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.