Don't be ridiculous. Poison ivy is not saprophytic. It's rootlets are only an attachment to the tree to hold it up. All its "feeding" comes from the roots in the ground, the sun, and the air.
Cutting wood with poison vine on it
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Don't be ridiculous. Poison ivy is not saprophytic. It's rootlets are only an attachment to the tree to hold it up. All its "feeding" comes from the roots in the ground, the sun, and the air.
You should check into a product called Rhus Tox. Take a pill every day, and you are quite likely to become not only less sensitive to poison ivy inflammation, you might even become completely immune.
Start with the lower concentrations, and work up to the stronger concentrations. A pill a day keeps the inflammation away!
Varying in strength really isn't what is happening. It's just that some folks are highly reactive to the irritant, and others are completely immune.
It really isn't a poison. The most active irritant is urushiol, and that stimulates an immune reaction in your body. It doesn't really "bind to your skin" so much as it stimulates a hypersensitivity reaction that remains LONG after the irritant has been washed off.
Myself, I can string trim poison ivy wearing shorts, just getting covered with the juices. I routinely rip it out with my bare hands, and I have no concerns whatsoever for getting a rash. It's just another weed to me. My wife has another opinion, however. I gave her a rash one time from the juices I didn't get adequately removed! Yeah. That made me real popular! She reminded me of that today, and it was about 25 years ago.
Many of my employees over the years, however, have started out being quite reactive, but with the passage of time and the number of exposures, most have become mildly reactive or even immune. Sometimes, like folks often do with bee or peanut allergies, the reactions become worse and worse with each exposure. Our immune systems are exceedingly complex and quite unpredictable.
I have put a fair number of my guys on a daily regimen of Rhus Tox pills. Most of the guys have concluded that it works for them.
I'm in the same boat... I get a reaction but not as badly as my wife. I transferred to her one time 12 or 13 years ago.
Mine was purely some urushiol I didn't get off my forearm. She had a blotchy rash for a couple of weeks.
My skin: no blemishes at all. Yes. She was most unhappy 'bout that.
Here's another challenge for you guys: Stinging nettles.
They don't bother me. I can feel 'em, but it's more like a really soft scratching with a mildly unpleasant tingle. I get no rash or strong feeling from them, either. I don't think I'd like to wade through them naked, but I can literally load them up by the bare armful without any problems.
My skin: no blemishes at all. Yes. She was most unhappy 'bout that.
Here's another challenge for you guys: Stinging nettles.
They don't bother me. I can feel 'em, but it's more like a really soft scratching with a mildly unpleasant tingle. I get no rash or strong feeling from them, either. I don't think I'd like to wade through them naked, but I can literally load them up by the bare armful without any problems.
river of smoak
ArboristSite Member
got a link ? stuff sounds interesting
Sure. In the meanwhile, I found this interesting article:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26827996/
It demonstrates that Rhus Tox does in fact act much like the Ibuprophen and other NSAIDs in it's interaction with the COX2 proteins. BASICALLY, it is an anti-inflammatory homeopathic drug with provable results. I always thought the "anti-arthritic" effects were a cover story for the anti-poison ivy effect it has.
Cheap and strong from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Boiron-Rhus-Toxicodendron-30C-Pellet/dp/B005P0XMNW
Walmart has it too.
Some folks might prefer the liquid formulations.
I recommend that anyone treating themselves to become immune to poison ivy start with a less concentrated formulation. Look around, 6x, 12x and stronger formulations are available. Being as how these homopathic medicines are somewhat exempted from FDA regulations, the terminology and dosage is kind of vague.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26827996/
It demonstrates that Rhus Tox does in fact act much like the Ibuprophen and other NSAIDs in it's interaction with the COX2 proteins. BASICALLY, it is an anti-inflammatory homeopathic drug with provable results. I always thought the "anti-arthritic" effects were a cover story for the anti-poison ivy effect it has.
Cheap and strong from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Boiron-Rhus-Toxicodendron-30C-Pellet/dp/B005P0XMNW
Walmart has it too.
Some folks might prefer the liquid formulations.
I recommend that anyone treating themselves to become immune to poison ivy start with a less concentrated formulation. Look around, 6x, 12x and stronger formulations are available. Being as how these homopathic medicines are somewhat exempted from FDA regulations, the terminology and dosage is kind of vague.
The only label I've found that describes it's use for poison ivy:
https://www.outdoorjoes.com/faqs
https://www.outdoorjoes.com/poison-ivy-prevention
https://www.outdoorjoes.com/faqs
https://www.outdoorjoes.com/poison-ivy-prevention
Something else I didn't read in this thread: After you wash all your exposed skin with your favorite cleaner, there is another drastic step to take for the truly allergic.
Swab your exposed skin with a bleach solution. Obviously, stronger is more effective, but at a certain concentration, you might discover that the bleach is worse than the poison ivy. It is certainly dangerous stuff.
Sodium hypochlorite is a powerful oxidizer. The urushiol is composed of a long carbon chain along with a catechol, a six carbon ring formation. Bleach reacts with both the carbon chain and with the catechol group, effectively neutralizing the antigenic properties of the vile compound. Basically, it will chemically consume the urushiol, if given enough time.
Swab your exposed skin with a bleach solution. Obviously, stronger is more effective, but at a certain concentration, you might discover that the bleach is worse than the poison ivy. It is certainly dangerous stuff.
