What is the best way to rid yourself of massive poison ivy vines, say around 3-4" diameter and along the same lines, how is the best way to treat poison ivy rash?

-- Ed Holt (goat@sssnet.com), May 11, 2001

Answers

For the rash - oatmeal packs, benadryl, calamine lotion. Be sure to wash the area well, but don't wash onto other areas of the body. If you touch anywhere near the rash, wash your hands before touching ANYTHING ELSE!!!

As for eliminating the viscious little culprit - I am not sure.

I have heard that they can be pulled before they flower and burned, but it seems that would cause more rash and maybe not so much termination... they spread by underground roots.

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 11, 2001.

Best way to get of poison ivy is GOATS! They love to eat the stuff and for some reason it is perfectly safe for them...go figure! They will pull it right up, roots and all.

-- Karen (db0421@yahoo.com), May 11, 2001.

We too suffer from a poison ivy infestation. Since I am not alergic to it I was constantly cutting and pulling it during the winter while it was dormant and this really thinned it out. Be carefull with your cloths because it can be transmitted to others in the wash and be especially careful if burn it because the smoke can litterally be deadly. I've been told if you keep killing the leaves with roundup or other herbecide that the root system will die from lack of support. We're still trying. We also heard of a herbecide that is enviromentally friendly and has a dye in it so you can tell what's been sprayed and what hasn't but I'm not sure where to get it. One thing everyone I've talked to agrees on is that once it gets a stronghold it's tough to get rid of. Good luck.

CQ

-- Carter (chucky@usit.net), May 11, 2001.

I don't know an effective way to get rid of the poison ivy vines for good, BUT my eagle scout husband turned me onto a great way to get rid of poison ivy rash in 24 hours. Laugh, scoff if you want, but try it if you hate poison ivy as much as me.

Ammonia. Get a cotten ball or other rough absorbent material, soak it with the ammonia, and rub the rash till it stings. Tomarrow, wherever the rash burned, no more rash. I can only say it works GREAT for me and a few others I've shared the secret with. (Oh, it might dry the skin a little, but I think that's how it works)

-- Marty (Mrs.Puck@Excite.com), May 11, 2001.

You can cut the vines off at the ground and just stay away for a few weeks then spray it as it comes out from the roots. NEVER BURN ANY TYPE OF POISION IVY, POISION OAK POISION SUMAC. If you do you risk a serious case of rash even in your lungs and anyone that gets into the smoke can. Poison oak or ivy rash in your lungs and throat is serous even life threating. Also I used to not be affected by it but the more you are exposed to it sooner or later you will become allergic to it. I have and boy you sure don't want that. I now get it two or three times a year. I now just avoid it. I gave up on getting rid of it.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), May 11, 2001.

A good treatment for the rash is a tea made from oak bark. I think white oak is supposed to be best, but I think any kind of oak will work. I usually chop some oak bark chips (perhaps a double handfull) and boil in about 1-2 gallons of water, then simmer until the color looks like tea. I do this in the winter when it is cool (on the woodburner). That makes a couple of years supply for me.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), May 11, 2001.

all of the posts are valid in some repects, it is nasty stuff to deal with if, you are alergic to it. in my area (northern california), it's poison oak but, it's all the same. keep cutting the large vines close to the earth and coating the exposed portion with a total herbacide killer. coat the exposed portion of the plant quickly, within minutes or they tend to seal themselves back-up. the uc-davis (california university of agrigulture), advised that you mix 10% deisel fuel with the herbacide killer that you spray on the plants (every spring) i have been dealing with this tuff on my place for some time and i am alergic to it and break out with that nasty rash. the uc davis also advised that i try a product called technu a liquid sold at all drug stores to apply to the rash for relief. (IT WORKS) in calirornia all of the forestry workers (cdf), are issued this product when they are in the field fighting fires.

-- bob mccaffrey (bobmccaffrey1@netscape.net), May 11, 2001.

My son got poison ivy real bad last year, all over his arms and face. I made a poulice of activate charcoal, echnichea, and black walnuts which I applied three times a day, keeping it wet with damp paper towels. I cleared up fast with no scaring.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), May 11, 2001.

I agree with Marty. I use a dry washcloth and alcohol. As soon as the tiny itchy bumps appear, scrub them as hard as you can and knock the little tops off. It will kill them, and you won't get it at all. Every time a new one appears, scrub it, long and hard, till it completely stops itching. It doesn't leave any scar.

We tie up the goats by the fences with the poison ivy and let them eat it.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), May 12, 2001.

Do NOT, under any circumstance burn poison ivy, oak, sumac or other rash causing weeds. It almost killed my grandmother. I just wanted to back up another person who posted not to do that.

I've heard goats are good, and the berbicides and cutting.....good luck. We live on a river and I had to take my daughter to the Dr. just a couple of weeks ago for some kind of 'weed rash'. (Did you know that there are actually over 200 such weed rashes you can get, so it's not always one of those 3, which happens to be the case here, and I've had SEVERAL kids get covered in whatever is out there like this, and no one knows what it is. Just what it isn't.)

They have my daughter on prednisone, as her whole face broke out, eyes swelling shut, etc. The Technu cleanser is a good one and you use it to wash the oils off up to 8 hrs. after contact, including your clothing. There's also Ivy Block which you put on to protect your skin from the oils reaching it, you put it on before going out near the stuff. If your pharmacy doesn't carry this stuff, they should be able to order it.

