Poison oak

[Bob95065]

So with the warm, dry weather we are having I switched focus from inside the house to clearing the brush on the side of the house. This place was neglected for many years both inside and out. I got the out of control hedges cut back Friday and got to the blackberries. I had a truckload of vines after a day working. The good thing is the soil here is really good so the roots are easy to dig out. I jumped up on the truck and packed the vines down tight so I could get more in that load.

As I worked my way back I found a decent little tree with a vine growing on it. I cut the 4" trunk of the vine with my chainsaw and separated the four forks a little higher up. I pulled each of the four forks out of the tree. They were about 30' long rack so I cut them up and put them on the truck. They are now at the Ben Lomond dump. The tree looks great and will look better now that it doesn't have a vine choking it. Sounds like a great day right? Wrong.

That wasn't an ivy vine.

I am no stranger to poison oak after having it as many times as I have had it. Even though I have seen it grow as vines, bushes and trees I still don't recognize it quickly when it has no leaves. I'll look closer next time.

I woke up in the middle of the night feeling bad. This is maybe the third worst time I've had poison oak. I am very thankful that I didn't put on shorts because it was hot outside yesterday afternoon. My eyes were partially swollen shut this morning which is the worst.

My allergy doctor gives my prednisone just to keep around - good thing. After an hour on it I can feel the swelling going down. I have two weeks of this to look forward to.

 

[zogger]

Boy does that suck!

well, I know you will get better eventually..now you know better on IDing stuff.

 

[Bob95065]

The vines seemed really springy compared to the other vines I was working with. They wouldn't snap so I put them against my chest and pulled till they broke. Stupid mistake.

I have it from my face to my belt line. The face is the worst.

 

[zogger]

when I do vines here, I klill them a year ahead of time with an axe or hatchet. chop a nice section out of them from the ground up so high, say chest high, so I can get a good grip later..the cut out chunk I just let rot right there.

Let the vines in the tree thoroughly dry for a year, then I yank them out with good gloves, etc. they yank out much easier then as well.

I do this way ahead of time of taking trees down. I try to never even touch a vine with a chainsaw.

I just chimed in on a discussion with the tree climber guys, said that was the main reason I never did tree climbing work, too much green poison ivy to deal with and you can't say no working for someone else. And they can't pay me enough to deal with constant poison ivy, I'm serious, wouldn't do it for five hundred a day, just ain't worth it to me, I can get it bad. So there it is.

Here, just doing firewood, I just kill the vines first, less juicy equals easier to deal with and not get the oils on you. It's not perfect, but poison ivy becomes manageable for me then.

 

[Mad Professor]

I'll second cut the vine and let it rot a year or two. Also do not burn any wood the vines were climbing on , as brush or firewood. Oak and Ivy vines work roots into the bark of the tree and the bark becomes as bad as the vine.

Any I find growing I cut the main vine(s) then come back in a few weeks with roundup to take care of any shoots that pop up from the roots, usually have to do roundup thing 2 or 3 times.

I have also pastured goats on large patches of Ivy to get things nocked down (goats will graze it back to the ground, don't touch the goats for a few weeks) followed by roundup.

 

[zogger]

I'll second cut the vine and let it rot a year or two. Also do not burn any wood the vines were climbing on , as brush or firewood. Oak and Ivy vines work roots into the bark of the tree and the bark becomes as bad as the vine.

Any I find growing I cut the main vine(s) then come back in a few weeks with roundup to take care of any shoots that pop up from the roots, usually have to do roundup thing 2 or 3 times.

I have also pastured goats on large patches of Ivy to get things nocked down (goats will graze it back to the ground, don't touch the goats for a few weeks) followed by roundup.

I just came back awhile ago from working, and went over and looked at my next project trees. I had sprayed some around them last year, but still some vines showing. I yanked out today as much as I can. I'll axe it all the way to the wood for the felling cuts, and once on the ground, debark them trees. tedious but it works. It's some trees I have to do or I would ignore them for another year. It's mixed poison ivy, honeysuckle and snakevine.