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Poison ivy in the side-yard of rental house killed a big tree and now grows on it 30 feet high, its trunk a foot thick. We just moved in. Jacksonville area - poison ivy thriving everywhere, even on playgrounds. Goodness, I didn't know WHAT I WAS GETTING MYSELF INTO! HOW to kill it? We only have manual saw, no special suits and I am scared to death to approach the vicious thing closer than five feet. I just recovered from a terrible rash. Husband is horribly allergic too. Hiring a lawn company is too expensive for our budget right now, and I am afraid roundup will be useless against this huge monster. HELP!
I went to a family picnic last year at a little park that had a baseball diamond and a restroom and some grills and a shelter and saw the same thing only smaller. 30' high poison ivy with 6" diameter trunk growing right next to and up the trunk of a very large tree. I started looking around and the poison ivy was everywhere. Sticking through every chainlink fence, around the perimeter of every structure. I am an expert at identifying poison ivy and know it when I see it. I just had to get the heck out of there. What are they thinking?
Poison is also extremely dangerous when the vines are dead and dry. Even buring it can be a life threatening problem. My ex wife was hospitalized after pulling dried vines from a stockade fence in the dead of winter.
I am not personally allergic to poison ivy but have seen horrible cases.
This problem cannot be solved by you as a homeowner. You are gonna need some tree guys and they are gonna have to know what they are doing and do it well.
PS- Roundup is useless. Ortho has a "poison ivy and brush" killer that works on vines but it would take for ever to address what you have described.
Since it is a rental house, maybe the landlord will pay for the removal of poison ivy.
If it was my own house, I'd just cut off the vine at the base of tree and LEAVE THEM ALONE !!! They are poisonous even after they die. Eventually the vines will die, leaves will fall, but I would not touch the tree trunks.
Since it is a rental house, maybe the landlord will pay for the removal of poison ivy.
If it was my own house, I'd just cut off the vine at the base of tree and LEAVE THEM ALONE !!! They are poisonous even after they die. Eventually the vines will die, leaves will fall, but I would not touch the tree trunks.
that is what i would do as well.
i never knew poison ivy could get that big until relatively recently.
You posted the same question on the rental forum. How many more responses do you need? Call the property management company NOW and stop messing around!
^^^^ This is the right answer. You are not going to solve this problem yourself. There is no magic bullet. The only thing you might do is call the inspection bureau which usually has a zoning rule about noxious weeds and they might write orders to the owner. I usually don't suggest getting the inspectors involved but since you don't own the house it might be a play here.
I doubt that you can actually kill the vines by cutting them off at the base. I have never tried it with poison ivy, but regular ivy and that other climbing crap we have around here has sent roots into the tree bark and has no problem living on forever up in the tree. And, since poison ivy is much more able to survive adverse conditions, I would doubt that it will help much to cut the vines off.
I can post photos of my own trees with one foot sections cut out of everything that goes to the ground years ago and a tree full of vines above.
HB2HSV, your poison ivy is just a tiny baby compared to what we have.
I contacted the property manager, haven't heard back yet. If they won't bother, I'll have to start the process of breaking the lease. Can't be afraid to get a rash every time we go outside. Plenty of ivy-free homes, but with our luck we got this monster to deal with.
I've not gone to the mat with a maneater like you have, but vines can be tuff in Florida. I cut off at the ground and use roundup on the new growth. I've always prevailed. Takes multiple treatments on new growth. It should be most susceptible in spring. If it can live in the air, which I'm not sure poison ivy does cut it off and keep spraying the top and bottom.
Of course one could always do something even smarter and contact the local extension office and solicit some free advice.
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