The image of Poison Ivy catching fire after having sprayed it with gasoline
is enough to give me nightmares. What a horrible idea.

I would like to mention again the use of "Tecnu" for those of you sensitive
to PI. Basically it is a solvent that you use to clean off the "Tar" that
you get from PI. You can buy it at any pharmacy or Home Depot. It looks
expensive but you need only use a small amount. DON'T use it as you would
soap with water! Instead rub a small amount on the area that feels
irritated for as long as you can stand (2-5 minutes). THEN wipe the area
clean with paper towels that you throw away. Be generous with the paper
towels. Think of the PI as invisible tar (which is what it is) that can be
wiped from one area to another (which is what gives the appearance of it
spreading). If you wipe clean with one wipe and throw that towel away you
are not risking wiping what you just wiped off to some place else. Don't
wash with soap and water after or you will find yourself with very dry skin.

My guess is that anything that would clean up road or roof tar would work
with poison ivy but I am a faithful buyer of Tecnu since it has made my life
in the Northeast tolerable after years of absolute torture. Whatever you
use, make sure you use the above technique since it makes a huge difference
in how successful the removal is.

DKat

"Other Brother Kevin" wrote in message
...
Chip G. wrote:

In article , Pam
wrote:



My buddy at work suggested spraying gasoline on the plants. He said
this would dissolve the urushioil(sp?) and kill the plant. I am kind
of leery due to the potential fire hazard. Any thoughts?


I would consider this pretty poor advice. Regardless of the fire hazard
(which is considerable), one would have to be pretty darn precise with
the spraying to make sure there was no contamination of desirable
plantings or runoff onto the ground, which WILL kill soil biota and make
future plantings iffy at best. There are products registered for this
type of application - Roundup, Brush-be-Gone, Brush and Balckberry
Blocker, etc., if manual removal is too difficult. Home remedies like
the
gasoline are frought with too many unfavorable side effects to be a
serious consideration.



Not to mention the fact that organizations like the EPA might have some
things to say about it. Round-up seems to be the heavy favorite by just
about everyone. I purchased some today. Not cheap stuff, but if it does
the job it'll be worth every penny.



Your "BUDDY" is an idiot. Gas is very effective against PI but it's one
of the last things you want in your soil, especially if you have a well.
Roundup, more RU, then more RU. I've got about 3acres of PI I've been
working on for a couple years. My property should be clear this year and
I'm starting to push it back on 3 of my neighbors properties. another
couple years and it should be all gone.