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Creating a lawn from a small wooded area - Atlanta, GA

6 years ago

Hi there, I purchased a house near Atlanta, GA a couple week ago. The house has a fairly small back yard- I'm estimating about 3,500 square feet. Behind our back yard is an unused plot of land that may be half an acre or more. Most of the trees in our yard are tall/thin and are too close to the house, so we'd like to turn our yard into a grassy lawn. Once the trees are out, we plan to install a privacy fence for the dog.

Both our yard and the plot behind it are covered in English ivy. But, the biggest problem is the poison ivy vines that are mixed into just about the entire yard. (There's about 10-15 ft of area between our house and where the trees/English ivy start, and poison ivy can be found in that are as well.)

To get rid of the poison ivy, I'm thinking we need to use a chemical poison ivy weed killer across our entire yard and then pull up the dead vines (poison and English). I do want to grow grass in the area eventually, but absolutely need the poison ivy gone ASAP.

Do you all have any suggestions or tips on how to rid the yard of poison ivy and also eventually turn the area into a nice lawn? Thanks for reading this and for any advice you're able to share.

Here are a couple pictures of our yard. It slope down at the back, so the unused plot behind us can't be seen well.

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Comments (3)

krnuttle
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
As for the poison ivy, it depends on the size of the plants and the concentration of the plants. I had every thing from an old vine with the main stem about 3 inches in diameter, to young sprouts from seeds.

For the vine with the 3" stem, I cut it off as high as I could reach ie well above the point that some one could accidentally touch it.

For those small vines going up trees, I cut them and left them where they were. After a couple of years they rot, disappear, and are not a problem. PS; Hatchet for those small that I could reach with out becoming involved with, and an axe where I need to stay further away.

For the small plants I use a chemical spray, and carefully applied it to the area if there were many plants, of individually where there was only one of two plants. After about 3 years, most of it was gone.

If it is in the yard, the best thing to control it is a rotary lawn mower. Once cut off it does not seem to return.

What ever you do do not burn it, as you will spread the poison oil every where and possibly on you and your face. Like many organic compounds the poison ivy oil will break down and not be a problem after several years.
Tom
6 years ago
'Round up poison ivy- plus tough brush killer' , Ivy must be nice and lush for best results. After everything is dead, if there is room to get a small tractor in there, (with ripper, plow, type attachment) it would make the work a lot easier. Looks like a lot of hand work.
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User
6 years ago
I'd like to add - one of the greatest dangers associated with burning poison ivy is the aerosolization of the oil, which allows it to be inhaled into the lungs. This is far more dangerous than simply getting it on your skin, and can result in a medical emergency. NEVER burn poison ivy!

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