Poison Ivy

Looks just like my Jazzpurr.

Yes, poison ivy. Love to hate that stuff. I used to play in it with impunity, but no longer. If I know I got into it I HAVE to go wash immediately now to avoid getting the rash. Still better than a lot of people I know. My wife is so sensitive looking at it is enough (I jest a little). My neighbor growing up would have the rash spread uncontrollably and was in misery even with steroids. I remember helping clean his yard growing up, for some really good money as a kid. I also remember he was sick with the stuff and payed me to clean his garage out, and wash every tool with soap and water.

BTW if you have a small quantity, say a couple rooted sprigs, the easiest way to deal with it is to use a post hole digger and take a 4 inch deep bite around the plant. Then with double bagged hands, possibly wearing rubber gloves too (No one will normally try touching their face by accident wearing shopping bags on their hands) break the dirt up and pull the roots and all out. Dispose of in bags in the trash or a HOT compost heap (not a mold pile but a heap that is known to steam) Once the plant has turned to dirt it is safe to handle.

Roundup is effective too. However the plant still retains oils until it is fully turned to dirt.

Incidentally the time I got poison ivy was because there was some in my yard waste mold pile.

Phil

When wife and I started in 1994 clearing and reclaiming the back yard the Poison Ivy was not a problem...(lots of it) the poison Oak was and for me the rash and bumps took about 4 days to itch and get bad

I disagree with the assertion that scratching does not spread it... the allergen is an oil and is easily transferred...hence the cats fur transferring the oils to the human owner.... I know for a fact that if I rubbed (scratched) my arm or hands clearing and then needed to relieve myself near a tree...well then this would be a TMI posting...(no grin)

In any event , and BTW I call roll in poison Ivy and not have any effect, --------itchy problems from Ivy, Oak, Cedar, fire ants, chiggers, etc are a PITA and there are dozens of "old wives tale" remedies... for chiggers diluted Clorox works for me on lower legs.... for the poison Oak I had to resort to backing Soda poultice and calimine lotion after ALL the anti itch Pharmacy OTC stuff proved a waste of money

duke.johnson wrote:Sorry to hear this Roddie. But you have beautiful cats, I see why you cuddle them.  I'm not much of a cat person anymore. I had one I dearly loved and had to put her down after our two boxers got a hold of her and played tug a war. She was a beautiful cat, just like yours. What breed are they? I got mine from the shelter or free to a good home thing. I could have easily showed one of your pictures and said it was my "Shadow", of course she was black and followed me everywhere, thus "Shadow"

Hey Duke, "Thanks" These three kitties are brothers and a sister that were rescued "feral" in 2012 when they were just a few weeks old.



My wife and I had put-down the last of "her" three cats a few years ago.. and I knew that she'd be heartsick for at least another kitty. I told her to check the newspaper.. and she found the two brothers in an ad. Just days later (and before responding) she checked the ad again.. to see that there was a female added to the bunch. It turned out that "Lucy" had been placed in a home.. but then was returned. She was "wild".. and I presume that the person/people that she was placed with, couldn't handle her. We took-in all three kitties for a $100 donation going to the org. that rescues the animals.. spades/neuters them and attempts to find homes. If no homes can be found, they're released again but cannot breed.. which helps to control the feral-cat population. It took weeks before we could approach Lucy. She would cower, hiss and "slap" if we tried to go near her. I was not employed at the time.. and paid a lot of attention to her. Finally I gained her trust.. and she is now my "shadow".

We are fairly certain that they're all from the same litter.. although the "boys" have very dense smooth "seal-like" fur.. and double digits on all four of their "BIG" paws. Lucy's fur is fluffy and "kitten-like".. and her paws are all normal. All three have a very tiny patch of white on their chest.

Charlie and Linus may be identical twins.. If not for their slight weight-difference and behavior.. you can't tell them apart. They're like "Frick and Frack".. "Mutt and Jeff".. "besties".. joined at the hip.

Here's some typical ways we'll find the brothers..




Lucy on the other had; is a "hard-ass" loner.. (that's her up near the pillow) This photo was taken back in 2012, not too long after they came to live with us.