The problem with scrubbing and breaking open blisters, is like any other blister, you're leaving yourself wide open to infection, and I HIGHLY discourage you from doing that to chidren, they're such dirty little critters......

-- Louise Whitley (whitley@terraworld.net), May 12, 2001.

I am EXTREMELY ALLERGIC to poison ivy and poison oak and have had a MASSIVE reaction this spring. I've had it every spring since I was 20 except for two of the three years I lived in Florida and I'll be 49 this month! I've had two massive steroid shots and two Predisone dose packs and still have a touch of it now but I'm not as bad as I was.

I bought some stuff at the Farmer's Co-op this year that you put in water and spray and it KILLS the poison oak and the vine! It also kills everything else that's there too. It was expensive but it sure works. If you want the name e-mail me direct and I'll look at the bottle tomorrow when it's daylight. It's the best stuff I've tried.

But I too am looking at in the future buying some "bush" goats, getting a solar panel, and putting those goats to work in our woods where the poison ivy is worse!

-- suzy in 'bama (slgt@yahoo.com), May 13, 2001.

For an organic way to kill the stuff, use salt. Go to your local feed store and purchase 50 pound bags of feed grade salt, it's cheap and effective. Pour a few cups around the base of the roots, reapply as needed after rain, permanently kills the stuff, and no toxic residues. Also works for all other weeds and unwanted grass growth, like in brick walkways, etc.

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), May 15, 2001.

ahh... poison ivy.. that stuff always brings a smile to my face... there's a story behind it in my family. My dear little mama, who is now 76, was once in the woods and needed to potty. Being the resourceful back-to-nature gal she is, she jsut found a bush and a few leaves for TP. Uh-oh... a few days later, a trip to the doctor's office diagnosed her mysterious new malady as poison ivy in a very unusual place. That doc just roared.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), May 15, 2001.

I pull up poison ivy with my bare hands and never suffer from it, the secret is jewel weed. I rub the juice of jewel weed on my hands and arms immediately after contact. It works like a jewel.Once a young neighbor boys face and hands and arms were covered with poison ivy rash, his grandparents brought him to me, and I went down to the creek bed and found the jewel weed to cure him, after covering his rash with the juice from this marvelous plant, he was completly rash free in two days. If you don't know what jewel weed is, get some one to show you, it likes to grow down along the creeks and in wet places, in summer it has orange or yellow flowers, it is also known as touch me not or snapweed, it is related to our garden impatience.Jewel weed also will stop the sting of stinging nettle. Tren

-- trendle ellwood (trendlespin@msn.com), May 24, 2001.

Hi, Ed,

I too, am a firm believer in the wonders of Jewel Weed as far as healing poison ivy/oak. According to legend Mother Nature always puts the cure for something irritating near to where the something irritating is growing, so you should almost always find Jewel Weed growing near poison ivy.

Also check out Wilderness Way Magazine back issues (www.wwmag.net) Their primo idea of poison ivy prevention is to consume new poision ivy leaves early in the season to build up a resistance to it. I haven't tried this but it could prove to be interesting.

Thanks for reading.

-- Dianne in Mass (dianne.bone@usa.net), May 24, 2001.

Is there anyone else who can back up the statement that salt will get rid of PI? It's in my garden, and I don't want to kill my plants! It doesn't grow UP them, just between plants. Is this safe?

-- Alyssa (AlyssaQHHorsegal@Aol.com), July 22, 2001.

The salt idea will kill everything and anything! It will last a long time too!!!!! If you've got a usefull garden with the good ole' ivy a growing, I would not use salt.

-- Bryan Small (PUNNISHER@JUNO.COM), September 24, 2001.

I always get poison ivy!!! Uggh! Today, I stuck my arm in some water with ammonia in it. When I pulled it out, my poison ivy was noticeably alleviated. Tonight, I applied household ammonia on my arms and the rash went away almost immediately, except for the places where it was really infected. But, I even feel better there!!! I am going to wash my clothes in ammonia now because it doesn't wash out with regular laundry soap. I can break out just wearing clothes I wore 10 years ago. Horray for ammonia!!! Boo for all those other quack remedies.

-- Lili Shane (Lili_Shane@yahoo.com), April 16, 2002.

I'm confused by the salt statements, Annie. I realize this is an old thread, but certainly salt is _toxic_ - it kills the poison ivy after all! The reason many enviornmentalists don't like commercial fertilizers is _because_ they add salt to the soil.

Salt in a heavy concentration in the soil is toxic. It is just a more familiar poison to you than, say, Roundup. Now, Roundup is only toxic to green plants, requires _much_ less product that salt, and breaks down & disappears in weeks, rather than years for the salt to leach out of the soil.

Now, I don't mind which you use in your garden, & whatever your reasons. Glad you offered a solution to the problem, something I might use myself in the right situation! :) But I'm not sure you should be saying salt is not toxic & better than other products? That doesn't seem right to me, if you really think about it.

Mom & my sister killed off a very small patch of pi by dumping the yard clippings on it for several years, smothered it. Sounds like there are much bigger patches by some of you, so that's not of much help. Never had considered the problem with burning it, good to know that, wow!

--->Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), April 16, 2002.