How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy

   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #21  
Have you ever tried spraying a tree w/15ft dia PI. If the PI is 15ft dia., imagine how high up it also goes into the tree. Ihave never been able to kill the entire vine by just spraying the base portion. The only thing I accomplished by spraying what I could reach was to kill a few leaves. The rest of the vine above where spray will not reach will be as green as ever, and so will the actual vine. This is why I suggested cutting at base first. Then you can spray the cut end of vine in a higher % solution of herbicide. You can mix 1/3 herbicide and 2/3 diesel fuel to treat the cut end of vine at base. This is very effective in killing what is left under ground too. Just MO
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #22  
Well, you can't do it with a spray bottle, but it most certainly can be done, although not if there is any wind /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #23  
I used to volunteer to a state agency in Florida years ago. One of the jobs we did was to kill Malucca(sp) and Brazilian pepper bushes . These are non native, have spread all of the place, especially the pepper bushes, and they both do a job on the local ecosystem.

What we woud do on the pepper pushes is scratch the bark around the base of the plant and then spray it wth a chemical. On the trees we would have to use a machete/axe to get through the bark. Then we would spray. The plant would suck the chemical up to the leaves and down to the roots. Dead plant.

I don't know what the chemical was only that it was mixed with diesel fuel. The biologists did the mixing.

Soooo, one might be able to scrach the PI trunk and then soak it with Roundup. If this thing was not so big I would suggest using a hand saw to cut it down so the chips can be controled better. A machete at the trunk should be easily controled so no PI juice gets on the "operator", spray, and see what happens.

Good Luck Richard! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Later,
Dan
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy
  • Thread Starter
#24  
I wish I had a digital camera /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The ground around the tree isn't so bad, it's the vines growing up the tree.

That said, I looked a bit closer yesterday and good news, one LARGE clump of greenery doesn't seem to be PI, but on a glance, kinda blends in with everything to look more fierce.

All the growth is essentially on the trunk going up to and a bit past the first split of the branches.

Anyway, I am trying to get ahold of Mr. TVA for a permit slip to start this and if I do, I think I'll use the round up routine, maybe also use backhoe fingers to break/rip as many vines I can at ground level and let it all die down a bit.

Upshot... if I have a permit, I can to truamatize the PI and if successful enough, take the tree down. I'm not OBLIGATED to take the tree down (if I later decide I'm nervous).

So, if I can ever get his hiney to return my call, I think I'll approach it that way.

As for disposal of the PI vinery? Well, if you've read many of my prior posts, you might put 2+2 together and realize this is on TVA land..... some of it that I'm blocking (with their permission) I might just mound up all the PI vinery at those blockage points so what when some of the local punk population comes out to vandalize the blockage so they can get through... there is at least a small chance of them having a fond, if not rather itchy, memory of the transgression.

/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #25  
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( my wife's uncle who lives next door, uses wood as his primary heat source. Since he's roughly 84, I've been trying to get/split his wood for him. )</font>

You won't be doing him any favors, if you give him Poison Ivy From Hell (TM) by giving him firewood laced with PI. And you won't be doing yourself any favors by getting the stuff yourself.

If the tree was endangering me, I supposed I'd have to give it a stab by axe cutting and chain dragging off the vines, then felling the tree, and finally steam cleaning or at least pressure washing everything. I'd wear protective gear like a Tyvek suit with taped cuffs and gloves while working the stuff.

If I could - and I probably can't - I'd dynamite the tree down. A PI forest is that much of a hassle.

If it was just to save a couple of bucks, I'd think it's not worth the risk. You'd probably "make" more money taking a part time job as a Wal-Mart greeter.
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #26  
Though I'm not allergic to PI, my mother is severly allergic. If she even sees it she breakes out from head to toe (practically). I heard Paul Harvey talking about a product called "Zanfel". I had her try it the last time she got PI and it totally did the trick. She was given several perscriptions in the past which never worked, this stuff did. It's an over the counter wash. It takes the itch away in about 30 seconds and by the next day rash is gone. She would usually have the itchy rash for weeks. The stuff is kind of pricey (like $30 for a small tube, but it lasts a while), but if you are a PI sufferer, it's worth every penny.

Here is their website, they have a list of places at which the product can be purchased. www.zanfel.com I hope this stuff can help those of you who really suffer from this allergy like my mother.
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #27  
Richard,

I forgot to mention to be careful using the FEL or BH to pull down the vine(s). I have a small, 1/2 diameter, dead grape vine hanging in a small 12 inchish tree. I have tried numerous time to pull that thing down with the FEL. I have pulled the tree down and pulled the tractor up but that vine is still hanging. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

The vine has been cut off from the ground for a good 18 months. Tarzan COULD swing on this thing without a problem. I know I have. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Make sure when you start pulling that you don't pull something down on you.

Later,
Dan
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #28  
I know that feeling! I've got grapevines up high in my trees that would literally take an act of God to get them down. At least we don't have kudzu, but I saw on the news where the dreaded K-plant had taken over some place in Texas and they had put some goats to work on it.

While we're on the subject, has anyone ever broke out in blisters after brush-hogging over PI? I do it all the time and have been lucky so far, I guess.
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #29  
DMCarty:

yep some times thos suckers are there for good other times you push it out of the way only to have 100 lbs of it come crashing down, hopefully NOT on your HEAD /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

we as kids did a LOT of swinging on vines like tarzan, (popular tv show back then ya know) as well as climbing saplings and doing a parashoot drop, float to the ground let loose and tree snaps bac, or halfway down the tree simply SNAPS it makes the rest of the trip a bit faster! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif lol

we used to do this on the lodi PARK HILL which is a grey slate gorge basically about 250' deep, sides are 4-% grade easy most of the way, and drop ut over & down the gorge side walls, boy we didn't seem to have much common since but it sure gave ya a great idea as to which kind of trees were MORE flexable /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif probably one of the reasons I got into learning about trees one to many FALLS and branch knocks on the head! hahaah /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Mark M
 
   / How to cut tree SWARMED with poisen ivy #30  
Richard find someone who isn't allergic and let them cut it down to the ground. That's the least risky solution, unfortunately I don't live in Tennessee anymore or I could help you out. I used to be allergic when I was a kid, but being a stupid kid I got it alot. Sometime, maybe in my early teens, I noticed I didn't get it anymore. After that, pulling poison ivy almost became a parlor trick. Oh, your ball rolled into that poison ivy, I'll get it. Here let me pull that stuff up. People would be screaming don't touch it, what are you doing, and so on. When I moved into my current home the trees on the field edge were nearly over grown. The PI vines where up to 4 inches thick. I used a reciprocating saw and cut them near the base of the tree. I sprayed a concentrated Round-Up on the ground PI, since there was too much to pull up. It needs a refreasher spray usually mid-summer, but it almost all gone. My wife watched me work from a distance, but now she isn't afraid to walk through those areas.
 

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