Getting rid of poison ivey/ poison oak??

Cheap_Dave

PULL it up by the roots, double bag it and send it to the land fill. Mulch 6 inched deep over the area with wood mulch. The roots left in the ground will not be able to send up vine far enough through the mulch to get started and will die.

When you pull it, wear long sleeve heavy shirt with gloves, taped where the shirt and gloves meet. Tape your jeans to your boots at the cuff. Wear goggles, poison ivy in the eyes must be miserable.

Wash your clothes with an oil cutting detergent or double bag them and send them to the land fill. Wash any exposed skin and any skin that touched the outside of your clothes with an oil cutting detergent or soap and COLD water. Warm water opens your pores and the ivy oil will get into your skin.

This is hard work, but pays off. Cutting it only encourages the growth.

Luckily, neither me or my wife are allergic to this vine, but I don't like it on the property. I spent the first five years pulling gobs of it up by the roots. Since then, there has been little volunteer growth, which gets yanked out by the root.

Good Luck, UFO Man

Round-up and equivlants will also kill the ivy but at higher concentrations. It's also systemic and will kill the roots.

Total veg killer will require a more active ingrediant - higher concentration to kill the ivy. I'm not sure it will get to the roots and kill it for good.

Vinagar, bleach, Gas, Diesel, etc. will brown it and you think you've got it, but will be back soon.

Water softner salt I guess is good if you only want to plant beach grass in that area from application on. At the concentration you'll need to kill the ivy it will kill everything else for a long time.

I'd go with a more selective weed killer at lower rates to minumize ground contamination and get the job done. I'd go with 24D if far away from vinyards or use Roundup (and equivlants).

Follow the label for your area and situation

But if you have a lot of it, why not do what I do? I just leave it be. Learn to recognize it and if you have to walk through it, wear long pants.

Weathermax Roundup mixed 1 qt. per 15 gal. of water will work well also. But it also kills everything that it's sprayed on. It's water proof and don't have to worry with rain washing it off. It's safer to use also. Again it may need a second application depending on how thick poison oak is.

Another is Spike. It's in the pellet form and kills the soil for about 5 years. You have to be careful with it around trees that you want to keep. If the roots of a tree are growing where you use Spike it can kill it too. Even if it's 50 feet away.

Hope this helps and I'm sure there are other herbicides out there that will do the job. These are just some I've used.

--->Paul

When I was a kid I'd catch poison ivy from 50', if the wind was right. We got a couple of dairy goats about the time I turned 12 (or so) and they ate up every stick of poison ivy that they could find (along with the multi-flora roses and honeysuckle, etc.) and we drank the milk. Apparently there was just enough poison ivy toxin in the milk to create an immunity. I haven't had poison ivy since then (I'm 37 now) and I can pull it out with my bare hands....

Steve