cutting poison ivy vines

[john taliaferro]

From some of the infected trees I've seen, it is at least symbiotic, and the climbing roots picking up/sharing with the tree's cambium/pholem.

I won't touch those trees for 4-5 years after the vines have been long dead.

The first time I got Ivy on my nuts was all I needed to know.

Carry some dish detergent , it's better than the $$$ crap they push off for oil removal. Wash exposed clothes and tools too.

P.S. Your dog/cat is an efficient poison ivy vector. DON"T let them sit on your lap/bed/couch.......

yep dont scratch down their if you been carting fire wood

 

[torence 20]

just a little tid bit, if you get into it dont use really lathery soap that will carry the oil, there is some stuff called zanfel that is the best soap i have come across yet, its about 35 a tube but it gets rid of it, or if you have it on an isolated area go to ur local store buy a big bag of cotton swabs and a big jug of alchohol use one swab at a time dip in alch firmly rub over infected area just one time and thro it in the garbage, do that repeatedly, the alch helps open pores and bring the oil to the surface and the alch will grab it without furthur spreading. ohh and NEVER EVER EVER burn poison-anything this will cause detremental damage to your lungs, and its a myth that poison ivy is ever dormate, it will stay on cloths for a long long time you, scientist have found fossilized poison ivy vines and with one drop of water has re activated the oil in these 2000 year old vines. pretty nasty stuff

 

[RandyMac]

P'Oak and I go way back, it ate me alive when I was a kid. I gained immunity over time, I could survive being in smoke, sawing it, whatever. The vines on some OG Redwoods can be a few inches thick and run 200 feet up, when cut, the sap runs like a garden hose. I once cut a bundle and gave it to hippies for firewood.

P'Oak in third growth Redwood, on the bank of the Smith River.

 

[Bob Wright]

I saw a model steam engine at a show with pretty purple wood for skids under the model. I asked what kind of wood it was. The guy said he squared up a big poison ivy vine in his bandsaw and varnished it. It looked good but i sure wouldn't have done it.

The city i live in planted a white oak on my curb lawn. The next spring PI started growing from the rootball up the trunk. I told the neighbor guy that i was going to run and get some spray to kill it. Here hold my beer he said then he tore the little vine off the tree and threw it in my trash can. He than wiped his hands on his jeans and went back to drinking his beer. A few days later his nurse wife was putting some cream on her foot bottom. She said that damn john had poison ivy on his pants and i know the rest of the story They were playing footsie at supper time and she got into the poison ivy area on his pants.

I have gotten it in Jan and Feb when i worked on the farm from hay bales that have been dead for 5 or 6 months. I also got little bumps of it from sharpening chainsaw chains. I got it off the chain...Bob

 

[Chris J.]

P'Oak and I go way back, it ate me alive when I was a kid. I gained immunity over time, I could survive being in smoke, sawing it, whatever. The vines on some OG Redwoods can be a few inches thick and run 200 feet up, when cut, the sap runs like a garden hose. I once cut a bundle and gave it to hippies for firewood....

I sincerely hope that you're joking.

My wife has some severe allergies. A stunt like that could kill her. I'm not joking.

 

[Bob Wright]

I drove by a telephone pole for 10 years on y way T/F work and it had the biggest growth of ivy on it. All the way to the top prob 45' up and started along the wires. I always wanted to stop and clip off the vine at the base but never did. Each fall it would turn bright red then die off for the winter. Then next spring it would be right back.

A local town by me Niles Ohio has just declared PI a "nuisence weed" and the property owner can be held liable for removing it...Bob
http://www.vindy.com/news/2010/dec/06/poison-ivy-declared-nuisance-in-niles/

 

[Coloradobum]

I've always been immune to PI.. But, don't assume because you never reacted in the past that you are immune. Allergies can come or go at any age. I had eaten watermelon my whole life but at 17 I suddenly became very allergic to it, ended up in the hospital with a very constricted airway i.e. I could hardly breathe and my chest was on fire. Not fun. They think it was because I worked in a produce market, and chopping it up all the time made me develop an overexposure reaction.

