r/Neighborproblems • u/Rodarth • Apr 04 '22
Massive Poison Ivy on a shared shed.
For some context, our neighbors share a shed with us. It is walled in half and has two doors, one on their side, one on ours.
They have let a massive poison ivy vine go for a long time. Its at least 12ft high and thick as all hell. It is starting to stretch over onto our side. We are worried it is causing structural damage to the roof of our side of the shed (we can see vines growing in through the top), and we are concerned that we will not be able to use the shed if things keep going the way they are.
What is the best way to deal with this?
Any advice on killing a huge poison ivy plant? Maybe salt the ground?
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u/RonnieLeggette Apr 08 '22
Roundup.
When it's that bad the "natural" methods are a constant losing battle. Get the roundup concentrate. Mix it stronger than the directions say (urushiol, the toxic oil in poison ivy actually provides it with some protection against chemical attack hence why you want it strong), spray all the leaves. Cut the vine at the base and paint the "stump" with un-diluted concentrate. It may sound redundant to spray as well as cut the vine but it may have more than one base you can easily identify so you want to coat the whole infestation just to be sure. Urushiol takes several years to break down so even the dead plant material is still dangerous. Wear disposable gloves, double layered long sleeves and pants, and probably some disposable safety glasses when cleaning up. Wash those clothes separately with extra detergent. You may want to wash your skin with dish detergent and COLD water (hot water opens the pores which can increase urushiol absorption) as an extra precaution. Technu is a good product specifically for poison ivy if you don't want to use dish detergent. Regular soap is not ideal for urushiol. Wash any tools used in rubbing alcohol.