I bought an old house and in March, I began to clear out what I thought were little trees. They were poison ivy that had not sprouted leaves yet. After a month of cleaning all the overgrown stuff up, I had a major reaction... the blisters, the oozing etc. My skin still isn't "right". It will probably take another month for it to be back at 100%.
Here are my suggestions, which so far have worked for me. Every Saturday, I kill PI and since I have started doing these things, I have not broken out in a rash.
Clothing-
I wear jeans, boots, a long sleeve t shirt and a long sleeve shirt over that. I wear a hat and goggles. I wear a pair of disposable latex gloves and on top of that, I wear chemical gloves.
Cleanup- I immediately put my clothes in the wash and wash them twice.
I take a shower with Dawn (that supposedly cuts the PI oil), followed up with Burts Bees PI soap. Everything that can't be washed in the washing machine (like my boots, clippers, goggles etc) go in the dishwasher and get washed twice. (Maybe washing everything twice is overkill, but I'm paranoid).
Killing the PI-
I cut the PI as close to the ground as I can with small clippers. Then using a cheap little paintbrush that I can throw away, I dab undiluted Ortho Brush B gone onto what's left. It goes down to the root and turns what is left black. Whatever I cut, I place in a big trash bag and when I'm done, I put that bag in a trash bag and leave it at the curb. If you have big vines in trees, cut the vine and brush on the poison. If the vine is really thick and you can't cut it, you can make a hole and then squirt some poison in it. After it dies, you can pull it off the tree. Just because the plant is dead, does not mean it can't hurt you. The oil inside the plant can stay for a really long time. Just spraying the plant won't make it go away for ever. I know people who tried that and it always came back. You have to poison it and then physically remove it.
So far I've had really good luck with this. |
