HELP!!! Does anyone know a company or individual who can identify and spray to destroy poison ivy? This is the 4th time I've caught it since May, and I am ready to just concrete my whole yard in West Roxbury & paint it green (there goes the neighborhood!!)....I have searched the internet to no avail. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Rhus radicans
By MadMax
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 3:28pm
I feel your pain. If you've got shrubs, trees and especially birds, then odds are, you've got poison ivy. The later void the seeds in numbers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy
Dark shinny compound leaves of three are usually a good indicator.
I've offer to show up with some napalm. On the other hand, I too suffer from allergies. Nor is burning really a good idea.
viable alternative
By steve weeba
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 4:00pm
don't do concrete, it looks terrible!!! instead, i recommend astroturf as a classy alternative!!! (yes, i'm kidding)
Once you've identified the plants...
By twheaton
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 4:03pm
...there are a commercially-available herbicides you can apply yourself (and save yourself the expense of hiring a professional). They can be found at most garden centers (like Agway) or home improvement stores (like Home Depot or Lowes).
When used according to directions, Ortho Poison Ivy Killer will kill the poison ivy without endangering any nearby trees, however any other plants it comes in contact with will also die. Within a day or two of application, the ivy will wilt and dry up, and will be relatively safe to handle with gloved hands. Uproot the dead plants and bag them up and dispose of them--but not by burning! A friend of mine had to go to the emergency room after inhaling smoke from a brush pile that contained poison ivy; the plant oil which causes the allergic reaction was carried aloft in the smoke.
Unfortunately it's all but impossible to permanently eradicate poison ivy, but once you've learned to identify it you'll be able to avoid it...
Good luck!
No, but
By Jay Levitt
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 4:17pm
Make sure that whoever you hire will guarantee (or at least promise) that any NON-poison ivy in your yard won't be harmed.
I had some great ivy climbing a hundred-year-old oak, and the landscaper I hired to spray the poison ivy 20 feet away wasn't too careful with the overspray; I ended up with dead ivy. (I've long since forgotten their name, though.)
Poison Ivy
By bph
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 5:45pm
It's pretty easy to kill it - any weed killer will do it, e.g. RoundUp. I find it growing all over the yard & I just spray it & it starts to die within a day.
Also, wash you hands often when you're around the yard if you're not sure if you've touched any poison ivy! They make special soaps for that, e.g. Tecnu, sold at CVS & other stores, but scrubbing with regular soap works pretty well too.
Do a Google image search & you'll find lots of photos that should help you identify it.
I sprayed with the standard
By NotWhitey
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 8:20pm
I sprayed with the standard Home Depot brush killer stuff and got rid of mine a few years ago. It hasn't been back, either. It was actually less persistant than some other weeds I've dealt with.
Birds spread the seeds, so you do have to watch for it being replanted if the birds have a favorite perch in your yard.
I didn't think many birds around here ate that fruit
By sheenaspleena
Sat, 08/09/2008 - 5:27pm
I thought it was mostly pheasant & quail who ate it.
But its so pretty in the
By pierce
Fri, 08/08/2008 - 9:09pm
But its so pretty in the fall! Just pop some Zyrtec and Prednisone and you won't even notice your skin boiling
The Ivy League
By newchristine
Sat, 08/09/2008 - 3:11pm
Thanks one and all for your input!! Those darn birds are PLANTING the poison seeds??? I nevah new dat!! Nature is grand.....OK....I am going to print some color pictures of the plants so I can i.d. them better, and still search for someone who really knows what it looks like & get rid of it for me. I am so sensitive, I can't get too close to it, even with my limbs covered up. AND I can't take prednisone or use cortizone creams....so I am at a big disadvantage.
To top it off, I think my new recycle bin is sitting amongst some of the ivy growth....so I will be abandoning it until I get the situation resolved! Aggggggggghhhhhhhhh.......
Poison Ivy likes to live at
By NotWhitey
Sat, 08/09/2008 - 7:54pm
Poison Ivy likes to live at the edge of woodlands. It won't grow in full shade, and it doesn't like full sun either. It likes to climb, so it usually thrives at the edge of a wood patch, or in an opening in the forest, where it can climb up the trunk of other trees. If it gets planted where there's nothing to climb, it often won't flower and fruit, so it won't thrive, but you may get stuck with it anyway. The tree leaf pattern, with shiny leaves, is really distinctive, and not much else that grows around here looks like it.
My last case lasted about four weeks and was particularly nasty, so I chased the plants down into my neighbor's yard and carpet-bombed them with spray. That was several years ago, and I haven't seen it since.
A Bad Case
By newchristine
Sun, 08/10/2008 - 6:14pm
Yes, I too have had the junk for 4 weeks...all bubbly. A pharmacist at CVS told me that if I could avoid taking baths or showers while I have the rash, it would prevent spreading it...but I don't think I can do THAT and go to work!
3 shiny leaves...I will look for it and spray what I can as soon as we get a couple of dry days in a row. And I will still look for someone who can show me where it ALL is in my yard.
Thanks for your help.
Be well!
whatever you do
By sheenaspleena
Mon, 08/11/2008 - 1:40am
DON'T burn it.
it can get in your lungs (or your allergic neighbors') and cause inflammation internally.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/00...
http://www.ou.edu/oupd/pivyp.htm
there are good links at the end of this:
http://www.poison-ivy.org/html/faq.htm
Thank you!
By newchristine
Mon, 08/11/2008 - 4:43pm
Good information, I appreciate it....NO, I will never burn it....!
Yes, we do that here at
By KillMyPoisonIvy
Wed, 09/10/2008 - 12:31pm
Yes, we do that here at www.KillMyPoisonIvy.com Check out our website, and let us know if you're interested in having us come give you an estimate. Thanks.
Rob
Killing Poison Ivy
By Jay
Sun, 08/15/2010 - 7:36am
Use Prosecutor at 4oz per gallon. Found out about this from a golf superintendent so you need to find a store that caters to commercial landscape clients. It's basically glyphosphate on steroids and the key must be the extra ingredients and the type of surfactant they use since the leaves remain sticky and shiny after treatment.
This stuff will also take out burning nettle and marsh hay which were pretty much indestructible with traditional over the counter glyphosphate products.