This is right along the edge of the sidewalk that goes from our driveway to the front porch. There's a bunch of monkey grass (at least that's what they call it down here) that looks really nice and the poison ivy is mixed in with that.

This is gonna be a nightmare, I can just tell.

Why? Are you allergic to it?

I am.

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Why?

I mean, a nightmare to get rid of. And it can't be allowed to stay, because it's right on the sidewalk, a delivery person in shorts could walk by and brush against it or something. Also, if it's left alone, it will spread and take over and this is close to an area where Mr. SK wants to plant flowers etc...

BTW I don't know that I'm especially allergic to it, but I would imagine that I would react with the standard rash etc. I think Mr. SK might be more sensitive. I don't want to find out how sensitive either of us are!

Kill it! Kill it all!

Looks like herbicides are your only real option.

https://www.nola.com/entertain...16-f34a5156ff36.html

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Looks like herbicides are your only real option.

Yeah and I don't see any way to avoid killing everything that's around it.

Get rid of it.

It made my summers a nightmare ten years running when I was young. I even made the mistake of climbing the wrong tree and got it one winter.

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

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Looks like herbicides are your only real option.

Yeah and I don't see any way to avoid killing everything that's around it.

Get some cheap paintbrushes. Harbor Freight or Dollar Tree sell cheap paintbrushes. Read the directions on the label of the herbicide. Paint it onto the leaves. You can probably paint it on pretty sparingly, but hit it several times. Do it when it’s not windy and won’t rain for a few days. Just be very careful not to get any on any plant you want to keep.

It won’t be easy or fun, but it’s doable.

I think Roundup has a version that’s a gel so it stays where you put it better then the liquid.

I’ve killed blackberry and English ivy the same way. Those are two very aggressive weeds around here.

Good luck.

Thanks PJ!!

Even better than painting the leaves ... cut it off at the stem, throw it out (carefully!), and paint the cut stem.

Use a heavy duty herbicide. Ortho makes a poison ivy killer, I think. There’s also a commercial grade of Roundup. But you want something for tough, resistant plants.

Expect it to be a continuing battle.

We had poison ivy in our backyard at one point. I did not recognize it and got a severe case on both of my arms, with weeping sores. A couple of blast with a poison ivy killer took care of it. It has been at least 10 years, and it has not returned. So don’t panic; just get some good stuff.

When I was a kid growing up in Maryland it was everywhere. We pulled it up by the roots. Very effective. Wear work gloves with gauntlets and long sleeves.

Whatever you do DO NOT BURN poison ivy. The smoke carries the oils and it can get into your eyes, nose, and lungs. Not pretty. Possibly fatal.

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Originally posted by QuirtEvans:
Even better than painting the leaves ... cut it off at the stem, throw it out (carefully!), and paint the cut stem.

This is good but you still have to handle it. When throwing it out, bag it up and put it in the trash NOT into compost collection.

I have controlled it by pulling it up by the roots but that means lots of covering (hazmat suit, gloves, goggles etc.)

Best to get it now with the herbicide while it is still small. Don't wait!

Cindy that sounds awful!!


piqué,

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Wear work gloves with gauntlets and long sleeves.

What are gauntlets?

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Whatever you do DO NOT BURN poison ivy. The smoke carries the oils and it can get into your eyes, nose, and lungs. Not pretty. Possibly fatal.

Ugh, yes, I've read about this! I was thinking what ever plant waste we have would go in a bag and into the garbage. Is there anything else in terms of disposal that would be better?

Beelady, hazmat suit! Oh dear...

I was talking to Mr. SK about this this morning and he was a little too casual! I'll see if I can properly scare him about it!

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Originally posted by ShiroKuro:

What are gauntlets?

The part of the glove that goes up from your wrist up your arm, or a separate protective covering over the forearm (the latter usually only as part of a suit of armor).

Fire gloves and welding gloves typically have long gauntlets. I have seen heavy rubber gloves with gauntlets that go all the way up the arm with a loop across the opposite shoulder to keep them in place -- for people who have to stick their hand into a tank of some unpleasant substance.

The gardening gloves I grew up with had a leather hand with a stiff fabric gauntlet. The problem is that twigs, thorny rose branches, blackberry vines, and other nasty things would always get caught in the gauntlet and scratch your wrists.

A couple things (this turned out to be kind of a brain dump, sorry!):

If you haven't been exposed to poison ivy before, it usually takes a few times before you start reacting to it. There wasn't any poison ivy where I grew up, so I wasn't exposed until in my 30s. The first couple times I realized I was standing in it, I freaked out, but when I didn't react, I got complacent figuring I was one of those people that aren't bothered by it. That tured out to be a bad assumption -- several years in, after several more non-reactive exposures, I ended up with a rash on my legs so bad I needed steroids to heal it and had to stand on a towel everywhere I went for 2 weeks because it was weeping so bad I was making puddles on the floor. So so so gross. (So first lesson - if you or Mr. SK have never been exposed before, you probably have a little leeway before you start reacting so no need to panic at the first touch!)

Now I am much more paranoid (obviously). That said, I have gone with the round up route (yes it might kill the grass but it will grow back) and have also pulled out small plants like the one you picture. When I pull them out, I usually use the "grocery bag dog poop technique" -- where I wear a plastic grocery bag like a glove, pull the plant, flip the whole thing inside out so the plant is in the plastic bag, seal it up, and toss. Not the most environmentally friendly way, but effective. Also, poison ivy doesn't tend to affect thicker skinned parts of your body (so you can generally touch it with your palms and you won't get it there). It's just that when the oils are on your hands and you rub your eyes or scratch somewhere else that you are setting yourself up for disaster. (The last several times I ended up with it, it's been on my face, usually where I wipe sweat, so be very careful to try not to touch your face.) That said, I wouldn't recommend just yanking it out without gloves or a bag for protection. But there have been several times when I found myself pulling weeds and came up with a handful of it that I didn't see because it was buried under other weeds. As long as you go wash it off with soap right away, you'll be fine. I read somewhere that it has to bond with your skin for like 20 minutes+ before it causes a rash.

On that note, pharmacies sell special poison ivy scrubs but they are super expensive. There's 2 different kinds - tecnu is just like an oil dissolving soap and Zanfel is like a scrub with grit (which feels awesome when you actually have poison ivy and are super itchy). That said, there's nothing magical about them that you can't get with other soaps -- Regular dawn dish soap works just as good as tecnu in my experience and I make sure I wash my hands with Dawn after coming in from weeding. If you want the gritty scrub like Zanfel, Amazon sells a scrub called Mean Green (actually, apparently, the name has changed to Full Bore - https://www.amazon.com/gp/prod..._title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) which is meant for cleaning the hands of people with dirty greasy jobs, but it works great for poison ivy and it's like a fraction of the price of Zanfel. (In fact, I read somewhere that the guy who invented Zanfel left and founded Mean Green using the same formula but he's not allowed to market it for poison ivy due to his noncompete, -- not sure if that is true, but it definitely feels like the same stuff.) Typically when I have been out doing yard work, I come in and shower and I will often scrub my arms, legs, and face/ears/neck with the Mean Green as a just-in-case measure. And when I do get a bit of a rash, scrubbing it with Mean Green works really well to scratch the itch and keep it from spreading.