Poison Ivy

[will]

the ivy is along every treeline in the park.  it gets insane in the spring.  it would be a ton of work for the parks and rec and i can't see them treating it without killing everything else. 

[Kevin Montgomery]

The park department at WyCo bought a gallon of Round-Up concentrate and gave it to me with a Hudson Sprayer. Mark Hogins and I attacked the ivy there by spraying the individual poison ivy leaves and plants in early spring right after they leafed out so you could tell what was what. I don't think we killed anything that wasn't ivy and the problem there is now almost non-existent. I hazard to guess that the ivy problem at WyCo was as bad as or worse that PHill. It can be done and should be done in areas frequented by golfers.

[john theiss]

As many folks know there are different varieties of chemicals.  The Round Up non selective herbicide has been very helpful when i used it but you can kill everything around if not careful. But when you are waging war it is tough to go conservative and not just start go Rambo on it with your sprayer.  But there is other broad leaf stuff that works well and does not kill the grass.    On some of the large ivy stands at young i used tordon by carefully rubbing it on large leaves. Some of those stands were over my head. Tordon is some bad stuff used to kill trees.   There was and still is a lot of ivy at young but we put together massive spraying parties for several weeks last spring and got it better under control.  Form what i have found, applying small amounts of tordon to a single leaf and spraying will kill plants in the ivy stand. 

[Tom]

Measles make you bumpy

And mumps'll make you lumpy

And chicken pox'll make you jump and twitch

A common cold'll fool ya

And whooping cough can cool ya

But poison ivy, Lord'll make you itch!!

You're gonna need an ocean of calamine lotion

You'll be scratchin' like a hound

The minute you start to mess around

Poison iv-y-y-y-y, poison iv-y-y-y-y

Late at night while you're sleepin' poison ivy comes a'creepin'

Arou-ou-ou-ou-ou-ound

[otter]

Even the remaining sticks & bark on existing PI plants w/ no leaves will contain the urushiol oil that causes the irritation to susceptible individuals.

At WyCo: I didn't do it last year, but for several years previously I went after the areas where there was a lot of undergrowth that would quickly evolve into overgrowth with a weedeater and a pair of disposable sweat pants.  Ivy Block is useful here, but not 100% effective. 

These were higher traffic areas where I thought many a disc would land due to 'common' errant shots...specifically hole 4 near the creek, hole 7 when short-right, hole 9 near the creek, 11 short pin area, 17 short, etc...  Areas with a steep drop-off (IE holes 10 & 12) I would hit what I could, but didn't want to be flinging PI juice towards my shoulders and above. 

Early-mid May is a great time to have an impact that is moderately effective for the rest of the playing season.  Not talking about eradication, but controlling the PI and much of what else pops up.  By knocking it down this early, I'd say that much of it doesn't make it back...but of course, not all of it.  The new PI is less than 1' high at this point. 

While I'm not as allergic to PI as when I was a kid, it was a given that I'd get some rashes anyways from the above procedure.  I don't do this anymore, so don't ask me to.      But if there's someone who knows they don't get PI, this early-mid May time-frame provides a chemical-free alternative toward the jungles that will form come June/July/August.

What is cut down by a weedeater is still active, so setting your DG bag down in it, or dragging your towel or DG bag straps can/will contribute to future outbreaks. 
.02

[Kevin Montgomery]

I can attest to Doc's weed-eating efforts and also recall seeing him a day or two later covered in a red rash. Doc took one for the club on more than one occasion out at WyCo prior to some big events. His weed-eating and the selective spraying put a serious dent in it there. Those drop-offs along #10 and #12 were among the worst of it.

Using a hand-held sprayer and focusing on the leaves of just the PI plant is very effective and minimizes killing other plants.

And while Tom's song lyrics above may seem apropos: "In a recently published biography about Jerry Lieber & Mike Stoller, the song's authors, it was revealed that the song's lyrics are about sexually-transmitted disease, not the illnesses previously thought." 

[five2loves42]

As many folks know there are different varieties of chemicals.  The Round Up non selective herbicide has been very helpful when i used it but you can kill everything around if not careful. But when you are waging war it is tough to go conservative and not just start go Rambo on it with your sprayer.  But there is other broad leaf stuff that works well and does not kill the grass.    On some of the large ivy stands at young i used tordon by carefully rubbing it on large leaves. Some of those stands were over my head. Tordon is some bad stuff used to kill trees.   There was and still is a lot of ivy at young but we put together massive spraying parties for several weeks last spring and got it better under control.  Form what i have found, applying small amounts of tordon to a single leaf and spraying will kill plants in the ivy stand. 

I think PHill used tordon the first or second year the park opened (maybe Dan can remember).  John, when you were spraying at Youngs, did you cut any thing or just spray the leaves/plant?  I found a reference online to cutting the vine with lopping shears and just painting the end coming out of the ground. They highly recommended AGAINST using a string or brush trimmer, as it sprays oils from the plant everywhere. 

I would be willing to help out with this, but I am getting more allergic as I get older. My last bout with it I had to do a round of steroids to get some relief.  Ironically it was Phill where I got it!!

TomV
 

[dclabe]

David Tull sprayed with a consumer Ivy product on the front five holes for 2 years with limited success.  Caleb used a bladed trimmer and cleaned #1, #2, and #4 out...#2 and #4 are in pretty good shape where its mowed on a regular basis...otherwise it just keeps coming back.

I'd like to see us try a commerical product on the Ivy at PHill...we've got some of the most prolific Ivy I've seen...even have what looks like a short bushy tree of it between #5 and #6 that I've pointed out to PHill Parks.  Probably something that the Club would have to do though...obviously, its was there for a long time before the course...plus Lance has a request in for them to split the cost on the new 9 holes in the woods...

[Kevin Montgomery]

One problem with getting poison ivy eradicated in parks in Kansas (not sure about Missouri) is that it is not technically a noxious weed. Animals love it, some eat the berries and it makes good cover and such. Humans are the only ones that are really affected by it. So spraying it isn't necessarily something a lot of parks people are in a hurry to do. That's why WyCo let us do it. They couldn't justify having their folks do something that wasn't deemed necessary.

[john theiss]

"They couldn't justify having their folks do something that wasn't deemed necessary."

You hate to interrupt the more important and necessary naps or cards games

[john theiss]

Tom, i used a product called 3-way made by Lesco on the leaves and  after cutting  the vines  i carefully applied Tordon.  i cut the vines with the telescoping saw and made sure the dust/crud was going away from me.  I think Dan is correct about commercial grade chemicals.  The root systems are so established and spread out that over the counter chemicals would take too many applications.  At that point, folks start getting lazy and spray all over because they get tired of repeated spraying and you end up spraying yourself.  You need the bad boy stuff that way you do it once or twice and apply it carefully.  The 3-way did not immediately work on ivy stands at young that were human size, it took at least 3 applications before you could get  in that area and walk around to spray all the different plants.

[discglover]

I don't have alot of problems with an outbreak when getting into ivy.
Except one time I cleared out a bunch of low limbs and heavy vegetation at my mom's.
I tried all kinds of lotions and stuff but what worked best was jumping in a swimming pool a few days in a row.

[CHAS.]

I had fairly good luck by drilling a couple of holes at a angle near the ground of the vines and filling them with straight Roundup.