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Poison Ivy - how does it spread?

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
My property is really starting to get a lot of poison ivy. It never bothered me that it was out in the woods. I expect it there. But I'm seeing it, and battling it, in the new Japanese rock garden we had built last year. In other established planting areas its sprouting up and it has never been there before. This year seems to be a very bad year. Maybe it started last year when I had my first foot surgery because I really didn't keep up the gardens last summer because I couldn't. It really is only about the past 30 days that I can spend any time on my feet from this year's surgery so the poison ivy has apparently had plenty of time to grow. And growing it is . . . we have bumper crop!

I know that an established poison ivy grows by sending out shoots along the ground. But how does a new plant appear 50 or 100 feet away from the woods? And how does it pop up through rocks and a weed barrier?

Is there some seed that is carried by birds?

I've just spent a half hour pulling poison ivy from places it does not belong, then I spent a half hour showering the poison ivy oil off every bit of exposed skin :smileywac
 

mak2

Active member
I heard on NPR it was G.W. Bush's fault there is so much poision ivy now days. And what there is is more poisionous. I thoght it was some sort of joke until they started to explain it was because CO2 causes the ivy to grow better and have a more potient poision.
 

mak2

Active member
Oh yea, round up. I usually can roll around in it without any problem but if my wife gets close to it she swells up and is in awful shape.
 

OhioTC18

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Yes, it can be spread by birds. They'll eat the berries that poison ivy produces.
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
I heard on NPR it was G.W. Bush's fault there is so much poision ivy now days. And what there is is more poisionous. I thoght it was some sort of joke until they started to explain it was because CO2 causes the ivy to grow better and have a more potient poision.

Bob could probably get rid of his Poison Ivy by telling the Bush administration he has WMD's (weeds of massive dermatitis). :fart2:
 

rugerman

New member
Round up should work, if you are worried about other plants getting hurt don't spray it , mix it in a bucket and tape a paint brush on a stick and just brush it on the ivy , no overspray no collaterial damage. rugerman
 

urednecku

Active member
Site Supporter
I'm not sure about round-up, there may be a better herbicide that will only attack that type of plant, or vine, and not harm the tree or grass around it. Call your county extension agent, or a local agricultural chemical supply distributor. The deal with that kind of stuff all the time.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
You can also take gas or diesel (if you can afford it) and put it in a paint can and paint the leaves with it if you don't want to spray it. It will kill the plant and stop it from growing.

When we moved to Ohio for a few years a while back, the whole property (couple of acres) was covered with the crap. All the trees in the yard and everywhere you walked had it growing. Took a few weeks with a sprayer full of gas, and cutting the root base of the bigger ones with an Axe, but after about a month, it was all gone and dead. The gas evaporated and the rest of the yard was unscathed and looked really nice. Of course spraying the gas is against some kind of environmental law I am sure, but it sure works well...so do it at night and when you are not smoking... otherwise you have a great flamethrower and can burn the crap that way...(Just kidding, but it does work if you have a metal tipped sprayer)
 

urednecku

Active member
Site Supporter
Some plants the gas, or at least diesel, will not kill. Around here we have what is locally called "wait-a-minute" vine. I'm not sure what it would be known as in other ares, but if you walk into a bunch of it, you will say "wait-a-minute", because it is too tough to break easily, and has tough thorns, but not too many. It has 'tubers' on the roots, and the roots will grow a l-o-n-g way away from the base of the vine, and spread that way. Diesel will NOT kill it, and round up has NO effect on it. We use 'milestone', and I am told, by my distributor, it takes a year or more to kill it. The herbicide has to be taken in-to the roots, and kill them, to stop the plant. Pull the vine up, and each root will produce another plant.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
Site Supporter
Some plants the gas, or at least diesel, will not kill. Around here we have what is locally called "wait-a-minute" vine. I'm not sure what it would be known as in other ares, but if you walk into a bunch of it, you will say "wait-a-minute", because it is too tough to break easily, and has tough thorns, but not too many. It has 'tubers' on the roots, and the roots will grow a l-o-n-g way away from the base of the vine, and spread that way. Diesel will NOT kill it, and round up has NO effect on it. We use 'milestone', and I am told, by my distributor, it takes a year or more to kill it. The herbicide has to be taken in-to the roots, and kill them, to stop the plant. Pull the vine up, and each root will produce another plant.

When I cut the vines and put gas on them, it seems to stops the roots from doing much spreading. Regardless, lived there four years after that and never had another vine show up on the property....must have gotten the word out...
 
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