Also, I find it very hard to believe PI is less toxic in winter. More likely, people aren't outside and don't get exposed as much/it's buried in snow/etc.
The oils in in undoubtedly freeze at temperatures much lower than that of water, so it still spreads despite the cold.

A guy I knew got it in his lungs from burning it and nearly died.

If I walk through ragweed with shorts on, I get painful huge welts. You just never know. An EPI pen goes with me when I'm on backcountry adventures.

 

[willsaw4beer]

I cut some wood a couple months ago that was crusted with pi, didn't have a single itch. A woodchip from the vine actually hit me in the eye and I didn't have any issues. I did shower with Castile soap after I was done and wore gloves, as well as get my clothes off and washed after.

 

[Chop]

as the resident botanist...

Har har! (I never used my degree, but I got it)
The PI plant can have 3 different habits, so watch out for the "leaves of 3", even if it doesn't look like the last one you saw. PI can be a running vine on the ground, a climbing vine like most sawyers would worry about, and finally can grow as a scrubby little shrub, as another poster remarked.

The oil is an acidic oil, and so the acid helps it break into the skin, and the rest is an allergic reaction. IF...if you know you've gotten into PI, you can rather quickly get alcohol onto the site and dissolve the oil. I would say the previously mentioned 15 minutes is about right, so run, don't walk. Water doesn't work, though creek sand will "scrub" it off somewhat. This is as good a reason to keep a handle of vodka with you in the woods...but seriously, who needs a reason?!?!? After that, once symptoms present, it's all about damage control, avoiding touching things until you're clean, and using alcohol and those strong detergent soaps to immulsify the oil. I don't get PI, but I'm not sure it's b/c I'm immune, lucky or just careful...at any rate, PI is a plant worth learning about *before* it teaches you a thing or two first.

 

[Chris J.]

I've always been immune to PI.. But, don't assume because you never reacted in the past that you are immune. Allergies can come or go at any age. I had eaten watermelon my whole life but at 17 I suddenly became very allergic to it, ended up in the hospital with a very constricted airway i.e. I could hardly breathe and my chest was on fire. Not fun. They think it was because I worked in a produce market, and chopping it up all the time made me develop an overexposure reaction.
...
An EPI pen goes with me when I'm on backcountry adventures.

My former neighbor ate watermellons most of his life. He planted a patch when he lived next door, and ended up pulling them because he'd breakout & get short of breath if he got too close to the vines for any length of time.

The school where my wife works requires her to keep an EPI pen because of her allergic reactions.
.

 

[Guido Salvage]

As a kid, the pool where I used to swim in the summer had a fence about 5' back from the concrete apron. When I was about 10 I decided to hang my towel on it. Intermingled with the English ivy was a bunch of poison ivy and I got a severe case on the bottom of my feet. Blisters the size of 50¢ pieces that the doctor had to lance and that prevented me from walking. I have had my eyes swollen shut, all my fingers glued together from the ooze (the doctor had to peel that off) and skin peeling off my arms for a month. That last episode was caused by bush hogging on a tractor without a cab.

Needless to say, I avoid it at all costs.

 

[MadMax5578]

I would say I'm just about deathly allergic to poison Ivy, and oak.

Everyone in my family EXCEPT me doesn't get it, and one time at my grandfather's house when I was about 5, he decided to burn some growing on his chicken coupe. Needless to say I took a trip to the E.R. and was shot up with some steroids to prevent my airway from closing. If I see any Ivy when I'm cutting, I go the other direction FAR away.

PS: It's crazy, but the best remedy for a mean Ivy rash is to pop the blister's and swab them with nail-polish remover or rubbing alcohol. Very :censored: painful, but the blister's are dried out the next day.

 

[CGC4200]

poisin oak, not ivy

In the spring, I mix up a brew of Roundup, Crossbow or whatever herbicide
I can find & mix in a sprayer to burn that stuff down. It doesn't climb like
ivy, but spreads on the ground quicker, same results on skin.

