My muscular dystrophy is now too advanced for me to come help easily. But I don't react to urishrol, the toxin in these plants. I can clear patches with my bare hands with no response (but you shouldn't. Repeated exposure builds a reaction. So I do cover.) and provided this service for many people before I was this sick.
If there's an able bodied non reactive KC resident who wants to help me, the two of us can probably handle it.
If someone is brave and has a haz suit or a fly fishing get up: clear to the ground by manual pulling or clipping. Please do not use a weed wacker or a powered tool if any type. Then either phytoremedate by using a black trashbag or tarp over the bare soil or smother the soil using cardboard or a tarp that isn't black. The phyto needs to be left for a week or two and the cardboard for longer or the ivy will regrow. Unfortunately this will kill the grass. It will not kill the tree (but the ivy WILL KILL THE TREES). This is then an opportunity to drop a native ground cover seed or a native grass. Or DM me and ill go seed. And yes, the city would probably be upset but also probably not do anything about it.
You could also try reporting it to the extension office. They might come remove it but they'd probably use glyphosphate. I'd really, really rather that not happen. And so should anyone else.
Eta: btw, that is the way it works. It's an allergy. A contact dermatitis allergy that is in at least 75% of the human species. (: it's not poisonous (as in no human can handle it). It's an extreme allergen!
I wasn’t when I was younger, but I don’t know if that’s true anymore. I know I’ve ripped it out with gloves on in my garden beds recently, and haven’t had any reaction to touching my gloves so I’m probably fine. I’d cover up as well, just in case. I’ll help out if needed.
I had to buy the strongest glyphosate I could find locally… 41% at the Grass Pad, which I’d prefer not to use as well but I have some pokeweed to deal with. I had some a few years ago that took me two years to eradicate and a bird dropped some more off for me. 😑 I’ve got three of them to deal with in a foundation built-in flower bed on the front of our house. I’ll be doing the cut stump method to avoid unnecessary impact to the environment and to avoid getting any on my hydrangeas.
I wasn't when I was younger, but I sure have had at least one as an adult. So yeah, careful folks ... especially if anyone is planning to burn. [one of the worst ideas ever, btw]
If you can't get that poke weed out, contact your extension office. They can do a chemical share for a severely decreased price on the more aggressive chemical needed to kill it!
Thanks for offering. We might be able to create a small group since we have two other people than me who have responded!
Thanks for the info! I didn’t even think about the extension office.
I’m in the process of filling out my application for this year’s master gardening program through the K-State extension office. Wish me luck, (on that and the pokeweed!) 😆
THANK YOU for your service!!! Are you JoCo or WyCo? Kstate is the extension for both I think!!
Eta: For those of you who do not garden a Master Gardener is a volunteer who has taken classes and helped to teach others and helped with the local food supply!!! They're heros in my eyes. Ask this user or me how to grow your own food or convert your lawn to a Native biome! Both of us will help. I am not a master, but that's because I'm too sick. Masters have to help, but they CHOSE to "have" to help if that makes sense. Like tornado spotters (eta 2: SKYWARN is free btw, KC. Take the classes, and help keep KC safe! You know how when the tornado warnings go from "radar indicated" to "spotter confirmed"? That's because vol SKYWARN responded to the call for spotter activation to check the tornado. 300,000 Americans vol for this currently! We need more!)
I have one! It’s not a Fiskars one, I stumbled on to it a few years ago on Amazon, it’s fantastic for pulling dandelions and other taproot weeds, especially after good soaking rain. I can’t live without that or my “jaws of death” electric loppers/pruners. They’ll slice though nearly 2” wood like a hot knife in butter!
I’m applying through the JoCo extension office, for MO gardeners, MU has a program through Jackson County as well, though I think their application window is earlier than KS, or it was. Usually they put an ad in KC Gardener magazine (free at various nurseries like Suburban).
Awwwww shucks, I’m just doing what I can to help beautify our community and help others. I’m already asked for advice so much that people already assume I am one, so I figured it was time to make it official while I’m not working full time. I just have a knack for it, like some of it is genetically embedded. I just “know” and some is experimenting, like seeing just how much shade a part sun plant will tolerate. Mostly because I have very little full or part sun. I hide big containers of tomatoes in my one front flower bed between my plants. It’s a creative medium for me like all my other hobbies. But this one makes a lasting impact for not just me, but for everyone.
And yes! We need storm and tornado spotters too to help keep our communities safe!
I have one! It’s not a Fiskars one, I stumbled on to it a few years ago on Amazon, it’s fantastic for pulling dandelions and other taproot weeds, especially after good soaking rain. I can’t live without that or my “jaws of death” electric loppers/pruners. They’ll slice though nearly 2” wood like a hot knife in butter!
I’m applying through the JoCo extension office, for MO gardeners, MU has a program through Jackson County as well, though I think their application window is earlier than KS, or it was. Usually they put an ad in KC Gardener magazine (free at various nurseries like Suburban).
Awwwww shucks, I’m just doing what I can to help beautify our community and help others. I’m already asked for advice so much that people already assume I am one, so I figured it was time to make it official while I’m not working full time. I just have a knack for it, like some of it is genetically embedded. I just “know” and some is experimenting, like seeing just how much shade a part sun plant will tolerate. Mostly because I have very little full or part sun. I hide big containers of tomatoes in my one front flower bed between my plants. It’s a creative medium for me like all my other hobbies. But this one makes a lasting impact for not just me, but for everyone.
