help me attack this!

   / help me attack this! #1  

stumpfield

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2005
Messages
455
Location
Sierra Foothills
Tractor
2005 MT265B
with a tractor of course... I got acres of poison oak. What are the best methods removing poison oak? What implements? Can I mow with the bush hog? Some are the size of small trees and some wrap around big tree that I don't want to destroy. Any sugguestion is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 

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   / help me attack this! #3  
I,ve had the Same Problem for Years here With Oak & Ivy . I Wouldn,t suggest mowing it Unless You have a cab On Your Tractor . The Oil will Get in the Air In My Experience & Make You Miserable for weeks. :eek: .

Also Dont Cut & Burn. the Smoke will Make You sicker then a Skunk .

The Only way I,ve been Able to Handle it is With a Good Brush Killer Sprayed at The Base if Its Running up a Tree , The Whole Thing if its By Itself Or Wait Untill winter When it Goes Dormant , But It,ll still Get You if Your Allergic to it . Could take a Little While , But Wait Untill Its Good & Dead . Then Dress Good Gloves & Long Sleeves . Hook a Chain around it & Pull it Out or Rip the Vines off of the Trees . Then Bury it .

I Have Some Vines that Reach to My Tallest Trees & as Much as 3 inches in Diameter . Not an Easy Task & It Could take awhile to Get a Handle on it . But Once You Do Keep Spraying Every Year in Those Areas so it Wont come Back.

Its Takin Me Allmost 5 Years But If I Keep up With it I Have no More Problems . So Far I,ve Lost No Trees or Bushes using the Spray . Best of Luck. Bob
 
   / help me attack this! #5  
Get a couple of goats. They'll have it gone in no time. Just don't try to pet them!
 
   / help me attack this! #6  
FYI- the plant has oil on it, in it that causes the irritation. Burning or and major stiring it up can make the oil airborn. The biggest danger is inhaling the oil and getting it in your lungs.
I too suggest spraying. They have some really good poisons that kill and degrade rapidly.
 
   / help me attack this! #7  
I've been eradicating poison oak for over 30 years, and still have enough to go another decade I'm sure.

Roundup or Ortho (can't remember which Ortho... it says 'for poison oak' on the bottle) are used to spray every spring. Some years I'll spray 50 gallons (mixed); other years maybe only 16 gallons. I've beat it back well in excess of 400 ft from the house, most places more. Each year I spray as far as the stream will reach, then the next year I can get that much farther into it for that year's spray activity.

On the vines up the trees, I use loppers to sever it, then coat the 'stump' with whatever juice I'm spraying that year. Usually there'll be a bunch of small shoots from the vines root system the next year, but it gets sprayed once and is gone.

On my "spray days" I'll wander all the cleared areas and usually find a few little sprouts to attack.

My biggest recommendation is to get a backpack sprayer, unless you have a powered tractor mounted sprayer and can access it all by tractor. Our manzanita is so thick that no vehicle could get to the places I spray. Sometimes I'm crawling on my hands and knees with the sprayer.

Phil
 
   / help me attack this! #8  
Hire someone who isn't allergic!! haha

We only have poison Ivy here, but my 5.5 acres were covered. On the ground and up the trees. With nothing more than leather gloves and a hatchet I cut and pulled what I could and mowed the rest with the cab tractor last summer. Recently I pulled what was dead out the trees and just mow the small stuff coming up until the grass takes over. I've had nothing more than a quarter size come out but only for a day or two.
 
   / help me attack this! #9  
GOATS!

We had a poison ivy and oak infestation on the 5 acre place we had before this farm. All it took to clear the 2 acres around the house completely, any nicely prune the trees up, was 3 goats and about 1 summers worth of grazing.

Just DO NOT let them get into any ornamental plants like rhododendrons. Azaleas too I think. I know a rhododendron will kill one in a matter of hours. Just one leaf is all it takes.
 
   / help me attack this! #10  
I know a rhododendron will kill one in a matter of hours. Just one leaf is all it takes.

To kill a goat?

Seriously? (honest question)

wow

What makes them so poisenous?
 

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