Killing poison ivy

[largeinnit]

Hi,

My next door neighbour refuses to cut their trees due to cost and work involved, this is very annoying as leaves fall in my drive, tree sap on my car and the roots are pushing up my paving slabs.

His tree is totally covered in poison ivy which is a problem.

I'm thinking of sneaking over and cutting the poison ivy off myself or banging a couple of copper nails into the tree. Can anyone tell me if this will kill the poison ivy as well?

If not, what would be the best way to get rid of the poison ivy?

thx

[tomf]

Cut the stalks at the bottom and it will not die but the upper parts will. Better do not cut them and use a combination of Crossbow and Round up. Mix them both together at full strength for each then add some mineral oil or soap to help them stick about a table spoon or 2 per gallon. Spray as much of the plant as you can. No killing the tree will not kill the poison ivy.
You only have the right to trim branches that are over your land. But you may ask if you can have the tree removed. I would also ask before spraying unless you do not care about good relations, I can understand that with poison ivy growing.

[rainbowgardener]

Agree with tom. It will not matter if you kill the tree (which obviously you have no right to do, it not being your tree), the poison ivy will survive just fine.

I am mostly an organic gardener, but I do occasionally use Roundup on the poison ivy. But be careful with it, it will kill anything it lands on (well, it probably won't hurt the tree much, but any green plants). And ask before spraying.

[Soulie]

I have poison ivy in my yard and I've done battle with it for a few years now. I have had a great deal of luck with weed killer. I specifically use Ortho Weed-B-Gone and have had much success. This stuff foams well and sticks to the leaves enough to do the job quite nicely.

One note: it in some areas has taken me two or three sprayings to kill the plants. I've had it leaf out again from the roots. Perhaps this could be avoided with the cocktail recommended by tomf, which may have herbicide more concentrated and may stick better to the leaves.

As for your neighbor issue, I personally would recommend asking before any guerrilla tactics are used and I would definitely avoid the copper nail plan as well but that's just me.

[applestar]

If you spray there's no guarantee that the airborne mist particles will not go where you didn't intend them to, including your face, clothing, etc. let alone plants in the neighbor's garden or even your own garden.

I believe most conscientious people use the "paint on" method. There are herbicide application tools designed for exactly that purpose (with emphasis on no dripping). Also, I haven't had the occasion to do this myself, but I've heard that stubborn woody vines are affected more if you cut the stem then immediately apply/paint the cut ends with herbicide.

HOWEVER, we've had several herbicide discussions on the forum with links to in-depth human and wildlife toxicity reports. You might want to look into that before deciding to use one.

[Rose White]

Cut the stalks at the bottom and it will not die but the upper parts will. Better do not cut them and use a combination of Crossbow and Round up. Mix them both together at full strength for each then add some mineral oil or soap to help them stick about a table spoon or 2 per gallon. Spray as much of the plant as you can. No killing the tree will not kill the poison ivy.
You only have the right to trim branches that are over your land. But you may ask if you can have the tree removed. I would also ask before spraying unless you do not care about good relations, I can understand that with poison ivy growing.

My garden for 20 years had poison ivy growing in the back. Every year I would cut off the vines and put them into plastic trash bags. I would put poison on the roots, but they did not die. It was growing out of the mortar on my stone house even after I chopped off the roots and dug them up. The one time I did not cover my arms I got exposed and developed the worse pi rash ever and had to get a shot from the doctor.

Good luck - poison ivy is tough to get rid of.

[tomf]

Rose what did you use? Was it Crossbow and Round up? You need crossbow or a good woody plant killer to work on poison ivy as it is a woody plant. I do not have it here so I have not had to kill it but Crossbow should work. I know people with poison oak have had good results with it.

[Rose White]

Rose what did you use? Was it Crossbow and Round up? You need crossbow or a good woody plant killer to work on poison ivy as it is a woody plant. I do not have it here so I have not had to kill it but Crossbow should work. I know people with poison oak have had good results with it.

I no longer live there so no longer have the product and I forget the name. It said on the label that it would kill poison ivy but did not work for me.

[a0c8c]

I guess I'm fortunate I don't break out from poison ivy, I used to run through a forest over run by poison ivy. The entire forest floor was covered in it and I ran through there barefoot.

I don't know anyone who's been able to fully remove all poison ivy from their property, but it can be kept under control. It's in it's nature to survive and torture.

[Rose White]

I guess I'm fortunate I don't break out from poison ivy, I used to run through a forest over run by poison ivy. The entire forest floor was covered in it and I ran through there barefoot.

I don't know anyone who's been able to fully remove all poison ivy from their property, but it can be kept under control. It's in it's nature to survive and torture.

Every year I would get a rash and then I did not have to worry about avoiding it so I would agressively attack it. Luckily the kids in my daycare center played in the backyard but none of them got it either.