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Getting Rid of Poison Ivy

15 years ago

for several years I have had a patch of PI in my yard. Every year I spray with brush killer, and it dies. The next year it's back. How do I rid my yard of this for good? At some point I would like to plant in this area. At this point I have killed every thing that grows there. Help!!!!

Rose

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Comments (8)

bob64
15 years ago
I have seen this same type of plea for help with poison ivy many times in several forums. I don't know if you can completely eradicate it but you can knock it back a bit. I usually see the berries (which have the seeds) on vertically climbing parts of the vine so you could cut it where it is climbing to reduce seed production. It is harder if there is any nearby that creeps back into your yard from the outside. Birds also poop the seeds wherever. If you are feeling brave you can suit up appropriately and pull it up but I really don't reccommend it.
roseoops
Original Author
15 years ago
I'm not brave enough to to pull it up. About a year ago in the dead of winter I tough something out back, and got a bad case of PI on the side of my face. One time I was weed whacking on that side of the yard, not knowing that PI was there, need I say more!!! I'm on an acre. One side of the yard is all trees with a wooded area in the back. It is along the side with the trees that the patch of PI is located. What if I lay newspapers and grass clipping etc over the area after the PI dies back ??

Rose
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Comments (13)
Those long plastic bags that newspapers come in when it rains - if you are sufficiently urban to have paper delivery - will cover arms very well. You can also use a largish garbage bag, grabbing the vine with the inside (your hand on the outside), pulling and then dropping the nasty thing inside the bag. When it's as full as you want to deal with, seal it up and trash it. I am sure you already know to NEVER burn poison ivy, as the oil that you react to will float in the smoke. You, and others, can end up in the hospital with a bad case of poison ivy in your lungs from breathing it. My sister used to get poison ivy a couple of times per winter - they had a wood stove as supplementary heat, near Rhinebeck, NY. The trees would have PI vines on them and even in winter, she could get enough of the oil to suffer. She could react even to the bark where the stuff had grown, so some people can be VERY reactive ti it.
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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.
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Comments (160)
Hello, I live along a creek in No.Cal. that runs into the county reservoir. We are in severe drought conditions. The creek dries as soon as rain stops. I have a long narrow 4 acres that completely parallel the creek 1 side & road the other. I have huge thickets of wild blackberry & massive amts. of poison oak & stinging nettle. 10 yrs. ago I had goats; otherwise I have left it all alone so wildlife has refuse. Now medically unemployable & have become more interested in hurgenkulture. I want to cut the dead oaks, over grown 50'Xmas trees and place them along the creek bed. I will being cutting the willow trees & bringing up to dry. If I spray brush be gone numerous times, when poison oak is dried & dead I lay the logs in piles over where p.o. was, cover with dried willow sticks & other dead sticks, compost, leaves, manure, dirt a few inches of top soil; will the poison oak grow through into my hugelkultur gardens. Ultimately my goal is to plant almost 1/10 mile of creekbed with these beds. They are drought resistant gardens for as the trees stumps hold water & release it they eliminate almost all watering. I plan to plant gardens most distant from the house with blueberry, currants, gooseberry and grapes. Then potatoes, onion, garlic, melons, squash and finally nearest gardens with tomato, peas,beans, and other daily veggies. Would it be best to use product that sterilizes creek bank soil killing poison oak, nettle & blackberry first? My husband is a firefighter & on the big wildland fires has gotten systemic poison oak. I always pray he doesn't get it in his lungs. Many of the firefighters have become highly sensitized. Thank you, Moni
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Comments (10)
Round Up will kill it if applied undiluted to the cut stem. I'm extremely allergic to poison ivy also, but eliminated it from an acre by cutting the vine stem close to the ground with loppers or hand held clippers, and in those days would dip a stick into the bottle of undiluted Round Up and drip it onto the cut stem. I'm also sensitive to Round Up, but by NOT spraying it, as spray tends to drift and can be inhaled as well as land on skin and clothes, I can use it with relative safety by very carefully, with gloved hands, pouring the undiluted liquid into one of those little yellow bottles that held the liquid "Can't Believe It's Not Butter" and use the little pump to drip it onto cut stems of whatever is too deep to dig out, like those sneaky little hackberry trees. I really try not to use Round Up when at all possible, but sometimes it's the only thing that will work. For me the vinegar combo was not a reliable weed killer. The foliage may die back, but it does not kill the roots. Except for very young seedling weeds the plant returns. Be sure to mark all over the fake butter bottle with indelible ink markers!
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bob64
15 years ago
It'll help but I doubt it will eradicate it.
m_lorne
15 years ago
Poison ivy actually spreads via an underground vine. Until you can isolate the area, it is usually going to resurface. It is unfortunately one of the worst things to get rid of. The vine does not go very deep, so you could try digging a trench around the main part of the plant and then treating that area. Either way, it's going to be messy...
roseoops
Original Author
15 years ago
What if I just dig a trench where the PI patch is a spray a bunch of brush killer in it. I'm really afraid to touch it. The other problem is the patch is near the property line, and my neighbor is not very nice. So if the main part is in his yard I would not have excess to it.

Rose
klaa2
15 years ago
Would the roots eventually die if the plant above ground level is killed via chemicals (starve them)? I assume the roots also harbor the oils? If not, kill the plant with chemicals and then dig up the roots.

If you properly suit up (including you face because the stuff can and will squirt and spray when yanked) you should be able to work on it yourself. If you are severely allergic or just too apprehensive about the idea, do you know anyone who is not allergic and willing to help you for the day?

You can always call in a profe$$ional. A landscaper should be able to tackle this for you.

It sounds to me like you may have a bigger issue than the Poison Ivy...your neighbor. Hopefully, if he has half a brain, he'll provide access to his yard for complete removal because it'll benefit him.

Whatever you do DO NOT BURN POISON IVY. The smoke is just as bad as the oil and you can inhale it which will make it worse.
bob64
15 years ago
It is my understanding that all parts of the poison ivy plant have the nasty oils. Dead plants can get you too. Ditto the advice not to burn it. That is actually one of the problems that wildland firefighters have to deal with.
roseoops
Original Author
15 years ago
My neighbor does not even have half a brain. Some of the PI is in his yard. I spray what I can. I guess there is no easy way. I just keep at it. There is a patch of ditch lilies that some of the PI was growing by. Funny thing is every thing there died but the ditch lilies. Thoses darn lilies can't get rid of them either :)

Rose

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