Remove Poison Ivy with Round-Up?

[Anonymous]

I think there is some poison ivy in a shaded patch, where only pine trees and lots of English ivy grows.
Rather than pull it up, can I just spray the area with a weed killer like Round-Up?
I don't care about anything else in that area, so I don't mind what else dies in the process.

Any other advice?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We tried a number of sprays but no luck with our large patch of poison ivy. We finally covered the area with black trash bags covered in leaves to hold down. The smothering worked. It was around a tree, so we were ok covering everything around the tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We tried a number of sprays but no luck with our large patch of poison ivy. We finally covered the area with black trash bags covered in leaves to hold down. The smothering worked. It was around a tree, so we were ok covering everything around the tree.

How long did the suffocation take?
And did you remove roots as well?

[Anonymous]

NP - we sprayed the whole area with round up (which I hate and have never used again). Covered with a big brown tarp for months (we sprayed in the fall, covered through the winter). In the spring we covered the area with landscape fabric then dumped mulch over that. This was 8 years ago and it did the trick. We have since added roses, azaleas and blue berry bushes. Just keep mulching each year and pulling out ivy shoots when they dare to show their leaves.

[Anonymous]

There is a Round Up made specifically for poison ivy and it has worked for us. The plants died within 24 hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a Round Up made specifically for poison ivy and it has worked for us. The plants died within 24 hours.

And did anything return?
How long has it been since you did this? (Again, to get a sense of if any ivy has returned.)

[Anonymous]

The problem with poison ivy is that it is a native plant -- and it produces berries -- so of course birds love it! And spread it. So no matter what types of herbicides you use, you can never guarantee that poison ivy won't come back. I would take a selective approach to killing the poison ivy but trying not to spray herbicides everywhere -- but be vigilant because it could come back anywhere the birds have been. I definitely wouldn't carpet bomb with Round up or anything else in the misguided hope that you're taking care of the problem once and for all.

[Anonymous]

Many plants have become resistant to roundup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP - we sprayed the whole area with round up (which I hate and have never used again). Covered with a big brown tarp for months (we sprayed in the fall, covered through the winter). In the spring we covered the area with landscape fabric then dumped mulch over that. This was 8 years ago and it did the trick. We have since added roses, azaleas and blue berry bushes. Just keep mulching each year and pulling out ivy shoots when they dare to show their leaves.

That would have worked without the round up.

[Anonymous]

Use goats instead. Seriously. You can rent them.

[Anonymous]

Work gloves are $.98 cents at Home Depot. I had a similar situation. I put on work gloves, pulled out the poison ivy, and then immediately threw the gloves away. It was fast, efficient, and cheap.

Round-up can kill poison ivy, but my guess is that you will need multiple administrations because the English ivy will prevent a lot of the round-up from getting to the roots. If you want to kill the English ivy as well, you first need to mow it or beat it up with a weed whacker, because the waxy leaves provide a lot of protection from herbicides.

[Anonymous]

I'm reactive to poison ivy even if it's dead. Round Up kills it, but the plants are still there. It doesn't do me a bit of good to kill it if I don't pull it up, too.

[Anonymous]

Pull it up if you can. I wear gloves, then stick my gloved hand into a plastic bag and pull the ivy, then pull the bag over your hand with the ivy, and it's all wrapped up. Knot and throw in the trash. I do keep some Round Up for poison ivy that I can't reach the root - coming through to my side of the fence from the neighbors. I just spray the leaves of the ivy, and it usually does the trick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a Round Up made specifically for poison ivy and it has worked for us. The plants died within 24 hours.

That is just glyphosate (Round Up) and triclopyr (Brush-B-Gon or Garlon). It's not made specifically for poison ivy. Triclopyr is a common herbicide for woody plants.