Hi Andy -
Good question. I can't say definitively but based on what I've seen and know about the plant, it's not likely that it can kill a healthy tree. Poison ivy is a fairly fragile plant (ok so not so on the woody vine but the leaves certainly are). I've seen it easily overtaken by other plants. I've also seen poison ivy to the top of 40+ ft trees with a very think vine (10 to 12 inches in diameter) and with no effect on the tree. Poison ivy will grow to all the space it can with many leaves and can create it's own "canopy" in trees. We have pictures on this website of vines like that.
I would look to other reasons as to why the tree is not doing well. Now cutting out a chunk of the poison ivy vine to kill it is not such a bad idea either. |
