How to Kill Poison Ivy Without Killing Everything Else (Or Yourself)

Chemist/ toxicologist here, I done these same types of ivy killer comparisons on my property. Unfortunately poison ivy has developed as another superweed. This means it is now highly resistant to most herbicides. The bit of die back shown in this video is soon followed by an even more aggressive resurgence of growth that is even harder to treat. I now put on shoulder high impervious gloves made for handling poison ivy, a polyethylene tyvek suit (garbage bags as shown are a good substitute) plus face shield - I am severely reactive to poison ivy) and then I pull the vines. It’s important to get as much root as possible and pull it out in as long sections as possible. Wait until right after a soaking rain. That holds down oil contaminated dust from getting in your lungs and eyes and makes pulling out the vine roots much much easier. I pulled about 25 lbs of PI vines yesterday in about 1.5 hours and NO RASH. Bag all the vines in doubled plastic trash bags for disposal. Take great care to avoid brushing broken vine ends or the leaves on your protective layer and wash thoroughly with cool water, Dawn soap and a face cloth immediately after pulling vines. This is an annual task on my property now. The birds transfer new seeds from surrounding land after they eat PI berries but I know where it sprouts best now and can usually wipeout new growth fairly quickly. PI is growing more vigorously these days due to a couple of factors. Good luck in your battle with this horrible stuff.

Poison ivy was one of the reasons I bought goats in the first place. That, and goat milk. Poison ivy is their favorite and as a bonus, after a few years of drinking the milk when they were eliminating the ivy, I’m not allergic to it anymore. It took about 3 years of the goats eating a leaf every time it grew to kill the plants, but it’s been a decade & it still hasn’t come back even though they haven’t been in that area since.

One word... GOATS! There are goat herders that you can "rent" their goats and they will stake off your area and let their goats feed on the vines and they eat down to the roots mostly killing the plants.

I just came across your video. Poison ivy has made me VERY ill in the past. When we discovered it growing in our backyard--not to the extent as your property--I dug up what I could by the roots and then added a bunch of lime. Poison Ivy loves an acidic soil. In the 25 years since, we have had no poison ivy anywhere around the treated soil.

Ive been itchy ever since i watched this

Salt and soap will not kill the vines and the roots, so next year, if the vines aren't killed, it will just sprout again. Don't be deceived.

As you said, DO NOT BURN poison ivy. I had a friend who ended up in the hospital when a neighbor burned poison ivy and the smoke drifted onto her property. As she was elderly, it was kind of touch and go for her survival. Fortunately she pulled through.

In my experience, (30+ years in my present home) areas sprayed with (take your pick) dies back more quickly if it's in direct sunlight. The hotter it is the faster it works. Obviously, shaded areas will take longer. Secondly, in the hot part of summer when the ground has dried out, if you get a rain shower a day or two after spraying, then sun, it'll die back almost as you watch it. One could also shower an area with a garden hose or sprinkler in the morning and when the sun starts doing its thing, the plant will drink up the water on its leaves, bringing in the poison to kill it. I've witnessed this many times when the spray doesn't look like it's going to work then we get a little rain, the sun comes back out, then by the afternoon it's all going brown. Conversely, in spring time when the ground is still moist, it will take longer to kill the weed as it's getting moisture from the ground. I'm no chemist, botanist or scientist, just a guy trying to kill weeds.

You have proven to be able to kill poison ivy leaves, but the underground runners are very hardy, I predict the vines will sprout twice as many leaves in a month

The salt and soap idea is so appealing because it's so easy and pretty cheap, but remember -- salt is a mineral and doesn't go away. Put enough of it on the earth and after awhile you won't be able to ever grow anything there again. Tempting for things like poison ivy, but dang.... what if you wanted wild flowers? What if the runoff landed on your tree roots? How long will it take to percolate down and into the water table? Salt.... it's the gift that keeps on giving. We need to think of the long term effects, eh? One more thing: If feels like the little sprayer you were trying to pump my hand was much too little and took way too much effort to get enough of anything onto those plants. For that large a footprint, maybe investing in a nice pump-action air-pressurized sprayer would be beneficial?

Just for people to know, if you consistently mow poison ivy starting the mowing season, it will die out by the end of summer. How we dealt with it when the yard got expanded a bit onto a place with poison ivy. Mow it each week and poof, gone.

Regardless of your choice of spray, add some dye. It won't do anything by itself, but it will show you where you have and haven't sprayed. Farm and feed stores have it economically. A little goes a long way.

Hire goats to come to your property and clean out the underbrush.

Watching this reminds me how lucky I am. I have never been bothered by poison ivy while everyone with me suffered. The house I am in now had what I thought was a couple hundred SF of fancy ground cover behind my garage which I walked around in for a couple years wearing shorts and crocs with no socks. Then my son walked in it once and had both legs covered in a rash. Since learning to identify it I find it all over my property including spiraling up the trunks of trees. I just pull it out when I see it, with bare hands.

You know what else works? Cardboard.

Eager to hear how it's doing this year! I've only had success with smothering with black plastic for over a year! Spraying has never had a long-term improvement.

I admire your humor , gives me hope for my ivy farm ,best of luck

I really enjoyed the production value of this video. Thanks for the info!

I used the BioAdvanced last summer; I got the concentrate you mix in a pump sprayer. You have to give it almost a week before it shows any really noticeable signs. It does work, it completely annihilated everything that was in there. After a week, it looks like it's dying. After 3 weeks, it looks pretty dead. After 6 weeks, it looks like scorched earth. I definitely recommend BioAdvanced.

I realize this won't apply to everyone, but this is what I've found works incredibly well. My father in law tried it as well halfway across the country in a completely different area with 100% success. If you have access to hardwood ashes, simply spread them over the poison ivy areas in a thin (but not sparse) layer before a rain. They can't tolerate the alkalinity pH change and it does kill the roots. Other plants will continue to grow. I've cleared over an acre over time with just this, and it has not returned. It takes a couple of months to start, but it works year after year, and you don't need to pull the runners or roots. Re-treat each area several times over a spring or summer, and you'll see a marked improvement in a few weeks and by the end of a season, it'll be truly dead.