Poison Oak

[pepper4]

I told a friend about this site and she asked me to see if there was anyone that knew how to get rid of poison oak. She has quite a bit of it growing in her yard. Thanks!

[lorax]

I've found goats to be an excellent and relatively fast solution to poison oak, sumac, poison ivy, and any other unwelcome and hard to remove plant.

[Ozark Lady]

Agreed, my goats love it!
Borrow a goat!
Unfortunately, if you are allergic to poison oak, when you pet the goat, if they rubbed against some while eating others, you will still get a rash. But, they will kill it out permanently if they can just reach it!

[tomf]

Poison oak is nasty stuff so number one is careful handling it. You can use mechanical and or chemical means of getting rid of it. There is a goop you can buy that blocks it from getting on your skin if you are near it, I forget the name but I used some the other day as I was working near poison oak. She should get a poison oak first aid kit, the one I have has a decontamination solution and some first aid creams. A good preventive is to wear long sleeve shirts and paints, gloves and to cover as much as you can. If you come in contact with poison oak take them off right away and before going in side; then shower with cold water, hot water then cold water with lots of soap. Wash the clothing with soap and bleach in a bucket out side, use rubber gloves to handle them.
To remove it buy hand you can cut it down low and pile it up to take away. Burning it can put the poison in the air and that can be very bad for any one near by. Even the stems have the poison in them.
If you spray it then you need to use a woody herbicide like crossbow, a very good killer is a mix of Crossbow and Roundup. Mix round up and water as directed then with out adding any more water add the recommended amount of Crossbow to the mix; add some dish soap or mineral oil to help it stick. Spray the leaves until wet; let sit until they are dead then cut them away. This method kills the roots also.

[cynthia_h]

pepper4, I just performed a search of the forum on the phrase "poison oak."

There were 53 hits.

I myself have contributed quite a lot of *very detailed* info, as I am hyper-reactive to the stuff. Lucky me....

To use "Search the Forum": At the top of the page, there are a series of phrases in green letters against dark background:

Garden Forum Gardening Profile Search the Forum Log Out [your name]

Click "Search the Forum" and enter the key phrase "poison oak."

Voila!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[pepper4]

Thanks Cynthia H Alot of good info.