Another reason to wear a face sheild

[craigbaill]

We moved into a new to us home in December and the wife and I were itching to do some yard work. She was clearing some under brush and there were some strange vines growing around our trees. I decided to bring out the saw, safety glasses on, hearing protection on and away I went cutting. Fast forward 3 days and lo and behold... Strange poison ivy like spots on my face. Yup. I cut not one, or two but 6 vines as big around as my wrist.

I will be buying the helmet/ shield before using the saw for next time. The moral is: get and use good gear and always know what you are cutting.

 

[mustash29]

I had a good eye poke last summer. I was walking around the yard with the Mrs checking out the mole traps I had set. We were about 10 feet from the road. Just as I bent down to pick up a stick, a tri-axe dump truck went flying by, the gust of wind made the undergrowth move. Knocked my glasses off and poked my eye. Dr said I had a 1/2 mm dent in my eye, gave me antibiotic drops, had cloudy vision & headaches for about a week.

 

[TreePointer]

Strange vines? I usually carefully cut those from the area to be cut with loppers and remove them with gloved hands before using the chainsaw.

 

[HybridFyre]

That be some nasty looking poison oak...

 

[craigbaill]

Yep. Guess you are smarter than me but I guarantee you somebody here has, or will, do this.

My wife did use the loppers for the small stuff. I used the saw on the big ones.

 

[craigbaill]

That is a pic off the internet- the vines we had were exactly the same though. BIG too. SMH

Lesson learned the hard way but at least my kids were not the ones to find it.

 

[yooperdave]

"We were itching to do some yard work"!! Yeah, I caught that. Really gonna enjoy your sense of humor on this site!

 

[craigbaill]

Thanks! I have to laugh..I am currently battling the FLU as well! It has been an interesting week to say the least.

 

[Ashful]

That be some nasty looking poison oak...

Dunno how you got that from the photo. Looks like classic poison ivy, to me.

I had never gotten poison ivy in my entire life, until age 38. Then I spent a long weekend in the back yard of our new house, doing various chores... fertilizing, mulching, pulling down vines, cleaning up yard waste (and burning all of it). I never paid much attention to what PI might be or not, as I thought I was immune to it.

I got the worst case of PI I've ever seen (some photos were posted here), which lasted me about 4 months (I seem to have experienced some secondary skin rashes and infections... not uncommon with severe cases of PI). I learned a lot about PI, very fast.

I've since eradicated our entire property of PI, as well as the majority of our neighboring properties. This mostly consisted of vines varying 2" to 5" in diameter, combined with miles of ground cover PI around the perimeter of the woods. I had three weapons in my arsenal:

1. February: Double-bit axe. Walk thru the woods and cut every vine I could find. These were the big hair tree-climbers you showed in your photo. Usually two cuts, one very close to ground level, and a second a foot or two higher. Pry the vine away from the tree, leaving a nice gap between the vine still on the tree and the root in the ground, so you can watch them for re-growth over the coming years.

2. August: Tank sprayer (mine is 50 gallons, and has a 12V pump, shoots 50 - 60 feet) with wand, to spray every bit of ground cover PI I could spot, usually only a problem on the perimeter between lawn and woods. There's usually not much ground cover PI deep in the woods. Chemical of choice: Escalade, Surge, or whatever ivy/weed control I was already spraying on the lawn.

3. Any time during summer: Triclopyr, painted full-strength directly onto vines (root side) after cutting, with a throw-away paint brush. Round up (glyphosphate) is NOT effective against PI. Triclopyr is vastly superior in killing healthy / established PI. You can't really spray it full strength (will kill everything in sight, and it's too expensive to spray, anyway), and spraying diluted will often just wilt PI (but not kill it). Put it in a cup, and literally paint the vine with a brush.

