Poison Ivy

[Unregistered-SteveG]

I’ve found two ways to get rid of poison ivy.

1) Chemicals. Like you I’m not a fan of chemicals, but sometimes there doesn’t seem to be an alternative. What I have done is put a very small amount of heavy-duty weed killer in a pail and use a disposable foam paintbrush to paint the weed killer on the leaves of the poison ivy. It is very effective, minimizes the amount of chemicals used, and limits any damage to surrounding plants. Supposedly this works best in late summer/early fall as that is when the poison ivy leaves are bringing nutrients to the roots in preparation for winter.

2) Brute force. Put some poison ivy blocking lotion on, dress in long pants, sleeves, gloves (even two layers of all of the above) glasses/goggles, hat, etc. Tape any seams between your gloves/sleeves, pants/socks, etc. and just start pulling the poison ivy out by the roots. You need to be careful to get the entire root out or it will keep coming back. I did this two years ago on some smaller patches of poison ivy and it was pretty effective. I had to go back again this year and get a few stray spots of poison ivy that popped up. I used a metal garden rake, shovel, hoe, some hand tools, and even my hands to get it out. When done be careful taking the clothes off and washing them (throwing them away is even better) and then be extremely thorough in showering in the coldest water you can tolerate. Don’t forget to wash your tools too!

Whichever option you pick be realistic in your expectations. You are going to have to be vigilant about pulling/treating any new spots of poison ivy for the next 2-3 years or more.

Good luck!
Steve

PS – One other option is a goat. Supposedly they love eating the stuff and it does them no harm. 🙂