Hi Naomi -
That is a tough one. I've got the same problem - beautiful vinca vines and poison ivy showing up here and there. I attack the problem in a couple of different ways mindful that I want the vinca and not the poison ivy. For those areas that are easily accessible and without heavy poison ivy infestation, I hand pull the vines. This is a tedious process and one you must prepare for carefully. See my message about how I pull poison ivy from gardens:
what can I do about poison ivy?
For those areas that are harder to reach or more infested, I try to encourage the vinca to choke out the poison ivy. This has worked fairly well on a slope in my back yard. I have my designated appointee (husband) take the weed whacker and trim the vines to a level height. Of course, I have the most important job of supervising the operation and reminding him to properly suit up with long sleeves, gloves, goggles, long pants, boots for the job. He trims at a reasonable height for the vinca and ends up topping off the poison ivy plants. This procedure has to be repeated a couple times a year. I noticed this year that we may not have to go through this process as poison ivy hasn't shown up - just other undesirables like honeysuckle.
It's difficult to use a herbicide like Roundup as spray drift can cause damage to other plants. You could paint the Roundup just on the poison ivy leaves. Depending on how many plants you have, that could take awhile.
Good luck! |
