Poison Oak Everywhere!

[ning]

Most of my land has little new plants here and there. In an overgrown area I've been working on clearing, it's all over the place, some areas very dense growing unsupported about 10' high, and other places where it encounters a tree to grow on getting a 1-1.5" climbing vine. I cut those and pull them out so that I don't have to worry about it later if I need to trim up the tree or cut it down. Big patches get scraped with the tooth bar on the bucket; I've gotten good at doing it without removing all the topsoil but still uprooting most of the poison oak.

I've found that working with the stuff in winter is a mixed bag - the sticks aren't nearly as capable of giving you a rash, but it can be really hard to see the stuff.

Wearing a hat or at least a bandanna covering the forehead and ears, eye protection, and having a beard & mustache are helpful such that if a vine hits you in the face it doesn't touch as much skin. If you're sensitive, put a good body lotion on any skin that may get exposed - something like aveeno that's got a bit of silicone to help protect the skin is ideal - after working, wash hands & forearms at the sink in cool water with soap, then drop your clothes right into the washer, then go shower also in cool water to begin with. If you use hot water, the skin pores open up; use cool water and lots of soap, then increase the water temperature and re-wash. Ideally you'll be left with a bare hint of exposure - enough "slight exposure" and you're likely to lose sensitivity; people get more sensitive when they get massive exposure (when we moved here in '96 the first two summers I was absolutely covered in welts - now I'll pull the stuff bare-armed just with gloves on and only bathe afterwards if I know I got a big exposure, and that's because I don't want my wife to get it).

The time of year to pull it is when the ground is soft; right now through mid-spring is pretty good, it starts to dry out later and the roots hold on too well. Still worth cutting out but pulling may not work if the ground is dry (vines will just break, which is a setback but not a kill). Most of my land I've cleared of poison oak just by pulling; yearly I do find the occasional seedling type plants.

IMO the stuff isn't a big enough bother to resort to poisons because it's pretty easy to handle it mechanically; its spread is pretty slow as it's not an invasive.

 

[JasperFrank]

Do not burn it. Our property was covered with the stuff. It depends on your individual genetics, but I'm entirely immune to it..... my brother was highly affected by it. The first few laundry ended up in rashes for my wife. So work clothes got separated, and in some cases just discarded, and we used "tecnu" to neutralize what was washed.
I may be wrong about this, but in our case, the vines, that were as thick as a thumb, going up to the canopy of the trees, are what supported the entire system of new growth. I cut all those, leaders, and used Roundup on the ground plants. This seems to have worked.

 

[bmaverick]

Some people are immune to poison oak, and can cut, pull, or dig it without risk.

It is not recommended to burn it.

yep about 5% of the population are immune to poison oak, poison ivy, and sumac. I happen to be one of them. I keep special clothing isolated and use throw away gloves to do the work. The rest of my family can't even get near any of it. So I have to take special care not to contaminate where others go.

After harvesting the nasty stuff, I have an out of the way old concrete pad to toss the poison lot onto. I let it dry out totally in the hot sun. a few weeks later, the lawn roller goes over it all till it's like powder. Then it can be buried in a deep hole.

Otherwise Keko goats or Nubian goats are the best way. Just don't let people pet them afterwards for a time. Depending on the acres you have, depends on how long you keep the goats. Plus the goats need more than the nasty stuff too in their diets. About 8 can tidy up an area of acres in a matter of a few weeks.

 

[CliffordK]

Poison Oak, is a vine. Find all the leaders to the upper canopy and cut them.

Poison ivy is a vine, typically with lots of hairy roots, I think.

All the poison oak I've seen have been bushes. At least around here.

 

[newbury]

Here’s how you can tell the plants apart:
Poison ivy (A) usually has three broad, tear-shaped leaves. It can grow as a climbing or low-spreading vine that sprawls through grass. It is found everywhere in the United States except Alaska and Hawaii. It often grows along rivers, lake fronts and ocean beaches.

Poison oak (B) has leaves that look like oak leaves and grows as a vine or a shrub. The plant can have three or more leaflets per group. It is most common in the western United States.

Poison sumac (C) has seven to 13 leaflets per stem that are characterized by smooth surfaces and pointed tips. It is most often found in wooded, moist areas of the southern United States.

from link

I've seen poison ivy vines as thick as my wrist reaching over 30 feet up in trees.
Poison oak was generally smaller.

 

[ning]

Poison ivy is a vine, typically with lots of hairy roots, I think.

All the poison oak I've seen have been bushes. At least around here.

Poison oak appears to be isolated small bushes typically but if it grows next to a tree it will vine its way up and the stalk/trunk can get very thick.

The roots often run horizontally just below the humus and connect plants together; often when I pull one if I'm gentle I can keep pulling and the next few nearby will come up as well.

 

[JasperFrank]

Poison ivy is a vine, typically with lots of hairy roots, I think.

All the poison oak I've seen have been bushes. At least around here.

I can assure you that Poison Oak is also a vine. It has a smaller leader than Ivy. Every tree over 50 feet had this sort of umbilical cord, to reach sunlight light in the canopy, that was feeding the rest. kill them from the trees, and then use ground herbicides.

 

[ultrarunner]

I’m blessed with all variations…

Pacific poison-oak is a native perennial broadleaf vine or shrub that is sometimes treelike in form. Poison-oak is found throughout California, except the Great Basin and southwestern edge of the Mojave Desert, up to 5400 feet (1650 m). It inhabits oak woodlands, chaparral, conifer and mixed conifer forests.

One of the reasons we liked high elevations like Tahoe is no poison oak!

It was also a draw to the Olympia property.

Weed Gallery: Pacific poison-oak--UC IPM

Photos and descriptions of Pacific poison-oak

ipm.ucanr.edu

 

[DarkBlack]

Mostly poison ivy here…and lots of it
Poison ivy and yellow jackets

 

[nikdfish]

I found frequent close mowing can eventually pretty much clear it from the mowed area, At least it worked for the road sides & field areas we were working on.