permaculture

["robscott@freeshell.org" <robscott@freeshell.org>]

Hey Lee,

1" diameter poison ivy vines grow here in Illinois too, I'vy even got some 
with 2" diameter vines. They grow with Black Walnut, Hackberry, Missouri 
Gooseberry (extra thorny) -- I thought of declaring a "hazard guild" -- 
now here's how I've killed the Poison I've:

chopped the vines at the ground, or within 5 feet from the ground using 
big loppers. Wait. Within a year, there are no leaves, and enough of 
the suckers have come off the tree for there to be dead-woody vines 
hanging in the wind. You can pull them down, possibly with slight damage 
to the tree, or some residual oils to give you a poison ivy rash. I'm 
paranoid so I just leave them another year and let them fall off.

On the ground resprouts, you can let goats/chickens eat small quantities 
of Poison Ivy. If its deep shade it won't resprout very vigorously, at 
least not if you're in Illinois.

Rob Scott
Urbana Permaculture Project

> I'm trying to clean up a neglected area behind my property, where there
> are a lot of pine trees and I'm planning to plant some useful stuff
> around them.  However, right now they are overgrown with a mixture of
> English ivy and poison ivy.  This is in Georgia, and some of the poison
> ivy vines can get HUGE... there are a couple of vines growing up the
> trees that are more than an inch in diameter!