Does anybody know a natural way to get rid of Poison Ivy?

[LostinVA]

We have some starting to sprout up in reach of the dog. I don't want him giving us, well me, (Haruka claims she doesn't get it) poison Ivy. For obvious reasons, I also don't want to use anything dangerous to kill it.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Small patch?

See this link.
http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/poisonivy.html

Since Haruka doesn't react she's the one who should pull out the plants AND wear disposable heavy duty gloves while doing it.

Big patch, or many little spots? Time to call a pro.


(p.s. I don't react to poison ivy either. I don't know about poison oak but I'm not interested in conducting a field test!)

[Fox Mulder]

2. Why would anyone want to get rid of Poison Ivy?

:wow: :wow: :wow:

[CatholicEdHead]

7. This is how you get rid of that

[matcom]

3. napalm

just to be safe

[Call Me Wesley]

4. I love poison ivy.

Of course I'm not going to touch it - but it's a great fertilizer (rip it off and put it in a bucket of water and let it dissolve - stinks, but it's the best,) and it's one of the plants that shows you the real healthy patches for growing everything else if you ever want to grow vegetables. So, in this case, you're really blessed having it.

Just get heavy gloves and dig the plant out with the roots. :hi: Then make some fresh tea out of it. ;)

[Critters2]

17. And throw the gloves out.

Poison ivy oil is impossible to get off of, well, everything!

[Jamastiene]

5. Oddly enough, I just grabbed some today in my yard.

I was weeding around the deck and grabbed a whole big handful of various triffads and weeds, and all of a sudden I saw leaves of three. I wasn't wearing any gloves either. Normally, I do, but I had already smacked my kidney on the bedroom doorknob and burned my hands on the lawn mower today, so I really, at that point, didn't think anything else could be lying in wait for me. I underestimated Mother Nature. Apparently, I need to make amends for something I've done. :scared:

Anyhow, my mother said use salt on it. I think she meant ordinary table salt, a whole box. Stab the roots with a knife or machete, pour the salt on, and water it in lightly. Apparently, that works. My mother is immune to it too. I'm not itching right now, but I did take a shower after I grabbed that today. Normally, I'm immune too. Then again, I didn't used to get allergies to tree pollen (you know what tree pollen really is, don't you? What is that? Flora-ality?), but now I do get allergies to it. I guess the male trees haven't found some way to aim better. :shrug:

In any case. I hope your dog doesn't get poison ivy and I hope you don't either. :hi:

[Chan790]

11. Even if you contact the plant...

usually if you wash the oils off with a surfactant (a soap which dissolves oils: all dish detergents, virtually all shampoos, most liquid body washes) within 30 minutes you can avoid getting the rash or minimize your outbreak. (depending on your sensitivity.)

If you do get it, you can treat it naturally with oatmeal baths. (Exactly what it sounds like, a bath with raw oatmeal in your bathwater.) Aveeno sells an oatmeal for this specific purpose which mixed with other botanicals. It's great for your skin, but it's expensive ($7.00-or-so/box and you'll use at least a box-a-day soaking 2x daily for 2-3 days.) and any plain oatmeal (i.e Quaker) will work.

[RushIsRot]

6. Should you catch it, try jewelweed.

http://www.altnature.com/jewelweed.htm

[XemaSab]

8. Define "dangerous" as far as killing goes

:shrug:

I've heard that pouring a ton of high-concentrate vinegar at the roots of plants will kill them, but I have never tried this personally. A crapload of rock salt would probably also work, if you don't care about growing anything else there for a while.

You could dig the plants up, but be VERY careful. I have gotten poison oak from the roots before. Wash the shovel!

Taking loppers and lopping the plants off at the base would probably also work, but you might have to do it a few times, and again, wash the loppers!

I don't have a problem with Round-Up. It's effective and non-toxic to humans/animals when used properly.

Good luck!

[Howler]

13. I heard of that too.

Using vinegar to get rid of weeds as well as poison ivy.
I use it for the smell of cat pee outside where the alley cats hang around.It works really well for that.

[bertha katzenengel]

9. Introduce kudzu. Poison Ivy will be choked out by this time tomorrow.

You don't need a smart ass, but i gotta be me. ;)

Okay, I don't know, but good luck to you. :hug:

[malta blue]

10. call these people

http://www.poisonivyremoval.com/ordereze/Default.aspx

BTW - I thought of you today - hadn't seen your posts in a while :hi:

[femmocrat]

12. Brush-Be-Gone by Ortho.

I don't know if it's "dangerous" (but it's less dangerous than having poison ivy!), but it works. It's just hard to find. I used to get it at K-Mart.

[DarkTirade]

14. The Bat-Signal usually works for me.

[atomic-fly]

15. I have it also

This year I decided to bag the grass clippings and bury it.
Hope it works.
I've been spraying vinegar/salt mixture, but it comes back.

[algol]

16. "...nuke the entire site from orbit, its the only way to be sure."

some useful info here:

http://landscaping.about.com/cs/weedsdiseases/a/poison_ivy_3.htm

[hedgehog]

18. Do not burn the poison ivy, whatever you do! The oil becomes an aerosol

and people inhale it and get a lung reaction.

Haruka, like me, isn't allergic to poison ivy, yet. The more the exposure, the greater the chance of developing an allergy. If you get a poison ivy rash, you may need medical treatment (steroids) to get rid of it since it seem to trigger an immune system blow up and the rash will turn up all over your body from a slight exposure on your hands.

[lizziegrace]

19. Boiling water?

I use that to kill weeds...

[Whoa_Nelly]

20. Pet safe Weed-A-Tak

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/weed-a-tak-weed-killer.html

And there's also BurnOut Weed & Grass Killer
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/burnout-weed-killer.html

[HEyHEY]

21. You're gonna need an ocean...

...of calamine lotion