Leaves of three, let it be?

[KTurner]

"Leaves of three, let it be" appears to be overly broad. There seem to be plenty of plants with leaves in groups of three that are not poison ivy. We have three leafed plants growing along the tree line that I'm fairly sure are not poison ivy, but we also have poison ivy. I'd rather not kill a bunch of plants (its mixed in with other plants I'd like to keep) or avoid parts of our land out of ignorance. Does anyone have a good guide for sorting out the different three leafed plants (mid atlantic region)? I've poked around on the Internet but the signal to noise ratio is pretty bad.

Keith

 

[SPIKER]

here ya go, but generally the leaves of three let them be is good. the three types can all take on different LOOKS while still being generally the bad plants. But look at Sumac there are many varieties which most are OK and the Poison type has more than 3 leaves



click the pic for full size pic.

Mark

 

[HeLa]

around here, virginia creeper is the most common impostor. i let it be unless it's climbing a building or choking out a more desirable plant.

2,4-0 works great. in tight places you can paint it onto the leaves of the poison ivy, but make sure to get a large percentage of the vine, to kill it while letting the plant it's growing in live. i don't bother trying to manually remove the vines - they always come back. controlled use of herbicide is my weapon of choice. i have no mercy for the stuff but, like the OP, would rather not kill everything in sight just because poison ivy moved in.

 

[KTurner]

I can recognize at least some poison ivy. But some of the information I'm seeing says that poison ivy is pretty variable. Some leaves will have the 'teeth' like in the picture Spiker posted but some will not. Sometimes its a climbing vine, sometimes it grows along the ground and sometimes its a shrub.

I think there are some tick trefoil plants and hog peanut plants mixed in there. I definitely have blackberry and raspberry plants, which often have three leaves, in there. And some virginia creeper, which normally has five but can sometimes have three leaves (when young).

Keith

 

[smstonypoint]

I can recognize at least some poison ivy. But some of the information I'm seeing says that poison ivy is pretty variable. Some leaves will have the 'teeth' like in the picture Spiker posted but some will not. Keith

The poison ivy I see in my area looks like this:

Steve

 

[breadtrk]

Last time I had a bout, my eyes were swollen shut for 3 days.

I'm in the spray it all camp. Then spray again.

 

[oosik]

Steve - your pics look like our poison oak. The leaves of poison oak are a little more shiny. I'm deathly allergic to poison oak and for years I would get shots every spring. I had a small patch here but repeated applications of herbicides finally wiped it out.

 

[jaotguy]

we have poison ivy creeper vine , weed (as in pic above) , bush up to 5 ' tall ... the sap in the roots is more toxic than the leaves .... comes in all sizes and shapes ...

in full sun or shade ....

 

[RobertN]

So true. It is important to know the leaves, and also the twigs. I have had some of my worst poison oak in the winter after the leaves dropped. The stalks/twigs can be very inconspicuos, and full of that lovely oil... :-(

we have poison ivy creeper vine , weed (as in pic above) , bush up to 5 ' tall ... the sap in the roots is more toxic than the leaves .... comes in all sizes and shapes ...

in full sun or shade ....

 

[louiez]

I was told that the center leaf has a stem the other 2 don't... I believe that is true for all the poison ivy/oak... that is what I use and so far no ichy