Burning Poison Ivy

[beeforty]

I ran some through a chipper years ago when I used to work landscaping. I would say running through a chipper is even worse than burning. It is impossible to keep the dust and debris off you. And yes I did end up getting poison Ivy from that. The best advice I can give is handle it as little as possible.

Burning the brush pile in your original pic I think is still your best option as long as you are away from houses and stay upwind. Hopefully it has had some time to sit and dry out. Thats not a very large brush pile and the brush is small diameter so it should burn pretty quick. The place where a lot of problems occur with burning is when it smolders as when burning it with leaves or doing a blanket burn trying to remove the vegetation off of a given area. Both of those scenarios create "cold" fires and create a lot of smoke.

I got a bad case of it from just passing the limbs into the chipper! Just as someone said " that looks like poison oak, the chipper sucked in a long vine covered limb that brushed across my bare chest and stomach! Boy did I itch for 2 weeks!

 

[RxRatedZ71]

When i bought our land in 2008, i found a wonderful herbicide called Crossbow. Works great for woody brush and broadleaf weeds however its selective for grasses. Great for pasture areas that you're trying to clear up. I just ordered a generic version last week from RuralKing, so ill let you know how it performs. PI is yellow and wilted within 5 days using a 2% mixture. Best of all, it kills down to the roots. Also works well on sumac, blackberry, & briars.

 

[Qapla]

I am very sensitive to those poisonous plants so I avoid them. Having a spray that will kill them "down to the roots" sounds great ... but I don't want to kill the blackberries! They may have stickers, but them is good eats!!

 

[quicksandfarmer]

The chipper will release the resins into the air. Do not chip it. If you want to remove it the best thing to do is kill it and let it dry out. If you have to handle live PI, do it when it does not have leaves preferably in mid-winter when you can cover up and the plant is dormant.

I have gotten some of the worst cases of poison ivy in my life in the winter. With the leaves off you can't identify it and avoid it. The toxin seems to concentrate in the roots, any kind of disturbing the soil puts you at risk.

 

[SPIKER]

Here’s what I did when I had to clear out a half acre of poison ivy.

1. When you’re working around poisonous plants, wear long pants, long sleeves shirts, washable gloves and footwear. When you are done working in that area, IMMEDIATELY change your clothes. And make sure you don’t touch the outsides of the dirty clothes you’re taking off. Wash those clothes in hot, soapy water with a lot of a grease cutting detergent. Washing them twice isn’t a bad idea either. Just do wear them again until you do wash them.

2. After you strip the clothes off and toss them in the washer, you need to wash up. You’re your hands with cold water and soap first, including lathering up to your elbows. Do NOT use an abrasive soap or scrub brush as you will cause micro abrasions to your skin which allows direct contact with the oil. Now you can take that shower, not a bath (see the remark above about oil on ponds.) Wash once with lukewarm water and grease cutting soap. Once that’s done, now you can take your regular warm shower with your scrubby.

3. Actual work. Spray the poisonous plants with an herbicide several weeks before you have to work there. Dry dead plants don’t spray poisonous juice the way fresh live ones do.

4. Work carefully, trying not to scatter the poison ivy around. (Mowing is a very BAD idea – think of a cuisinart filled with acid and spraying the contents as far as you can.) I tried to do work by filling a load exclusively with poison products and the other earth and rock movement only after the area was cleared.

5. Bury the plants. Because they were sprayed with herbicide, they’re unlikely to grow back. However, you can spray them again before you bury them.

6. Double check the area cleared, and the burial site every couple of weeks for the next year or two. Apply herbicide to any plant that decides to stick a three lobed leaf up.

After the second year, never had another plant in that area.

That may sound like overkill, but after 20 hours of handwork in that contaminated environment, I only had 2 small blisters on my wrist; and those dried up and healed within 2 weeks.

Very good info , I might add the following.

7. use DAWN dish soap to wash up with ASAP when you get into it. ALSO toss DAWN into the washer with the clothing and after you remove the clothing, re-run the washer (old style with a FULL FILL) and DAWN Dish Soap (dont want the wife's dainties in there with oil residue on them When taking clothing off try & roll it off so the outside stays away from you.
8. when you KNOW you need to be in the stuff the day prior dont shower and apply Sealing Hand Lotion to arms feet/ankles face neck etc to help seal you up prior to getting into it.
9. wash off tools used to work in, shovels, rakes, clipper, chainsaw and the like can spread the oil on ya months later. again the DAWN works like a champ.
10. use an old pair of gloves or the latex disposable gripper type that is dipped & has fabric in them. You can Wash them or Toss them after working in it..

 

[Creamer]

PI does not like full sun so that is one way to get rid of it. it will take a couple of years but it will die out in full sun. It will however grow in amongst tall grasses and they filter the sun. Mowing with a finish mower is not a great idea as it cuts everything so small and throws it through the air. A bush hog type mower does a lot less shopping and throwing and is a better choice. A sickle bar mower is even better as it just cuts everything off and exposes the plant to the sun.

Poison Oak or Sumac are not the same - they like the sun.

 

[ray66v]

Those who are immune to poison ivy, should use caution.

I was once immune. With age, and exposure, you can be come as allergic as anyone else.

I was 40 when I had my first break out. It was very minor. Now, it gets serious very quickly.

 

[El Wood]

After doing some research on masks, it looks like a R-95 or P-95 mask should protect me if I can't avoid the smoke. I'll throw on a pair of tight goggles too. Hopefully there isn't any poison ivy in the brush but better safe then sorry. I've got about 7 piles total and some have a lot of dirt in the pile. I was thinking about starting one main pile and then going to the other piles with the grapple. I'll give each bite with the grapple a good shake and then feed the main pile.

 

[dirtbone]

Don't do it! Think of your neighbors, the wildlife, and you and your family, innocents nearby. Let the stuff rot somewhere.

 

[BobRip]

Don't do it! Think of your neighbors, the wildlife, and you and your family, innocents nearby. Let the stuff rot somewhere.

This is good advice. If you burn this stuff and your neighbors get sick you could be in big trouble. Of course you could die from it.