Getting Rid of Poison Ivy Without Poisons

contributors  Allen Reed and Cathy Ruland

Below is a list of possible remedies for killing poison ivy that may be made from many things that are regularly found around many households and some farms.  The first four involve liquid solutions of things that are found in many households.

• A Vinegar spray is very effective at killing poison ivy, not instantaneously, but the acid of te vinegar will kill it in a few days.  A simple garden sprayer or old Windex® bottle works great to distribute this solution.  Use straight, undiluted white vinegar and take aim at the new growth of the poison ivy, especially the leaves and crowns. Use this somewhat sparingly, as saturating the ground will change the soil pH, dropping it to a potentially inhospitably low pH.  If, however, this does happen, throw some lime on the area and that will raise the pH back up to a more neutral level. 

 

• Another option is a salt solution, made with salt, water and liquid soap – the soap helps the salt to stick to the leaves and the salt draws out the plants moisture, causing it to wilt, decay and die. A recommended recipe is to mix 1 gallon of water with approximately 3 lbs of salt until the salt is thoroughly dissolved and then mix in 1/4 cup of natural dish soap. Spray poison ivy leaves, especially at the leaves and crowns, but be sure to coat the entire plant.  Salt is tough on plants, so be careful of overspray if you want adjacent plants to remain in good health.

 

•  If you have some gin in the house, here is another recipe that might suit you.  Make a cocktail of 1 oz gin, 1 oz apple cider vinegar, 1 tablespoon liquid soap or baby shampoo and add this to one quart of water.  Spray solution onto leaves and crown during hot part of the day and this should render the poison ivy dead, kaput, by the next day.

 

• Pour boiling water on the plants and roots, urn the roots with boiling water.  A good option if you just have a few stubborn plants or vines in flowerbeds or near walkways.  Take your tea kettle full of boiling water and slowly drizzle on the very base of the plant.  This might take a few applications over a few days, but will eventually do the trick.

 

• Smother it using corrugated cardboard or newspaper - simply cover the plants to block out the sun – so cover it with the cardboard and then layer straw, wood chips, or grass clippings on the cardboard to weight it down and to keep it in place.  Photosynthesis is blocked and the poison ivy will die out.

 

• Pull it out.  The fastest and most effective (and most dangerous) way to get rid of it is by pulling, or chopping it out with a machete, hoe, shovel or pick-axe.  Make sure if you chop it out that you get about 8 inches into the grown and be sure to remove all of the vines and roots to the trash barrel.  A small percentage of people are not allergic to poison ivy, perhaps 15%, so if you are not in this demographic, wear gloves, long pants and shirt, boots and wash clothes and skin thoroughly afterward!

Unlike humans, there are some animals that can eat this stuff and love it.  Specific goat breeds are especially fond of poison ivy, so if you have access to a goat, you could graze it in your poison ivy patch.  The two most noted grazers are Spanish and Angora, which are particularly fond of poison ivy.

Aside from the goat, these remedies are inexpensive and effective.

For more remedies click here:  http://www.secretsofthefed.com/7-way-to-kill-poison-ivy-wo-using-monsantos-round-up/#1TBu486jRz4Cl0Fq.99

Barring success with these or a combination of these, which seems unlikely, the other remedy could be glycosphate at 38%.  Used appropriately, this will eradicate the poison ivy as well. 

On another note, in last month’s Cleaver, I wrote about a miraculously simple way to eradicate mosquitoes.  So far, this hasn’t worked, but then again perhaps it was too cool for mosquitos. The proposed solution to mosquito eradication may have failed on its maiden voyage, perhaps because the weather was cool and the yeast didn’t activate enough at the right time  – carbon dioxide wasn’t produced abundantly enough at the right time, or simply because the mosquitos weren’t out in droves.  I managed to kill some flies, cockroach and some other stuff.  This month, as summer has come on, the 2L mosquito trap will undergo more tests.

Please write the Cleaver with your thoughts on the mosquito trap or the methods for killing Poison Ivy so that we can update the 4th Ward on what is and aint working.

All the best, have a great month!