 

[dingeryote]

In the spring, I mix up a brew of Roundup, Crossbow or whatever herbicide
I can find & mix in a sprayer to burn that stuff down. It doesn't climb like
ivy, but spreads on the ground quicker, same results on skin.

CGC,
It's the same critter.
It runs a vine for light if the canopy is tight enough.

More so in some areas, less so in others.

Around here it likes to co-mingle with Virginia creeper on the ground, and send vines up into blueberry bushes.
Stealthy and clever for a simple weed...too clever.
I suspect the stuff is some sort of alien life form we don't undertsand yet.

Velpar at 2% ground applied works.
Just kills everything though.

Stay safe!
Dingeryote

 

[Alaskat]

Man I do not miss that stuff but we got some bugs that can fill your eyes, ears and everything else whitesocks , no see ums and mosquitos to a name a few. Nothing like seeing a tourist get off the plane and start waving there arms like a traffic cop in NYC @ a poweroutage at rush hour.

 

[carrbear]

If you get a case of poison oak try this. Take one 1000 mg L-lysine tablet
twice a day. This has really worked well for me. I used to be miserable for 2 or 3 weeks being highly allergic to poison oak. After starting on L-lysine it would dry out in several hours and stop itching and be totally gone in less than week. You can get L-lysine over the counter at the pharmacy. This also works on shingles. I'm not a doctor but i used to fight wildland fires and I'd occasionally get into the stuff fighting fires at night where it was hard to spot.

 

[Alaskat]

Never heard of it but at first glance I thought you were suggesting lysergic acid diethlamide and that could make it worse, freak you out and think your turning red OMG..my skin is burning....

 

[gemniii]

I am EXTREMELY allergic to it and it's all around Virginia and Mississippi. I have had the most disgusting open, pussing lesions.
I used to be an active wetland scientist and would be exposed to it constantly.
There's an extract sold:

Poison Ivy Prevention
Rhus Tox (8X) Oral Solution
This homeopathic solution reduces
the occurrence and symptoms of
poison ivy, oak, and sumac.

which might work for some. Twenty years ago I used to take something similar and it seemed to prevent me getting PI. But then it got pulled from the market.

What I do now, and have done for about a decade or so, is the first leaves I see each spring I go out and wipe a little on an arm, and let it react. Making sure not to spread it any more than a small patch. I then will have an itchy spot for two weeks. I try to do this several times during the summer because my dog is ALWAYS finding some to roll in and share with me. This seems to work for me. I've got a small place that itches, which I can ignore, while the rest of my body seems protected.

The Indians (rumor) used to make a tea of the new leaves.

I often get asked by people that get it for the first time what to do - answer - wait two weeks. Now if it's somebody cute I might carefully rub the affected area (if it's a rubbable area) and tell them it will be over in two weeks

/edit - never have gotten it in the winter

 

[FFemt5287]

I get really bad cases of it. Once got it pretty much on every surface possible of my body when I was about 10. Fingers twice their normal size, in my nose, on my lips, on my groin (inevitable with it on both hands).

Now I go straight for the prednisone taper pack when I get anything more than a few splotches. I wash with castile soap after every outing in the woods.

 

[7oaks]

try this

Here's something I've tried in the past and it worked for me. Sprayed a deodorant on right after I realized I had pulled a vine of PI by wrapping it around my bare arms to gain leverage. Note it has to be spray deodorant that contains Aluminum chlorohydrate.

Try a dose of deodorant. The U.S. Forestry Service asked William Epstein, M.D., professor of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine, to come up with an inexpensive way to protect forest rangers from poison ivy. He found an unusual answer: spray deodorant. Aluminum chlorohydrate and other agents in spray deodorants prevent oils in poison ivy from irritating the skin. So in a pinch, spraying arms and legs with a deodorant can help protect you. But Dr. Epstein notes that there are commercial products that work better.

Another bit of advice is DO NOT wash in hot or warm water. Use cold water to wash off the oil with soap. Hot water opens the pores and the oil absorbs faster and deeper.