Poison Oak/Ivy Remdies

[LarryD]

Anyone have any good home remedies for poison oak or ivy? I am clearing some hedge with a lot of vines and suspicious looking 3-leaf clusters. I've used most of the standard remedies before but wonder if they are any homegrown solutions that are better.

I plan on wearing a long-sleeve shirt with gloves so hopefully I won't need any remedy.

Larry

 

[levi]

Immediately after finishing, scrub rigorously any skin that could have come in contact with either the ivy or your clothes that touched the ivy with a strong degreazing cleanser - like Formula 409, etc. It will help break up the oil from the plants and rinse it away.

Do this immediately after messing with the plants. Don't go on to do other chores. The oil from the plants actually penetrates the membranes of your skin cells. That's why it is so difficult to get rid or once you have it.

 

[CivicFan]

I don't know of any home remedies. I use plastic shopping bags on top of the regular precautions - you pull the poison ivy and wrap the shopping bag around it for easy disposal. I have become good enough not to use gloves and protective clothing. But you need a mental concentration of a bomb disposal expert.

 

[oilyriser]

remember not to burn the trash

 

[Win]

There is a pretty good product, Zanfel, that can reverse the chemical reaction of poison ivy/oak with your skin.

It's pricey, though, about $35 bucks a tube. I've purchased it at Walgreen's.

 

[Al]

Fels Naptha bar soap or even better home made soap is the standard old time remedy that seems to work. Probably any soap will work.

 

[moribundman]

If it itches, scratch it.

Should it get too bad, you can always resort to using a tournique, a capital saw, and possibly a cautery.

 

[Laminar Lou]

Quote:

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Immediately after finishing, scrub rigorously any skin that could have come in contact with either the ivy or your clothes that touched the ivy with a strong degreazing cleanser - like Formula 409, etc. It will help break up the oil from the plants and rinse it away.

Do this immediately after messing with the plants. Don't go on to do other chores. The oil from the plants actually penetrates the membranes of your skin cells. That's why it is so difficult to get rid or once you have it.

---

Interesting. How about applying the degreaser directly to the plants before removing them. There have got to be environmentally friendly degreasers that you could spray on and wash off the plant to remove the oils. Just a thought. Maybe it doesn't work that way

 

[Laminar Lou]

Just did a search for you:

http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/796_ivy.html

If poison ivy invades your yard, "there's really no good news for you,"

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they have some suggestions.

 

[UncleS2]

I wash & shower using Ajax dishwashing liquid, but suspect that any good strong degreasing dish soap like Dawn, Joy, or similar would work about as well. the 409/Fantastic mentioned above should work too.

I did this last night as an "emergency" procedure- didn't realize that the poison ivy has gone rampant earlier than usual this year, probably because of all the rain in the past month. I wound up slinging fresh-shredded stuff all over me with the trimmer, & about half of it was the dreaded PI- and just to make it worse, I was hot & sweaty in short sleeved T shirt too.

Scrubbed head to toe with Ajax in the shower, even washed my hair twice with it. So far- not one itch.

 

[TallPaul]

I would hire the clearing done. Some folks are immune, with others immunity comes and goes. I have gotten it pretty bad in the past and have no desire to clear poison ivy. They do make some stuff that you rub all over your skin BEFORE contacting poison ivy. Don't know how well it works, but worth checking out. Some soaps can spread the poison ivy oil.

 

[tom slick]

anyone try technu soap?

 

[LarryD]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will be extra careful!

 

[TallPaul]

Maybe a moon suit and a good hosing off before getting out of it. Anyway, take some photos of the PI and if you get it, maybe some photos of the rash. I dreamed last night that I had a huge PI rash up my leg, must have been influenced by reading this thread late at night.

 

[TallPaul]

We had a guy at work who went into PI on purpose and his eyes were nearly swollen shut. Get it in your digestive tract and really bad news. Can get from breathing smoke if PI is burning.

Friend at college (we studied plants among other things) was immune and would pick the leaves and rub them to show off.

Some disturbing photos in this link.Reference Info On Poison Ivy

 

[Cicero17]

Important, wash your hands BEFORE going to the bathroom. I learned that one the hard way many, many years ago.

Don

 

[K-Man]

Larry, here are some options. Those "suspicious" three-leaflet things are 99.9% sure to be PI. Before you start messing with the stuff, think these over carefully. I've been battling a bumper crop of PI and eastern poison oak too. It really seems to be a problem this year.

1. As said above, hire someone else to remove the hedge.

2. Wait till winter, after the foliage drops and the plants go dormant, and then go to work. This doesn't prevent the PI problem, but will minimize it. The leaves are the worst problem, though the stems and roots do carry urushiol too.

3. If you don't care about the hedge, spray glyphosate (RoundUp) all around the area you are removing and allow it a week or more to do its job before you begin work.

4. If you do care about the hedge, try the Ortho product that is meant just for PI and then follow No. 3.

No. 5 would be to follow your original plan, but I can't call that a real option. Nor do I see why it would be so important to pull up a hedge now, when everything is in full leaf (unless you have legal reasons, such as a municipality or homeowner's association hassling you about the hedge). My chainsaw and other serious yard work waits till cold weather; the only exception is mowing. But I live in the boonies and have that option.

Final thought: watch for Virginia creeper, which has five leaflets arranged a little like those of a cannabis leaf. Creeper is in the grape family, not directly related to PI (which is in the cashew family), but can cause a severe, scarring reaction with susceptible people. It's at least as common and invasive as PI and loves to climb too. Around here and probably there in Pennsylvania as well, Virginia creeper is a "marker plant" for PI and vice versa. If you have one, you are very likely to have the other. Since you have PI, you probably have creeper too. Be careful.

My mother is immune to PI. My father and brother are not. I don't know about myself—but I'm not trying to find out the hard way either. Therefore I don't get close enough to it for skin contact. Neither should you if it's avoidable.

 

[K-Man]

By the way, as TallPaul implies, don't even think about burning the brush. PI smoke can be lethal if inhaled.

 

[oilyriser]

Isn't there a type of hydraulic fluid that causes a similar rash?

 

[TallPaul]

Remember, even if you kill it with herbicide the oils are still in the branches and all the dead leaves.

Some plants that look similar to PI include fragrant sumac and box elder. Box elder is a maple and will be opposite leaved, that is the leafs which are comprised of several leaflets come off the branch in pairs exactly opposite each other. PI is alternate. Can't remember fragrant sumac, but thought no sub stem to central leaf and PI does, but not sure about this. Where it climbs trees the stem going up the tree is very harry as it roots into the host tree.
I have also been fooled by PI in hickory woods where it will climb tree and branch out 6 or 8 feet looking on first glance like a hickory limb.

Once walked through a grape vine that also had PI. Then went home and rode an exercise bike for half an hour working up a good sweat. This ran the oils down over my body. My neck was badly rashed and then spots all over my body. Neck so bad I could not turn my head for the pain, but had to turn my whole body to look left and right. No fun.