Garden -- poison ivy

This is partly the advice from my garden guru about poison ivy, sumac, and what's the other one?  Poison oak?
Anyway, after a nice heavy rainfall, you need those black heavy duty trash bags,
and you need to be no more than 5 minutes away from cold water and harsh detergent.
Rubbing alcohol is also good.


So you wrap the trash bags around your hands and arms.
You wrap your hands around the poison ivy, trying not to come in contact with it.
Face it, if it touches your clothes, you will have to trash them.  You do NOT want to wash them because the poison will linger in your washer.
Now put your weight on that sucker and see if you can get it to come out by the roots.
If so, keeping your hands wrapped in the trash bag, fold the bag around the ivy until it is completely covered.
Put this ball into another trash bag and go after the next vine.


If you have been careful, you probably have not actually come into contact with the poison at all.
But once you do, or when you've cleared that mess out,
IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES
Scrub your skin with COLD water and harsh detergent.
NEVER use hot water.  It will open your pores and let the poison in and then you are in a world of hurt.
For insurance, splash the affected area with rubbing alcohol.


If it turns out you waited too long or didn't wash all the affected skin,
I highly recommend Aveeno's calamine lotion with a mild topical anesthetic. 
Not because of all the oat derivatives in it, but because of the anesthetic.  It will keep you from making a bad situation worse.


DO NOT put poison ivy in your compost pile.
DO NOT put poison ivy in the yard waste that your community recycles for others to use as compost.
Put it in with your household trash -- the spoiled food and that stuff.
The only place poison ivy belongs is a landfill.
But make sure it is carefully wrapped in those heavy black trash bags so your trash haulers don't get poisoned.
© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights Reserved