Gardening Question of the Week
How To Get Rid of Poison Ivy Near Vegetables?
Thursday March 13, 2008
Howard emailed me what would appear to be a very straight forward question: "What can I use to eliminate poison ivy near a vegetable garden?". We all know that getting rid of poison ivy is never an easy task. Many weed killers do a decent job of eradicating this pest, but most must be applied several times to really do the job. Even though these products are rated relatively safe to the environment, you want to be even more cautious when spraying near vegetables for your family.
I mentioned the acetic acid based weed killers and painting the herbicide directly on the leaves of the weed, to lessen its spread. Do you have any suggestions for battling poison ivy? They say with the warmer temperatures of recent years, poison ivy is becoming hardier than ever. So this is probably going to become an even bigger problem for gardeners.
Comments
I think the first step is to pull, dig, and pull some more. Cover up well, and get rid of as much of the vine as possible. Check back every week and look for new leaves that show what you missed.
First put on your hazmat suit. You can stick the ends of the vines in bottles of weed killer; neater than spray, easier than painting. Boy, do I hate that stuff; don’t ever make the mistake of thinking you’re immune!
I’ve been using vinegar on poison oak and blackberry seems to be working. DON’T FORGET THE HAZMAT SUIT!!!
I use Tecnu to prevent getting poison ivy, I apply it to my gloves and tools so I don’t spread it later. I even add it to my laundry to get it off my “hazmat suit”. My dad always used a concoction of Round-up or Fetilome Killzall, Fertilome Weed-Out and 2 Tbls. of Ammonium Sulphate fertilizer. The Ammonium Sulphate fertilizer opens the pores on the Ivy leaves and makes it absorb the weeod killer quicker. I spray every time it re-sprouts. IT WORKS!
It grows everywhere: under brush, under trees, in the open. I live in the country and can’t get a handle on it. I am VERY allergic to it, too!
Use a paint roller to apply the poison ivy “killer”. It only goes where you want it, doesn’t spray onto the veggies and is quite effective.
Another thing I have done is to cut down the vines on a HOT day, MID-DAY when the sun is high and hot. Apply the weed killer directly to the newly cut stem and the plant will suck it right up! Use a systemic killer for this and it will go no further than the Poison Ivy.
I pull it out. then use vinegar on the soil.
I also use a sponge dipped in round-up.
Or, buy a new house and move. Be sure to inspect the grounds before buying.
I hand pull ivy and use vinegar on oak on a warm and sunny day. Both work very well.
I’m more sensitive to oak than ivy