 

[jdp1152]

I has a nasty case when I first moved I to my house. Crap was everywhere. Now I go out as soon as it starts growing hit it with shears and paint the end with brush killer, I diluted. I've seen noticeable declines but it wi keep coming back until your neighbors do the same. If it weren't for coyotes, I'd rent goats for the job

 

[Ashful]

I has a nasty case when I first moved I to my house. Crap was everywhere. Now I go out as soon as it starts growing hit it with shears and paint the end with brush killer, I diluted. I've seen noticeable declines but it wi keep coming back until your neighbors do the same. If it weren't for coyotes, I'd rent goats for the job

"brush killer" = triclopyr, if you're talking Ortho Brush-B-Gone. Better to use full-strength, if you're not spraying.

On the neighbors, I just went trespassing, and cut theirs, too. I figured no one's going to be upset if I kill their PI.

 

[Whitepine2]

Dunno how you got that from the photo. Looks like classic poison ivy, to me.

I had never gotten poison ivy in my entire life, until age 38. Then I spent a long weekend in the back yard of our new house, doing various chores... fertilizing, mulching, pulling down vines, cleaning up yard waste (and burning all of it). I never paid much attention to what PI might be or not, as I thought I was immune to it.

I got the worst case of PI I've ever seen (some photos were posted here), which lasted me about 4 months (I seem to have experienced some secondary skin rashes and infections... not uncommon with severe cases of PI). I learned a lot about PI, very fast.

You got into the smoke,this gets the ivy directly into the blood stream.When in high school a classmate who lived on a farm across the river from me was clearing brush and burning it. Well his father got into the smoke a near killed him his face was never the same was ill for years this was a lesson learned early in life (55) years ago.As like you I never got the ivy but kept away from the smoke,I could chew it and never get infected.

 

[HybridFyre]

Dunno how you got that from the photo. Looks like classic poison ivy, to me.

I had never gotten poison ivy in my entire life, until age 38. Then I spent a long weekend in the back yard of our new house, doing various chores... fertilizing, mulching, pulling down vines, cleaning up yard waste (and burning all of it). I never paid much attention to what PI might be or not, as I thought I was immune to it.

I got the worst case of PI I've ever seen (some photos were posted here), which lasted me about 4 months (I seem to have experienced some secondary skin rashes and infections... not uncommon with severe cases of PI). I learned a lot about PI, very fast.

I've since eradicated our entire property of PI, as well as the majority of our neighboring properties. This mostly consisted of vines varying 2" to 5" in diameter, combined with miles of ground cover PI around the perimeter of the woods. I had three weapons in my arsenal:

1. February: Double-bit axe. Walk thru the woods and cut every vine I could find. These were the big hair tree-climbers you showed in your photo. Usually two cuts, one very close to ground level, and a second a foot or two higher. Pry the vine away from the tree, leaving a nice gap between the vine still on the tree and the root in the ground, so you can watch them for re-growth over the coming years.

2. August: Tank sprayer (mine is 50 gallons, and has a 12V pump, shoots 50 - 60 feet) with wand, to spray every bit of ground cover PI I could spot, usually only a problem on the perimeter between lawn and woods. There's usually not much ground cover PI deep in the woods. Chemical of choice: Escalade, Surge, or whatever ivy/weed control I was already spraying on the lawn.

3. Any time during summer: Triclopyr, painted full-strength directly onto vines (root side) after cutting, with a throw-away paint brush. Round up (glyphosphate) is NOT effective against PI. Triclopyr is vastly superior in killing healthy / established PI. You can't really spray it full strength (will kill everything in sight, and it's too expensive to spray, anyway), and spraying diluted will often just wilt PI (but not kill it). Put it in a cup, and literally paint the vine with a brush.

You are right I looked closer at the lead shapes. Usually when the vine is that thick it's poison oak that's a pretty big one for poison ivy but I should have noticed the red furry whiskers on it which is definitely poison ivy.

 

[Whitepine2]

You are right I looked closer at the lead shapes. Usually when the vine is that thick it's poison oak that's a pretty big one for poison ivy but I should have noticed the red furry whiskers on it which is definitely poison ivy.

Leaves of three leave it be!

