My War on Poison Ivy

[polo1665]

Last summer I had my first unpleasant experience with poison ivy. Call me naive but I had never imagined that the vines and the leaves could be so large. Before that experience I had never had a rash due to poison ivy. I never thought that I was immune to it, I just stayed away from it. Last summer it finally got me

This spring I figured I would counter attack. The woods around my place has alot of poison ivy. Not the cute little ground variety, but rather the huge vines climbing up the tree kind.

I grabbed my gear and headed out for the woods.

 

[polo1665]

I knew I couldn't pull the vines down due to thier size, so I figured I'd feed them a little "spring tonic". I sure hope this does the trick. I'm sure I won't know for a little while. I've included some photos of the vines and the "feeding" process. I'm absolutely committed to cleaning these things out of the woods. I did this to about 20 to 25 trees yesterday.

Mark

 

[CTW]

Man, I hate that stuff. Wear lots of protective clothing and whatever you do, don't get frustrated and try to burn it. Add a good surfactant to that herbicide because you'll need something to break down that waxy coating on the leaves. There are some really good posts on this board about waging the war on poison ivy, just do a quick search. You'll also find other herbicide suggestions. Best of luck.

 

[MrWoodChips]

I knew I couldn't pull the vines down due to thier size, so I figured I'd feed them a little "spring tonic". I sure hope this does the trick. I'm sure I won't know for a little while. I've included some photos of the vines and the "feeding" process. I'm absolutely committed to cleaning these things out of the woods. I did this to about 20 to 25 trees yesterday.

Mark

Big, nasty looking vines there.

I 'd suggest that drilling a hole into the wood has risks. It might spray the sap around, which would be a bad idea for you if you catch some. If it makes an aerosol, this is especially bad. DO wear a mask.

My thoughts would be to score the bark with a hand saw, deeply enough in several spots to allow the killing agent to get into the circulatory system of the vine. Use a 50-50 mix of Roundup/Brushbegone concentrate, painted onto the open wound. Perhaps return after a few days to paint on a second round. I'd mark the spots with a small dot of orange spray paint on the vine so I can return to this vine again as necessary. This way I'll know if my efforts were successful.

Careful use of a sharp hand saw will not spray too much around. DO NOT touch the blade afterwards. Another possibility is to use a utility knife to make the wound, then carefully throw the blade away afterwards without touching it. Were I to do this, I'd even consider making the scoring cuts vertically. I don't want to damage the ability of sap to flow in the vine. Instead, I'd try to encourage uptake of the poison and dispersal through the plant.

Activities like this may be best done in the early fall, when what you really wish to see is the poison drawn down into the roots. Done in the spring, the sap will be flowing upwards, away from the root system.

John

 

[ToadHill]

Polo what you just did is known in the arborist world as micro-injection and if it doesn't work, it was because the vine isn't yet actively growing. If the plant continues to grow, wait until the vine leafs out and try it again.

The vine needs to be actively growing to take the product up through the whole plant.

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

hey, that looks like my place!

keep us updated, i can see tensions rising on my ground......a war is on the horizon for me too......i'm generally a peaceful guy but every man has his limits....

that stuff will jump clear across a field to find me.....

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

so cutting a 4" section out with a chainsaw, during winter time, won't kill them? i did that to quite a few of them that were choking out some nice trees...

 

[polo1665]

Big, nasty looking vines there.

I 'd suggest that drilling a hole into the wood has risks. It might spray the sap around, which would be a bad idea for you if you catch some. If it makes an aerosol, this is especially bad. DO wear a mask.

My thoughts would be to score the bark with a hand saw, deeply enough in several spots to allow the killing agent to get into the circulatory system of the vine. Use a 50-50 mix of Roundup/Brushbegone concentrate, painted onto the open wound. Perhaps return after a few days to paint on a second round. I'd mark the spots with a small dot of orange spray paint on the vine so I can return to this vine again as necessary. This way I'll know if my efforts were successful.

Careful use of a sharp hand saw will not spray too much around. DO NOT touch the blade afterwards. Another possibility is to use a utility knife to make the wound, then carefully throw the blade away afterwards without touching it. Were I to do this, I'd even consider making the scoring cuts vertically. I don't want to damage the ability of sap to flow in the vine. Instead, I'd try to encourage uptake of the poison and dispersal through the plant.

Activities like this may be best done in the early fall, when what you really wish to see is the poison drawn down into the roots. Done in the spring, the sap will be flowing upwards, away from the root system.

John

You have some good points that I hadn't thought of, specifically the poison being drawn down to the roots in the fall. As far as the safety portion of it goes, believe me I was very careful. I did this when the temperature ws about 35 deg. and very windy, was very careful to stay upwind of drilling. Even then I coated my exposed skin with Ivy Block and showered afterward. They say you have about twenty minutes after contact to get it off of you before it bonds to your skin. This stuff is nasty and I certainly don't wasnt any part of the dose I got last summer.

Polo what you just did is known in the arborist world as micro-injection and if it doesn't work, it was because the vine isn't yet actively growing. If the plant continues to grow, wait until the vine leafs out and try it again.

The vine needs to be actively growing to take the product up through the whole plant.

I am thinking that everything is starting to become active at this point, I am seeing some budding on the trees anyway. I did it now because I wanted nothing to do with these when the leaves are present. They are about as big as your head and lord help you if you damage one and the poison gets on you. I sure hope it works.

hey, that looks like my place!

keep us updated, i can see tensions rising on my ground......a war is on the horizon for me too......i'm generally a peaceful guy but every man has his limits....

that stuff will jump clear across a field to find me.....

FHY, If you've got the same size vines stay well away and never trust them. I recently got a small dose from cutting up a tree that had been laying for years. There was nothing alive on this tree and I thought nothing of tearing some smaller old "dead" vines off of it. My mistake, didn't get it bad but it reminded me to be more careful. Like CTW said above NEVER burn this stuff

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i did the same thing about two weeks ago...i had gloves on the whole time and somehow i got about 10 chiggar bites and a streak or two of ivy on my hands....

i hate that stuff!!!!

You have some good points that I hadn't thought of, specifically the poison being drawn down to the roots in the fall. As far as the safety portion of it goes, believe me I was very careful. I did this when the temperature ws about 35 deg. and very windy, was very careful to stay upwind of drilling. Even then I coated my exposed skin with Ivy Block and showered afterward. They say you have about twenty minutes after contact to get it off of you before it bonds to your skin. This stuff is nasty and I certainly don't wasnt any part of the dose I got last summer.



I am thinking that everything is starting to become active at this point, I am seeing some budding on the trees anyway. I did it now because I wanted nothing to do with these when the leaves are present. They are about as big as your head and lord help you if you damage one and the poison gets on you. I sure hope it works.



FHY, If you've got the same size vines stay well away and never trust them. I recently got a small dose from cutting up a tree that had been laying for years. There was nothing alive on this tree and I thought nothing of tearing some smaller old "dead" vines off of it. My mistake, didn't get it bad but it reminded me to be more careful. Like CTW said above NEVER burn this stuff

 

[polo1665]

i did the same thing about two weeks ago...i had gloves on the whole time and somehow i got about 10 chiggar bites and a streak or two of ivy on my hands....

i hate that stuff!!!!

Ooh chiggers. I'm glad I'm not as far south as you, I haven't been lucky enough to have run into them since hunting in Virginia.

Mark