Michele,
This is a tough one as you already know. I'll give you 2 ideas that we use to at least keep the poison ivy under control. In some areas, we've been able to eradicate the poison ivy.
We have vinca vine in the back and the poison ivy likes to peek through. My husband takes the weed whacker and cuts the vines all to a uniform height. This shears off the tops of the poison ivy plant with minimal issue to the vinca vine. The vinca seems to be sufficient to crowd out any poison ivy not above this "growth line". Of course, he dons full protection of long sleeves, pants and cleans up well after done.
Second thing is I get out the heavy duty gloves and just hand-pull the vines. Persistence is the key but I've been able to keep poison ivy under control in a few areas this way. I didn't have a lot to pull probably just a few poison ivy vines in each area.
Using a spray is really out of the question unless you are absolutely accurate and have no overspray. Otherwise, the desired vine will suffer. If you can find the main root(s) of the poison ivy plant(s) be sure to dig that up. That will help in control.
If you are very patient, you could mix up a solution of Brush-B-Gone and paint it on the leaves of the poison ivy plants. This would help to kill the poison ivy plant without harming the desired ivy. Very tedious particularly if you have quite a few vines.
Anyone else with thoughts? |
