Burning Poison Ivy

[Bdavis]

Let it dry for at least 18 month (24 months ) preferred. During the drying period check the pile and spray anthing that is green on the pile and a good 2 foot radius around the pile with a herbicide like roundup.
Spray or throw some diesel on the pile and light it up on a day with no wind. Best time for me is in the morning. The pile will go up like a torch and you will be finished in a few hours. I have did this many times and never had a problem . I will not say it is impossible but I really can not imagine after 2 years how there could be any smoke to get any one sick.

 

[CurlyDave]

I am very sensitive.

I will not ever burn PI or poison oak. Not only that I will never go into the smoke plume from someone else's burn pile. Just not worth it.

Lots & lots of roundup in the spring, probably next week around where I live.

 

[Coyote machine]

I've been using a product called GroundClear, it can be found at Home Depot and other stores. It seems to do a much better job of killing things than Round-up does- at least in my personal experience. I think it used to be called Tryox or something similar. I put it in a weed sprayer tank and use a dye, "mark it blue" which turns it blue, so I can see actual coverage. It does a great job of rendering weeds and similar growth dead in a fairly short timeframe. I cannot say if it is effective against the poison Ivy, Oak, Sumac group of vines, however the label should address that point.

The poison Ivy and similar plants are deadly toxins and should be handled with the respect they deserve. Burning, chipping etc. pose real hazards and should be avoided at all costs. Handling these vines any more than absolutely necessary is asking for trouble. If I had to burn them and had no other options, I would soak them with a heavy dose of gas and diesel mix and allow a drip line of my accelerant to coat the ground for about 15-20 feet away from the pile. As already stated, on a calm day with no wind I would ignite the dripline and move away from the burn site, and stay away from it until it had burned OUT. Keeping an eye on the burn from a distance where I could not be subjected to smoke, if there was any, could entail being in a vehicle that did not allow any automatic fans to suck air into the cabin; or be in an enclosure like a house or shed, with no air intake during the entire burn cycle.