Generally, once you have had a killing frost, herbicides will have little effect. By killing frost, I am talking about 28 degrees or lower. Still, you can always try it if you are not spraying an extensive area, the cost will be minimal anyway. From experience, after a good frost, the results are hit and miss. I can generally knock quackgrass back pretty well as long as it is still green, but weeds like Canada Thistle will burn down but come back as usual in the spring.

If the leaves on the ivy are turning color and dropping, the plants have pretty well shut down and the herbicide won't go to the roots where you need it. You can probably set the grass back pretty good if it is still nicely green and not drying down.

Spraying a plant poison when it will do no good is not only not cost effective (those products are, in my mind, very expensive) it is not environmentally sound. About the only thing you will accomplish by spraying now is to poison your environment, certainly not kill the target plant. Since grass is quite easily killed off simply by covering it with something the excludes access to light that can be one now, there is never a good reason to spray a poison on grass. The best method of control of Poison Ivy, Sumac, or Oak is to, after clothing yourself well to prevent contact with the Urshiol, dig the plant out.

Kimmsr,
You are on every forum! You always have the best answers. Thanks for reminding me that I just need to add more mulch. That was the plan in the spring anyways. I just didn't put 2 & 2 together that I would be solving the grass problem then.

In regards to the poison ivy. I won't tackle it this year. It seems to be too late. It covers about 100 sq feet in patches here and there on the subdivision trail that runs through my backyard forest. I thought poison ivy, like any vine, would start a new plant anywhere that broken bits of vine remained and that systemic poison was more effecive. I'm a novice at all of this and prefer not to use poison, but thought that careful application of a poison was the best method of control for poison ivy. I've used a sponge brush to paint the leaves of little poison ivy's that have sprouted up in the garden. Can you get all the poison ivy out just by digging, or do you need to repeatedly dig the little parts that start over.

What you can do yet is dig the roots of these plants out, just be sure to wear proper protective clothing and once done wash these seperately from any other clothing and clean the washing machine out quite well before doing more clothing.

Wash clothing with cold water rather than hot. Hot could disburse oils into area's you can't reach to clean.

Some suggest after you wipe and clean as much as possible run a couple of cycles with bleach and water.

It's too late to use a poison, but digging will hurt it if not eliminate it. Be sure to protect yourself, as the entire plant will cause a rash if you are suseptible. Be sure to dispose of it in the trash and under no circunstances burn it! The smoke can poison anyone who breathes it, even miles away. In summer, hit it with a mixture of 2 tablespoons of baking soda, a teaspoon of table salt, a couple drops of dish detergent to a gallon of water. Thoroughly saturate it, and you'll kill it.