 

[HybridFyre]

Leaves of three leave it be!

True...and this is why I hate poison sumac.I got it several times not knowing what the F it was because I was always on the lookout for furry vines or leaves of three...

 

[smokedragon]

Strange vines? I usually carefully cut those from the area to be cut with loppers and remove them with gloved hands before using the chainsaw.

+1 to that

 

[BEConklin]

Strange vines? I usually carefully cut those from the area to be cut with loppers and remove them with gloved hands before using the chainsaw.

....agreed - and I try to do so in the dead of winter, when the sap is down and I can cover myself from head to toe.

Otherwise I'll stay away from it altogether unless I have to deal with it to clear up storm damage.

PI vines get quite big around...I've got some growing up trees on my property that are as big around as my forearm...but whether they're large or small, they always have those hairs to make them cling to the bark.

I've gotten a rash from handling firewood from a tree that had a single 1/4" diameter vine ....and I got this rash a year after the vine was pulled off the tree, and the tree cut, split and stacked. So, even the ends of the hairs left on the bark can give you a rash if you're allergic to it like I am.

 

[BEConklin]

and I disagree with the OP - the real moral of the story is: learn to ID poison ivy no matter what season it is - 'cause if you're cutting wood, you're going to encounter it

 

[bobdog2o02]

My family doc has given me a script for prednisone just to keep handy for PI flare ups. As soon as I notice that I'm getting the rash I start a 3 day tour.....

 

[craigbaill]

and I disagree with the OP - the real moral of the story is: learn to ID poison ivy no matter what season it is - 'cause if you're cutting wood, you're going to encounter it

-I stand by my original post: if the tree had vines wrapped around it previously or you cut next to something and it gets on the chain, your getting that "stuff" in your eyes. No leaves were on the vine so I had no idea what it was. I know now and so do others.

Strange vines? I usually carefully cut those from the area to be cut with loppers and remove them with gloved hands before using the chainsaw.

+1 to that

Lets see you easily cut a "branch" or vine that is 3-4'"+ with loppers.

 

[lindnova]

I am glad I am up north where it is only a ground vine. Nasty stuff to deal with when it climbs up trees!

When I was 9 I transplanted some small pine trees down by the road wearing shorts. I never got the rash after crawling around in poison ivy all day - it was everywhere down where I was planting. Lucky I guess. My mom walked down to see how it was going and got a rash on her legs from walking thru it once. I did have a reaction once when weed eating poison ivy in our ditch. Got a rash on my arms.

 

[TreePointer]

It's very rare to see 3-4" PI vines around here. I'll see some very big wild grape vines, but they are not "strange" to me, so I cut them with a chainsaw.

 

[Ashful]

It's very rare to see 3-4" PI vines around here.

Really? We have them everywhere, here. I must've cut more than 30 of them close to this diameter , when we moved into our current place.

 

[BEConklin]

Loppers won't do it for them bigger vines, that's for sure. When I absolutely have to, I deal with them with an axe......preferably in the dead of winter...etc....etc...

But the best way for me to handle PI is to avoid it if at all possible. If there's scrounge wood laying by the side of the road with PI vines on it, I'll leave it there. When I'm choosing trees for firewood, I go for the ones with no PI on them. I learned my lessons the hard way...I don't deal with PI very well.

I've got a couple of white oaks on the new property with massive vines on them going all the way up into the canopy. They're in places where I'd need an arborist anyway - too close to the house or powerlines - so I'll just have the crew take the wood with them. Others that I want to earmark for future felling, I'll cut the vines near the ground, paint the stumps with herbicide and let the vine rot for a few years - then fell the tree.

 

[BEConklin]

Years back I had a boss that had recently moved to CT from Alaska and he had no idea what Poison Ivy was. He bought a house with a stone wall in the back that was covered with it. He went at it with a weed whacker one hot day in July - wearing nothing but shorts and T shirt. Halfway through he took the shirt off as well. Poor guy wound up in the hospital.