Invasive weed question 1: What's the best way to get rid of poison ivy?
I’ve never had it growing in my yard until a few years ago.
The issues are:
1. I tried get rid of it a couple of years ago only to discover that at some point in my life I have become allergic to it and now, like other people who are allergic, I would prefer to stay as far away from it as possible.
2. I don’t use pesticides or herbicides, or any ”-cides” with the one exception: I have a scorched earth policy regarding yellow jackets. I will drown them in toxins; I would use tactical nuclear weapons against them if that’s what it took. So … I don’t really know that much about herbicides and what to use on the poison ivy.
3. The locations where it is growing are a problem. Some of it’s pretty isolated and I can see where it’s rooted and I could attack it at a distance if I could spray it with something. In other places it is growing among and around things: trees, shrubs, my day lilies, e.g. Can I get rid of it without killing everything around it? And am I going to need to find the roots? In some spots I can’t see where its growing from because it’s mixed in with everything else.
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7 Answers
Ohboyoboyoboyoboy.
If you can cover yourself from head to foot and wear gloves that you will throw away (without touching them), you can yank it out by hand. It is tedious and labor-intensive and hard to keep the oil of the rest of your clothes.
Good info here
Another safe solution is to get goats.
LOL. I typed in “weed” as a tag, when I meant to type in “weeds” and Fluther changed it to “marijuana.” I noticed it on my other question and fixed it but it’s too late to fix this one. Any of the topic editors should feel free to change it if they want to. :-) I would appreciate it.
My favorite way to rid my garden of all invasive weeds is mulch. I use a heavy bed of mulch…5 to 7”. Here we can get mulch “free” from our DPW.
How I get rid of anything growing besides pulling: Lasagna gardening.
I use my recyclable paper board, cardboard boxes and newspapers. Put them over the entire area. Water them in place. Then, mulch over them. Presto. All weeds are gone and will not come back.
@gailcalled I’m ready for that. I was going to try get rid of the poison ivy again last year and went to Home Depot to get to get cheap work gloves I could just throw away and had good luck with those, and to get disposable coveralls but they only had these, and only in the blue and only in a men’s large.. I bought them anyway because it was all they had and when I put them on I looked like the blueberry girl from the first Willy Wonka movie or maybe, actually, more like a blue version of the Stay Puft man from Ghostbusters. I was too self-conscious to wear them in my back yard, where my neighbors could see me though. I guess I will have to get over that. I have safety glasses and one of those respirators too. I do some furniture refinishing and I use the respirator when I’m using chemicals to strip the paint and/or varnish. Now all I need is the spray can and I’m ready to go. :-)
We had an awful neighbour once, she was called Ivy & we had her evicted, terrible woman ;¬}
There is an effective, lethal, and all-natural herbicide that you might consider: white vinegar. (You might prefer the soap and salt water solution.)
I’ve also heard of nicotine (you can make a nicotine solution yourself just by brewing some tobacco leaves – or cheap cigars – in hot water for about 30 minutes), but I’m not sure if the nicotine spray is effective on poison ivy.
@lillycoyote: I think the outfit is stunning…the glass of fashion. If I were you, I would wear it to the local café for latte and biscotti (or to hold up a gas station).
For small patches, I have used boiling water. it is also labor-intensive; I boil a large tea kettle and then rush outside and pour on a poison ivy plant, making sure I hit the stem area. I consider it an exercise unit also so it’s a twofer.
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