She "tolerates" her brothers.. but doesn't take any crap. She'll "slap" them if they get too close.. or whenever she feels like it. This usually leads to "fur flying".. and intervention by mommy or daddy.. They're absolutely wonderful pets.. and a joy to have. We spoil them rotten. Lucy loves whipped-cream.. but only "real" whipped cream. "Cool Whip" doesn't cut it. I call it "jello-milk"... When I say jello-milk; she comes running and we'll squirt a little rosette onto a plastic container lid.  She's very "vocal".. but her brothers only make little occasional "peeps" (unless we're on the way to the Vet..) I buy a variety of different cat foods for them. They're not real finicky.. and like to give them some variety. They all eat a good share of both wet and dry food. Dry food is good for their teeth.. and the wet food is good for their kidney's. Juice drained-off from a can of tuna-fish is always a huge hit!




Oh Boy.. a new perch!!

I get it very badly. I have it in my backyard and I get it from cutting the hedges. I get it worse where there's no hair like the underside of my arms vs the topside. I hate it. It gets so bad it wakes me up in the middle of the night. I found some relief. I scrub it with a nylon bristle brush under the hottest water I can stand. I wait until it bleeds and then pour straight bleach into it. It's practically gone the next day. It does scar a bit, but it works. I'm quite certain this isn't what the doctor orders.

Thats the roughest, toughest, most manliest home remedy I've ever heard of!!! My hats off to you sir!!!

Poison Ivy hasn't been introduced to the UK yet - we have lots of poisonous plants and plants that contain allergens but nothing that sounds equivalent to Poison Ivy. I get a rash when trimming Leylandii (a fast growing conifer). It is unpleasant but nothing on the scale that you are all describing.

7 min itch (stinging nettle) is my next least favorite discomfort. I also would like to no who figured it lasted 7 minutes. It seems to last hours for me. There's a trail that I walk through when fishing that is covered with this horrible plant. Why does this stuff exist? Just what the world needs is more itchy stuff.

Ken Cook wrote:              7 min itch (stinging nettle)  is my next least favorite discomfort. I also would like to no who figured it lasted 7 minutes. It seems to last hours for me. There's a trail that I walk through when fishing that is covered with this horrible plant. Why does this stuff exist? Just what the world needs is more itchy stuff.

We are lucky in the UK - where there are stinging nettles, there are usually dock leaves growing. A quick rub with a dock leaf and the stinging disappears.

Lucy sounds like a typical female cat. Males are usually more affectionate companions, while females are more aloof and standoffish. My female Tribble is now 18 and still a 90% outdoor dweller except in the winter, will not let anyone pick her up and won't sit on a lap unless she decides to get up there on her own. She's getting skinny now, and spends more time indoors, so in the past year have put a litter box in the house. When she's gone, I won't miss that thing.
Rusty... cat lover.

I like dogs too, but I prefer the independent self-maintenance of a cat.

We have two trees down here that are downright dangerous, Poisonwood is 100 times stronger than Poison Ivy and there is the Manchineel tree is 1000 times stronger than Poison Ivy.
If you go to cut the latter down without knowing you are going to wind up in the hospital or dead.

I've got lots of stinging nettle "itch weed" all over in the hedge in the back yard. Been pulling it out for years but it just come back each year. Its mostly on the other side of the fence so I don't get to it as often. I have to say that it rarely gets me, usually only when I'm pulling weeds in the garden and I happen to grab one with my bare hands. I've gotten into it several times in the woods though, a good 30 minutes of stinging and then a few hours of tingling.




I've never gotten a rash from Poison Ivy, I know I've gotten into it before, always avoid it like everyone else though. It doesn't really affect my mother but I know my dad gets terrible rashes from Poison Ivy.

I am Going to the root Don't smoke that weed!! lol I don't get the stuff after I was a kid and am glad of it ,, I think I had it only once I can remember / If you get it in the right places it can make you and your wife happy till you come around eRiC

crankbndr wrote:We have two trees down here that are downright dangerous, Poisonwood is 100 times stronger than Poison Ivy and there is the Manchineel tree is 1000 times stronger than Poison Ivy.
If you go to cut the latter down without knowing you are going to wind up in the hospital or dead.

Damn, I'd hate to get into those. 100 and 1000x...I wonder if that's a logarithmic scale. Crank, have you ever had something a hundred times worse than Poison Ivy? That Manch thing sounds unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG11rVMQxDU

Funny this came up,

I have a crap ton of poison ivy on my property. I let things grow up a bit this year when my riding mower broke. I had to hand mow a bit while I got it fixed. I was mowing in shorts and slung that crap all over my legs and thighs. Misery!

Nettle to me is worse than poison Ivy. I might not get poison ivy, but nettles are a guarantee!

My raised rose bed was overrun with perennial stinging nettle. Awful things. I ended up using a spading fork to loosen the dirt, then dug about 4 inches down to grab the root below the stingers and pull as much out as I could. Some of the tap roots were 18 inches long! Even with some precautions I still ended up getting my arms destroyed 3 days in a row.

