, it seems to be everywhere. Last year we noticed it mingled in with Boston Ivy on our chimney. This year, every bed and border I start working in, I suddenly see a little seedling of PI.

It has to be seeds being dropped by birds, because it is in places where it can't be coming under the fence. We do have a lot of birds in our yard, but we are not near any woods that I know of. It is almost urban here with small yards on top of each other. Most people have lawn and shrubs and maybe a couple of trees. I do think one of my neighbors might have a good patch of it though. They rarely do anything to their yard and that is the fence that it comes under.

Sorry...long story...lol. I am starting to feel I am having to always be cautious everywhere in the yard which really is lessening the nice peaceful, de-stressing experiences I was having working in the garden somewhat. I find now I am always on the alert when someone else is in the yard, trying to make sure they don't come in contact with any. I would feel awful if anyone went home with a case of PI from my yard.

Any ideas about how to figure out where it all is coming from and how to deter it in the yard?

Thanks

pm2

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Comments (9)

fossilbob
18 years ago
Deter it from coming in? You can't, unless the source is nearby and you can do something about that. It is probably birds spreading the seed.

It pops up in my woodland garden in half a dozen places each year (it IS doing well this year!). The only things that work are the shovel or round-up. Get on it quickly before it spreads...thats the secret. You don't want to become your own source!
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
Original Author
18 years ago
bob...thanks for that reminder..you are right, the quicker I get it out of there, the better. I am going to make a PI tour of the yard this weekend and get rid of it all.
ladyslppr
18 years ago
I take PI tour of my yard every month or so with a bottle of Roundup in hand. That allows me to keep ahead of the problem, and roundup kills PI seedlings pretty easily. One nice side benefit is that the PI tour gives me a chance to really look closely at everything growing in the yard, and I find lots of unexpected surprises.
prairiemoon2 z6b MA
Original Author
18 years ago
Doing it every month is a great tip ladyslipper...I have been gardening organically for 25 yrs and have never used roundup or other product. We prefer to dig it out properly attired with rubber gloves, long sleeves etc. We keep seperate tools for just that purpose and seem to do pretty well with that.

Thank you both for the inspiration. We went out and did our own tour this morning and it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Aside from 5 locations I had already noticed, there was nothing else. All done for this year!

:-)
sujiwan_gw 6b MD/PA
18 years ago
I read that global warming is a boon for poison ivy. It is becoming larger, hardier, more prone to spread and horridly, more virulent in its' effects.

We have 9 acres of woodland across the road from us and the stuff is twining 30 feet up tree trunks, especially where the roads cut through. It was useless to spray as there is so much of it that can't be reached.

We just are vigilant to spray and remove whatever we can. Pity birds love it so and help the dang stuff spread.
realshadygardener
18 years ago
We have the same problem in our garden. Poison Ivy is in all the woods around here. We struggle with it coming under the fence and also sprouting up everywhere. Roundup has been our only solution. We spray it as soon as we see a little sprout.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant Native
man_oh_man
18 years ago
use glyphosphate-based herbicide meaning use roundup concentrate then put in a little water for 3 times the strengh, and coat it on the poison ivy
rokoku
18 years ago
I just use long sleeves, rubber gloves and a plastic grocery bag. I'll clear the whole yard about three times in the growing season by grabbing the plant at its base and pulling it slowly to get most of the root. When I moved to my house it was everywhere with some plants having 4" trunks. Now I hardly have any. I guess I wouldn't recommend that tactic to people sensitive to the plant.
craig76
18 years ago
I read that because of the warming climate poison ivy will thrive.