Have you ever successfully gotten rid of poison ivy in your yard?
Asked by
jca2 (
16826
)
July 21st, 2021
I have a path from the driveway to the house, that runs next to the deck, and there’s a space about a foot wide between the path and the deck. There is now a whole bunch of poison ivy growing.
I had a landscaper come to do some work a few weeks ago, and one of the things I asked him to do was to take care of the poison ivy. I guess they chopped it but it’s growing back now.
I’m afraid I’m going to end up getting it on my shoes or if I’m wearing slippers, end up getting it on my feet or something.
I googled it and read that you can pour boiling water on it but it will take a few tries, and that seems like a ton of effort (pots of boiling water, and each pot will only cover a small amount), or you can cover the poison ivy with cardboard or wood. I hesitate to use weed killer because I dislike the thought of putting poison in the ground, but honestly, I’m starting to thing that might be the answer.
Have you ever successfully gotten rid of poison ivy in your yard, and if so, how?
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8 Answers
Ps. I would be concerned that pouring boiling water on the plants would send the active ingredient airborne.
@Dutchess_III: What I read is that boiling water won’t be a problem, but lighting the plants on fire would be a problem.
I had a very persistent patch for a number of years u til I hired a guy (neighbor who was a landscaper) and told him he needed to take a “scorched earth” approach. He used a kind of industrial strength Round Up, very carefully, and that has worked. It’s been five years, and it hasn’t come back.
I hated having to do that, but but after going to urgent care with a nasty systemic event, after doing everything right to prevent it, I decided to take no prisoners.
Similar to @canidmajor I had some persistent poison oak plants in one corner of my yard. Roundup would slow it down for a season, but not permanently.
I found some Ortho® GroundClear® Poison Ivy & Tough Brush Killer 1, and applied it by cutting back the plant, and then spraying the newly cut ends so that the herbicide would be absorbed into the cuttings. Finally solved that problem.
I bought some poison ivy killer and it seemed to work. I didn’t pay much attention to it, so I don’t know if it kept it away or not. It was specific for poison ivy, not a general week killer. I bought it more for my neighbor, we had a path we would walk through between our houses, because she caught the rash if someone said the words poison ivy in the county. My husband and I never have had it in our lives, I think we might be immune, although I don’t want to test it.
Dose makes the poison, so use what you need and minimize contact with the stuff.
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