I try really hard to not use chemicals in my yard. About my only exceptions are Amdro for fire ants and round-up for spot-treating poison ivy. I'll be spraying the PI this afternoon, and every time I do, I argue with myself.

Does anyone know of alternative ways to control PI that don't involve digging it out by hand? With my PI allergies, I'd rather not touch it at all.

Mow it or weed-eat it, especially when it is small. Doing this quite a few times will zap its energy and it will not be able to send up new growth at some point, killing the roots.

You can also blow torch it with a torch weeder, doing the same thing, knocking down the top growth.

Fortunately for me I'm one of those not affected by PI (yet!) so I hand pull it. Next time down your way I'll swing by with a mission!


Shoe

Horseshoe said:Mow it or weed-eat it, especially when it is small. Doing this quite a few times will zap its energy and it will not be able to send up new growth at some point, killing the roots.

You can also blow torch it with a torch weeder, doing the same thing, knocking down the top growth.

Fortunately for me I'm one of those not affected by PI (yet!) so I hand pull it. Next time down your way I'll swing by with a mission!


Shoe

If you give enough advance notice before swinging by, I'll guarantee ice-cold heineken in the fridge

Will continue the weed-eating routine - didn't know if it really made a difference.

Thanks, Shoe!

Heheheh, well, the Heineken sounds good! I fished recently with one by my side! No reason not to pull weeds with one nearby, eh?

And yes, cutting off the tops keeps the plant from absorbing the "sun's love" (a.k.a. energy) and will inhibit photosynthesis so it loses energy and the ability to grow.

Shoe (hoping you are not scratching from PI interference w/your life)

I read about that fishing trip - hence the Heineken offer :)

I've stayed away from it, and each weed-eating foray ends with a shower using jewel-weed soap, while the clothing from said foray goes straight into the washing machine.

Good move on washing up afterward, clothes and all.

I collect jewel weed then make a tea with it, then freeze it in ice cube trays. This way you have it to work with. The reason being is that PI comes out long before jewelweed does so you will be ahead of the game come spring time.

Laffing at my "fishing trip", it was merely a jaunt to the pond. Then again, it sure was a fun "time out"~! Thanks for reading.

Shoe

hey...any time spent on a bank with mooched poles and mooched worms and mooched beer = 'fishing trip'

You have jewelweed at your house? Got any seeds? I've not found any around, nor any seeds anywhere online.

"hey...any time spent on a bank with mooched poles and mooched worms and mooched beer = 'fishing trip"

Hah! I agree!

I get jewelweed down at the river, 'bout a mile or so away. I'll go look and see if there are any seed pods this week. If so I'll be in touch.

shoe

Horseshoe said:"hey...any time spent on a bank with mooched poles and mooched worms and mooched beer = 'fishing trip"

Hah! I agree!

I get jewelweed down at the river, 'bout a mile or so away. I'll go look and see if there are any seed pods this week. If so I'll be in touch.

shoe

you'll be my hero of the day if you find some

I'm terribly allergic to PI also, and I wanted to advise caution about using a weed torch... it should work, but be really really sure you don't hold the flame on the plant long enough to produce smoke. You can get a horriffic reaction from breathing fumes from burning poison ivy (watch out for fall brush burning piles, also).

I've started using Tecnu scrub when I come in from the garden -- I've been told it's the stuff that utility workers use, and so far so good. I also am religious about wearing gloves, and I switch to a clean pair if I think I've even come close to PI while weeding. The PI in our yard is very well established in the fence row of trees, and there are some tremendous roots out there, so weed eating just doesn't do the trick... I've been using roundup poison ivy & brush killer out there for years, and the situation is improved but still not cleared up. Regular roundup just doesn't seem to affect it at all.

Shoe's right though.
Suddenly a PI patch appeared in my front flowerbed. I cut it all the way back to the ground. It appeared again, I cut it back again.

This happened several times a year for about 5 years. I have a lot of heirlooms planted in that front bed so I refused to douse them with chemicals. I never gave the PI a chance to form more than a leaf or two before cutting it back.

It didn't appear at all this year, I figured it gave up and went elsewhere.
I think I might have won that battle.

It's like a lot of other things, if it doesn't get energy from the sun, it gives up, goes away, but it's important that it's cut back to the ground. Luckily it doesn't like me either, so I'm not usually bothered by it.

I know this is not a solution many can do but goats love poison ivy and will eat it to death. I have none left in my pasture. They will also take care of multiflora rose

Cinda, would you ever consider starting up a lawn service with miniature goats instead of noisy, monster machine mowers and renting out the quiet, wee munchers to suburbanites with poison ivy?

Goats get my vote!!

Murphy , being a male goat, would like you all to know not all male goats are stinky. some are just friendly and cute.

gardengus said:Murphy , being a male goat, would like you all to know not all male goats are stinky. some are just friendly and cute.

Murphy, you handsome devil you.... :hearts:

if you wanted to come visit me, I'd let you eat all the poison ivy you could find. You'd get extra points for annoying a particular neighbor, as well.

Tell me, Murph -- do you like vinca as well?

Bluespiral, you've got a wicked sense of justice, but neighbors like that don't deserve cuteness like Murphy.

gardengus said:Murphy , being a male goat, would like you all to know not all male goats are stinky. some are just friendly and cute.

Yes, he is! And so is Phoebe the chinchilla!

Critter, our neighbor has a very cute cat, so cuteness would be fine. I once heard a landscape designer talk about a garden made out of astroturf for the roof of a corporation - one half was in the style of English topiary, and the other side in the style of a Zen garden - the contrast was interesting. So it was here - tidy on the other side and cottagey here. We're learning to coexist okay.

That is an interesting contrast, LOL. Glad to hear you & the neighbor are coexisting better!

Astroturf... not exactly a good choice for getting all those benefits of a "green roof!"

I'm continuing the chemical warfare against our poison ivy and have sprayed twice this year so far with Roundup Brush Killer... I think I'm winning along the back of our yard, but the stuff really got out of control with the mild winter... I'm doing along the back of the neighbor's fence also (with his permission & gratitude), where the stuff went from a few good patches to a solid 6 inch to waist high ground cover! He's going to have to have somebody in to clear away the dead leaves & vines, I think, then spray again anything that remains... there's just too much there.