The stuff responds to Roundup. Since my tulip bed is in similar shape, and the tulips are past and down already, I sprayed. I hope for the best there.

Phil

Both my wife and I are covered with poison something.. I'm assuming ivy, since we let the cats out in the yard last Saturday. Lynne sprayed the ivy last year with a spray that's supposed to kill it. I actually can't see any growth where the big patch of ivy was.. but we never pulled-out the dead-plants. Dead plants (leaves and vine) can still carry the oil that causes the irritation. It can take up to 5 years for the oil dissipate.

Last year I bought a product called "Tec-Nu".. that will clear it up very quickly. It's expensive.. but it's worth the money if you get a bad rash. I had to use it last night.. just so I could sleep.




https://www.teclabsinc.com/products/poison-oak-ivy/tecnu-extreme

The original formula's main-ingredient is deodorized mineral-spirits.. along with some other compounds in a liquid-soap base.

I guess since this got resurfaced...grin

This year is the worst I ever had in the last 22 for CHIGGERS!!!!

I can roll on Poison Ivy and not be affected...wife opposite...she can stand off 30 feet from the stuff and break out in an hour

Wife can hand pull the Poison Oak (lots here) and I am opposite it takes about 3 day but then wham...I am in misery

Fleas eat my wife like a good steak.... I guess I smoke enough that my nicotine load is on my skin and they dare not bite or eat on me

Wife can weed eat all day in the tall grass back areas...ME---- CHIGGER city in places we need not discuss....

Note to self...find the damned bag of surfer and dust pants before walking in the out back!!!!

Chiggers are not prevalent in the Northeast USA.. therefor I've never been bothered by them. I needed to read-up a little, to even learn what they actually are. I'd heard of them.. but always thought that they were a plant/thorn. Nope.. .. They're a BUG.. a microscopic "mite".. which seems similar to a flea... only a LOT worse..

Phred, the above mentioned "Tec-Nu" product works on poison-oak and poison sumac too. It also reportedly neutralizes "skunk-spray/odor".. which can be really handy if you or a pet is unlucky enough to have an encounter. As for "chiggers".. well; you already know how to "prevent" them from getting on you. It's strange how nature works.. and how bug-infestations cycle. Up here in my area; we may have a second consecutive bad year/season with caterpillars. Last Spring/Summer, they nearly wiped-out our trees. We have varieties of both; conifers and deciduous trees that were severely affected. The deciduous trees recovered better than the conifers. Reportedly; the trees can sustain three consecutive years of infestation.. before it kills them completely. Most of our big-tall Oaks and Birch around the property were bare into the mid-Summer last year. Caterpillar-dung was all over everything. Surprisingly; they re-budded/recovered late in the season.. and look healthy so far this year. The conifers (which are a short-needled variety) didn't fare as well. We have "two" fairly large (35') conifers in the front yard that I'm concerned about. I need to do some research.. on what I can do to "try" to control a subsequent infestation. "Today" I saw tiny (1/4" long) caterpillars on the windshield of my car at work. When I got home in the afternoon.. I saw "thousands" crawling on the trash-buckets that had been put by the street for pick-up this morning. If I don't take some kind of action.. I'm afraid that the conifers will perish with a second-year's infestation.

Many years ago Delta Airlines merged with Northeast Airlines and as a result six of many families were transferred from Boston to Atlanta and bought homes on our street. The folks were really good cool people with the exception of one wife with a big mouth and a haughty attitude you could barely stand. Later in the Summer she came by and was telling my wife and I about the huge patch of blackberries in the woods near our homes. I told her we had gotten many good blackberry cobblers from that patch. Then I asked her had she had ever picked blackberries before and does she know about chiggers ?
She puffed up and begin to tell me that she knew all she needed to know about berry picking and she certainly didn't need any advice from me ..Thank You Very Much !!!
About 8PM that night her husband called me and said that Barbara had these red burning welts all over her body and she was screaming in pain !!!!
He took her the Emergency Room immediately. He called two days later and said that $400.00 and two days in the hospital later with chigger bites she won't be picking anymore blackberries. She said that she just climbed into bushes full body and didn't know to reach in for the berries. Later for fun I asked did she know about snakes that like the bushes too? She nearly fainted !! My wife and I still get a laugh out of what chiggers will do to know it all's !!
Beware of seemly dead vines hanging off trees in the winter that will make you crazy scratching poison ivy with wool winter clothes on...Ask me how I know ?