Xref: kermit rec.gardens:245719

Kim writes in article t dated Tue, 19 Aug 2003 18:36:36 GMT:
I have searched the internet and I cannot figure out how to successfully
get rid of poison ivy from my yard. We live in a wooded area and are
just trying to beat the poison ivy back out of the gardens and out of the
lawn on the edges of the woods. I normally don't like to use chemicals,
but after a few nasty cases of blistering skin, I ran to get some Round
Up. That is very expensive and doesn't seem to work that great. I have
also covered up with latex and pulled out scads of vines, bagged them and
thrown them in the garbage, but that is a hazardous endeavor. Are there
any home remedies that people have used that work?

Roundup is less effective against ivy than it is against other plants. A
bad choice, IMHO.

A few years ago I got a spray can of "poison ivy killer". It killed the
plants I found, but more kept coming into the yard. I even found one 2"
diameter vine going up a tree on the edge of the property. Vines going up
trees are easy to kill because all you have to do is sever them. If they're
on the ground, you have to pull them all the way out because if you leave
them they can re-root.

The best thing you can do is encourage growth of competing species and pull
out the PI regularly.

While we're talking about poison ivy I should mention -- there is *no*
topical treatment which reduces the duration of outbreaks. If your doctor
prescribes cream, change doctors. Corticosteroid pills work much better.

Also -- exposure makes you more sensitive to it, not less. If you have had
a reaction before, be very careful.

--Thundermaker$yahoo.com (Spud Demon)
The above may not (yet) represent the opinions of my employer.