I need to divide this seedling...
I don't want to get poison ivy!
I've never had it before.
I am turning one bed back to lawn. In this bed is a large clump of one of my tet seedlings that needs divided when I move it to the new area.
It has poison ivy growing right in the center of it. The past 3 or 4 years I have been trying to kill the poison ivy. I've bent the vine down to the ground away from the daylily and sprayed it with ivy killer, painted it with strong round-up, tried many things. Nothing worked. It is back bigger than ever.
I planned to divide the daylily this month. But the poison ivy is at least 2-1/2 feet tall in it. Very healthy looking. Has sent runners out 4 feet long.
It is rather intimidating.
Even though I hoped to have all of the plants out of this bed by winter - I am considering leaving this daylily until spring. Let winter kill off the poison ivy foliage. In January, when the foliage is frozen, I can dispose of it and clean around the clump. I will still have to be careful. Then if I divide the daylily in early spring when the ground thaws, I would minimize my exposure to the oil in the poison ivy leaves. I really don't know what else to do. I don't want to chance getting the rash. I've got to come up with something. The seedling is one of my favorites so I want to try to save at least one or two fans. I'd like to save several double fans if I can.
I don't know what poison ivy roots look like. I hope I will be able to easily tell the daylily fans from the poison ivy roots. I try to take care of poison ivy in the beds when it is only a couple inches tall. Not a couple feet tall. I think the oil is in the roots too, so I would still need to be careful.
I have a pair of gloves that I can wear and then throw away.
I've grown daylilies for 30 years. But this is a new problem for me. I've pulled dandelion, nutsedge, all kinds of weeds growing in the clumps - but never had to deal with poison ivy. Especially one that has been so hard to kill as this one has been. The good thing is that I must not be particularly allergic to it.
Anyone else have suggestions for me? Have any experience with a daylily with a case of poison ivy?
Any other advice for me to so I can avoid getting the rash and save the daylily?
Thanks!
