Efreet
Member
I have a beautiful 40-acre piece of land in Central Vermont that is partially house site and lawn (~2 acres), woods (~24 acres) and fields (~13 acres). The land is bordered on one side by an old, abandoned apple orchard that is covered --in addition to old apple trees -- by wild raspberry and poison ivy.
The poison ivy has been creeping over to my land, and soon it will be near the house and the kids' play area. I have desperately tried to deal with this over the past years. Round-up (poison ivy specific) did not seem to control the problem. It did kill the grass and the nearby trees, but no appreciable dent to the poison ivy density.
The worst problem area we are talking about is a strip about fifty yards long and thirty yards wide. It is sparsely wooded, mainly by white ash and hickory trees. The undergrowth is nice fine grass -- with an increasing density of the ivy. I would love to "draw a line in the sand" and eradicate the poison ivy from that area, and keep it from taking hold again.
I am now getting a compact utility tractor with a loader, mower deck, rotary cutter and box blade, among other attachments. Here are some possibilities that I have been mulling over:
* might I be able to keep poison ivy down if I keep mowing the area frequently, and cutting it very short?
* How about if I go at it with the box blade and loader? Keep leveling and box blading the area for a year or two, then re-plant with grass?
* If the above approaches fail, does anyone know how I can get my hands on some military surplus Napalm?
* any other approaches that I might entertain?
The poison ivy has been creeping over to my land, and soon it will be near the house and the kids' play area. I have desperately tried to deal with this over the past years. Round-up (poison ivy specific) did not seem to control the problem. It did kill the grass and the nearby trees, but no appreciable dent to the poison ivy density.
The worst problem area we are talking about is a strip about fifty yards long and thirty yards wide. It is sparsely wooded, mainly by white ash and hickory trees. The undergrowth is nice fine grass -- with an increasing density of the ivy. I would love to "draw a line in the sand" and eradicate the poison ivy from that area, and keep it from taking hold again.
I am now getting a compact utility tractor with a loader, mower deck, rotary cutter and box blade, among other attachments. Here are some possibilities that I have been mulling over:
* might I be able to keep poison ivy down if I keep mowing the area frequently, and cutting it very short?
* How about if I go at it with the box blade and loader? Keep leveling and box blading the area for a year or two, then re-plant with grass?
* If the above approaches fail, does anyone know how I can get my hands on some military surplus Napalm?
* any other approaches that I might entertain?