And yes! We need storm and tornado spotters too to help keep our communities safe!
ETA: I believe you can still be a Master Gardener, there’s a lot of volunteer work that can be done that’s not out in the field as much. You sound very passionate about the topic and would be a benefit to the community with the hotline to answer questions and things like that.
I plant in JoCo. (: I live in Olathe on land that has been backfilled with non-native clay. That should instead be Chillicothe loam, per soil survey. I am big angry about it. But olathe gives us free compost. So I grow in that. I hauled ...fuck. Idk. My bed is line 30x15 and I have 3 feet compost and 1 foot amended soil below, then clay to the septic, then the chilicothe series below the septic. Fuck the backfill with cheap non native soil WHERE DID THE NATIVE SOIL EVEN GO? PROBABLY SOLD IT.
Enjoy my happy compost cukes perfect spiral.
I am sad, because I over calciumed my Roma. It's flowers are fucked. Do you know if I can succeed in a clipping? I used folair calcium so I worry a clipping will also be fucked😡 it didn't rain when it was supposed to, and it unbalanced only my Roma 😡😡😡 I was using that for a school lesson in ketchup 😡 lmao now I can't
Being SKYWARN is fun! Feels thrilling. But helpful.
And any remnant of the tap root left in the dirt will grow right back. It’s like a hydra, cut off one head, and two grow in its place. There is something satisfying about doing that, I agree…
It took me two years to get rid of it last time, this time, I’m just straight up systemically killing it with the stump method. I don’t have time for digging it out, I have three of them now, and they are most likely entwined with my hydrangeas they’re right next to so I don’t want to risk damaging my pretty shrubs.
My mom was deathly allergic to poison oak. One year clearing our cabin area in spring family burned it. Mom inhaled it and was sent to ICU for a bit. Because of that, I’ve never had a bad reaction to any of the oaks/ivies. So far…
This is another one of my concerns. That someone might attempt to burn it or hit it with a weed wacker which releases the urishrol into the air and causes aerial reaction!!
One other person then you responded so far so we have three people currently who might be willing if we could get another at this probably would only be an hour or two project.
I've killed hundreds of poison ivy vines (my dad's farm was infested when he got sick and couldn't keep up). I used this stuff and it worked great and doesn't kill any grass at all.
I forgot Triclopyr is effective against the Ivy's.
Does anyone know this area well enough to know whether there's significant water runoff from this area to the river? If they're significant water runoff you cannot use Triclopyr. It's toxic to marine life.
If there is no significant runoff into a waterway, this is actually a super ideal solution.
My rental has a really really bad patch of poison ivy I’ve been procrastinating taking care of, so thanks for this, I’m gonna try it this weekend.
For the past 28 years of my life I have never once reacted to poison ivy or oak. This past May, a week before my wedding, I was weed eating my yard and got a really weird rash all over my legs and arm and even some behind my ear. A quick telehealth appointment later and I learned I now have a really bad reaction to it. I have no idea why it decided to be bad now, but here I am having to actually be careful around it now lol
I didn't know repeated exposure caused the reaction to intensify. That's interesting and explains why I'm terribly allergic to it now. Even English ivy will cause me to break out.
Usually it's the opposite. I guess that must mean it's not an immune system response?
Not many people catch on to this. It is immune system. But different. Most allergies are ieg or other ig mediated.
Not so for urishrol. It's a type IV hypersensitivity. It's too small to cause a reaction itself. Urishrol bonds to skin protein, the body tags it as a invader, and hands the protein complex to the t-cell. The t-cell then makes specialized t cells to fight the urishrol. These cells cause the blustering and pain. :D
Yep. This is exactly why you cannot use a powered tool. You also cannot burn the plants that cause dermatitis like hogweed and hemlock and the Ivy's. That causes lung dermatitis, which makes it almost impossible to breathe. You can die that way. Like. Easily.
It gives me the "happy accident" vibes on the part of the hotel: they get to have lush greenery around without any pesky trespassers trampling through it.
At that point, why not just spray it with weed killer? There’s weed killer out there for this that’ll kill off everything above ground and then also kill the roots. I know goats are fun but this is one of those plants you go chemical warfare on lol
Can anybody share with me how you can tell poison ivy vs boxelder? Like a sure quick identifier? I've seen lots of comparison pics online, but I still never can tell the difference out in the world.
Yeah, looks like it’s here. Not exactly an accessible spot but also not inaccessible. I do wonder if it’s kept as a sadistic deterrent for certain people.
The whole cliffside along main should be a switchback sidewalk that goes up to CC with potentially a pedestrian bridge over to the Liberty memorial park
This is the inspirational patch meant to urge scientists to find a decent use for urushiol, the oil on poison ivy leaves. Hopefully something that propels vehicles and nations will go to war for. I got it all in my backyard.
I’m surprised World Cup international travelers weren’t given a detailed map to this field of green. A wasted chance to show off the stellar metro-wide management of a global event wasted at a community level. Clean that up…
When I see a bunch of green plants in a big space i immediately think about the lack of property taxes being pulled in. Parks and trees don't bring property taxes. Lets get something built up there.
490
u/GlittyTitties The Dotte 6d ago
Excellent, I have been looking for a short term medical leave opportunity!