I have meadows that are infested with wild parsnip and poison ivy. I understand you can kill wild parsnip with round-up or by cutting off the rosettes and burning them. I have also been told you can kill poison ivy with round-up, but then what? The oil remains potent for years on a dead plant. you can't burn it because the smoke, (if inhaled), can cause severe lung irritation. Has any one run into this situation before? have you tried any of these approached? how did it work? Please, any experienced imput would be appreciated.

-- Jim Green (kg9mm@chorus.net), July 24, 2000

Answers

Sounds like you need to subcontract the job to a couple of pigs and goats.

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 24, 2000.

Hate to say this Jim, but good luck. Roundup really does work, but it is very costly-and then you have the 'remains' to contend with. The oil in poisin ivy stays viable for 100 years-read that in the Farmers Almanac. We sprayed our growth with a bleach solution, in spring, and when the leaves withered, cut the vines and dumped them in an inaccesable area of the property-a deep ravine. Don't compost. Don't burn.

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), July 24, 2000.

I have used bleach on P-ivy around the house but in feilds I didn't bother. On the other hand, for Queen Ann's lace I just mowed with a brush hog, twice a season, spring & fall, that and Goldenrod would go away eventually.

-- Hendo (OR) (redgate@echoweb.net), July 25, 2000.

I'll second the goats & pigs suggestion. I have already used goats to clear fencerows, and have a nice clover pasture that was converted from a weedfield just by goats grazing. Ironweed, goldenrod, wild parsnip, they love it all. The pigs are great for digging out roots, I turned them loose in my garden early this spring, and didn't even need to plow when they were done, they had done such a nice job of turning up the soil. They are currently working up a patch for winter wheat. Stock panels and steel posts make a sturdy and movable pen, so you can put them wherever you want. One warning, I have heard that you don't want to put pigs and goats together. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but the doesn't can get pretty ugly. Pigs are omnivores.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), July 25, 2000.

Yes, I know goats will do the job on poison ivy, though we don't have wild parsnip here. But my goats will reach through a stand of nice luscious grass to snip the tiniest leaf of poison ivy, like it is something delicious.

-- Lela Picking (Stllwtrs55@aol.com), July 25, 2000.

Our goats love to eat poison ivy. They usually like to work thier way to the plant at the back of the patch, getting the stuff all over them. After that some of them usually get quite friendly, running and jumping up on our lap while we are sitting in a lawn chair. Sometimes two or three smaller goats at the same time. You can probably figure out the end result here...

-- Ed Copp (Edcopp@yahoo.com), July 29, 2000.

Poison Ivy should not be erradicated in areas that are not recreationally used! There are many benefits of having the P.I. vine in the habitat including food for the many animals that feed on the berries. W. Parsnip is a challenge and I have practiced mowing the flower heads off before they go to seed!

-- Wolston Oldfather (Pondhawk@juno.com), June 13, 2001.

There is nothing that poison ivy provides to animals or the environment to justify it's incredibly obnoxious toxins. Animals can feed on grapevine, honeysuckle, or American Ivy. Poison Ivy should be erradicated at all costs.

And what ecological advantage can a plant get from causing skin eruptions 4 days after contact? By that time, you don't even remember what it was you touched!

The plant is a nuisance and must be destroyed!

-- Eric Steadle (esteadle@yahoo.com), June 14, 2001.

I've never seen such a bunch of wives tales in one collection before.

First, if you can, leave poison ivy alone and stay out of it; don't play in the wild parsnip when you're sweaty and the sun is out. We belong to the earth; the earth does not belong to us. It was here first. If you have to clear it around areas where you live and are likely to touch it, then kill it however you can. I like the goat and pig thing myself - then you can eat the pig and milk the goat. If you are rich enough to own large tracts of land that are infested and must be cleared, then you are rich enough to go to your local ag supply store and hire them to spray it with a good broadleaf herbicide. As for the Farmer's (i.e. stupid's) Almanac, have you seen any dead poison ivy sticks that were here when the automobile came into production? Not hardly. As for burning it, do it with a good hot fire of something else, don't stand in the smoke like a stupid ass and don't burn it where bystanders will get into it either.

Second, why do they call it "common sense" when so few people have it?

Third, why am I wasting my time on a website with the rest of the nerds of the earth?

-- Wuuden U. Laktuknow (dadesa@iowatelecom.net), June 20, 2001.