Sodium hypochlorite is a powerful oxidizer. The urushiol is composed of a long carbon chain along with a catechol, a six carbon ring formation. Bleach reacts with both the carbon chain and with the catechol group, effectively neutralizing the antigenic properties of the vile compound. Basically, it will chemically consume the urushiol, if given enough time.
There's a method of eating/ingesting tiny pieces of leaf, slowly eating more, over a month or few, which builds a resistance.
Natives around here used to drink tea made of the berries of poison oak.
Urushiol is an interesting compound.
Most summers I spend a few weeks doing poison oak removal/eradication for clients. I've seen 6-8" diameter vines climbed 50-70 feet up in trees, overshadowing the top of the canopy.
I've had cut poison oak ends poke me in the lips, eyes, and cut/break my skin all over. I get it, though not like others, and as I endure more exposure, its effects are more prominent. All that being said, running incredibly hot water over PO sores in the shower has brought me to my knees in pleasure. It's a nearly orgasmic experience.
And yet animals with coats aren't affected by it, topically.
sawfarmer
ArboristSite Member
I cut the wood any way i do not care about poison ivy .Then i pull the vine off the bucked pieces with gloves .split and sell or burn.
freeasaburt
ArboristSite Operative
I have quite a lot of that generally 'undesirable' plant in the less tidy pieces of my garden. I use them as mulch material, and to make liquid fertilizer, for which they are awesome.
I get stung almost daily, on my hands, arms and legs, and it seems to me that one can develop some kind of immunity for them. This is highly subjective, I don't have proof, and it might not work for everyone, but that's the way I experience it. The more I get stung, the weaker the effects seem to be.
I had no idea that poison ivy is Rhus toxicodendron. It doesn't grow here, or only in a few places, where it was planted (people and their short sighted love for exotic species... I don't like it, but anyway). Personally, I think a good part of what's called homeopathy (specifically the "dynamisation" or "potentisation" by "succussion") is a load of BS, but not everyting, like e.g. Rhus Tox or ointments made from Calendula officinalis, even though in some cases evidence for their effectiveness is not exactly strong. That being said, I consider those medicine based on natural ingredients, not homeopathy per se.
Have you read, "Grasp the Nettle"??
It's a very short little book, but part of it goes into the mineral/silica content of the nettle. Biodynamic farming is all about the nettle too (among other things.)
JMO
If I second guess the choice of handling wood because of poising ivy then I leave it alone. not worth the trouble you can get in. i feel old saying this.
just this spring I passed up a premium dead standing ( don't get mad chipper1
) black locust
that had 2 HUGE poison ivy vines on it. about 60 feet tall. perfectly straight. been there done that and learnt my lesson. I stayed clear of the ivy doing that one time and still ended up with an awful rash from the chips.
I'm still waiting to make some black locust boards. really want some furniture out of it.
If I second guess the choice of handling wood because of poising ivy then I leave it alone. not worth the trouble you can get in. i feel old saying this.
just this spring I passed up a premium dead standing ( don't get mad chipper1
) black locust that had 2 HUGE poison ivy vines on it. about 60 feet tall. perfectly straight. been there done that and learnt my lesson. I stayed clear of the ivy doing that one time and still ended up with an awful rash from the chips.I'm still waiting to make some black locust boards. really want some furniture out of it.
For some reason, Poison Ivy tends to favor locust trees.JMO
If I second guess the choice of handling wood because of poising ivy then I leave it alone. not worth the trouble you can get in. i feel old saying this.
just this spring I passed up a premium dead standing ( don't get mad chipper1
I'm still waiting to make some black locust boards. really want some furniture out of it.
freeasaburt
ArboristSite Operative
No I haven't, but thanks for the tip. The usefulness of that plant is widely documented though, also outside the regenerative, biodynamic, permaculture or other kind of 'eco' farming/gardening crowd. Especially to make liquid fertilizer, you can make it from nettles alone or mix in other plants. Let them rot in water for 2 weeks or so, and mix into the water you give to your plants. It's ready to use when it smells like ****
.The older the stuff gets, the stronger, so you have to adjust your mix ratio.
Comfrey is another very useful plant btw, I'm gonna plant it next year, you can propagate them super fast by chopping a plant/its roots into small parts and plant those. Perfect mulching material (useful with these hot and dry periods, to protect the soil from drying out + improving soil life), but you can also feed it to e.g. pigs, I'm building a stable (will be pouring concrete soon) and I'm gonna keep 3 pigs, for meat.
Anyway, a bit off topic again, sorry
In any case, I'm glad we don't have to deal with poison ivy here. In general, there's not a lot of plants or animals here that are actually dangerous. Giant Hogweed, with its phototoxic sap, is quite a painful nuisance if you get it on you and then are exposed to sunlight, but it's actually also a non-native species.
now that you say it...and I think about it, I agree. it is found on them very often. such great wood for many things and burns GREAT for me.
We have a lot of that on our property. It doesn't really bother me... Like you @pdqdl I can feel it but that is about the extent of it.
i leave them alone. they don't bother me. and if you so choose. chop it down. dry it, grind it up and make tea out of it. I know, sounds crazy but it is really good for allergies and inflammation. i drink a glass almost every day. more so during allergy season. it allows me to stop taking over the counter garbage for allergies and inflammation.
just don't get it from your yard if you spray or next to farmers fields.
What parts do you make the tea with?
Leaves, berries, stem... Inquiring minds want to know!
Leaves, berries, stem... Inquiring minds want to know!
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