Poison Ivy

Yikes!

After learning to identify the plant (click here), I realize that I have a poison ivy LAWN in my backyard. And a nice healthy sample next to my front step.

I've done a bit of research on methods of killing it.

You have to root it out, otherwise it will grow back quickly. As I posted earlier, this is impossible as it hides under immovable objects. Like one's house.

There are organic herbicides that use clove oil, but it sounds like they do diddley-squat.

According to Mike McGrath, former editor of Organic Gardening (immediately before the magazine went down-hill with Maria Rodale), pulling as much as you can get works ok. Which is my general Plan A. The problem with THAT is that I have so much and I don't want to continually pull out plants from the same roots. I want to kill the roots.

That leaves Round-Up and Brush-B-Gone. My impression is that Southern gardeners swear by BBG. One lady fills up an eye-dropper with Round-Up and carefully places a drop on the cut stem. Others put a small amount in a coffee can and dip the poison ivy in the can. It is then absorbed by the leaves into the roots, thereby killing the plant from the roots.

So, I think I'll go out and pull. If I can't get the root out, I'll put a drop of Brush-B-Gone on the cut end. If poison ivy comes back into areas I've cleared, I'll try a careful method of using the Brush-B-Gone to kill the root. MINIMAL toxins. gardenweb has studies posted about the long term effects of Round-Up. Yikes! On the other hand, I have just as much right to enjoy my backyard as the frogs.

As an aside (Have you noticed how recognizing the plant and the rash, and getting rid of the plant and the rash are topics of ALL articles published about poison ivy. There's nothing out there - including this post - JUST about getting rid of the plant.) , washing with Aveeno Body Wash seems to be a necessary ingrediant for the long-term efficacy of Ivarest.

Garden Pests

It's like a blues song.

I got aphids on my roses... da da da dum.

So, I need to get some Safer Insecticidal Soap, which I just saw somewhere. Home Depot? Lowe's? I remember being surprised.

And there's the poison ivy. da da da dum. I'm pulling it, then showering in luke-warm water with CVS brand Poison Ivy Anti-Itch Scrub. This might be working, it seems like I'm getting less of a rash than I should be. Of course, the true test - rubbing ivy on both wrists and only washing one - isn't going to happen, so I don't really know for sure. I'm rubbing on Caladryl Clear afterwards, which doesn't seem to work at all. Ivarest is what I use for the areas that break out. It says "8 hour relief on the package. I seem to get 10 if I use it right after showering. Of course, it flakes off EVERYWHERE. But it's better than itching!

So I have a little bit of rash on both wrists, but it's no big deal. And there's that one spot on my temple : (

2006: the year of the itch. Since I'm no longer as terrified of poison ivy as I was after my HORRIBLE experience last year, I'm pulling it up like gangbusters. Unfortunately, you can't really dig it up, because it's always rooted under something like a sidewalk or a tree. So I'm considering pulling it back as far as I can, then treating the broken end with a poison.

Let me clarify: I identify myself as an organic gardener. I spray my roses with fish emulsion and have a compost pile. I mulch and use the square foot method to control weeds and water usage. But, as I would use chemotherapy to treat existing cancer (though I'd try to prevent it homeopathically), or would call in an exterminator if my house had termites (though I have a brick house), so I believe in using poisons to remove plants and animals that cause horrible or deadly conditions. For example, the last time I was bit by a fire ant, my entire leg swelled. Every time I've gotten bitten by a fire ant, my reaction has been markedly worse. Thus, I'd use a fire ant killer. On the other hand, I will not use a toxin on wasps. Neither I nor Sergie are allergic to wasp bites. So we can afford to mess around with discouragement techniques. My entire backyard, and parts of my front yard are covered in poison ivy. I'm at the point of reaching "last ditch" techniques.

Like many gardeners I use floating row cover to discourage weeds and noxious insects. And any mammals that might have designs on my vegies. So, imagine my surprise when I see a shadow in my garden. It's furry. It's black. It's Henry!!

He's looking at me like "Yum, it's warm in here." Thanks, Henry. Your butt is on my tomato.

He had managed to find a place that I hadn't clothespinned quite tightly enough.
(Maybe I should try the Cat Stop Willow Barrier. You think they'd even notice? Perhaps it's electrified?)

So, I drag him out of the garden.

Then he decides to go irritate the bumble bees that are pollenating my blueberries. Leaps 5 feet into the air to try and catch them. I figure that there's a fast way and an easy way to learn about bumble bees. And, given the don't-listen-to-a-word-I-say cat he's grown up to be, he'll just have to learn the fast way.