There’s a tendril of poison ivy coming through our fence from a neighbor’s yard. The main body of the plant is on the other side of the fence. I have not yet met the neighbor. I suppose this is a good opportunity for doing so. He would probably not mind if I volunteered to do the plant in myself in return for access to his yard to do so.
I want to put a quick end to this plant before it spreads further, and I’d prefer to do so without using store-bought herbicides like glyphosphate. Ideally though I’d like a cheap, chemical-free way of eradicating it.
Uprooting it by hand is not appealing, though I have been considering taking one for the team and risking getting the rash just to get rid of the vine this one time.
Goats, suggested here, are alas not an option.
Here’s a concoction of household ingredients–vinegar, salt, and detergent. I feel as though green alternatives to common household products always use vinegar. I love vinegar’s versatility, but this seems almost too easy. Is it truly a substitute for everything? Though I am suspicious, I’ll probably try this, especially since I have a rough confirmation fromelsewhere.
Here’s is a similar concoction using orange oil. Orange oil is yet another miracle green household alternative. Hmm, we’ll see.
EDIT: I found this too on Garden Web–more evidence for vinegar, albeit high concentration vinegar, as weed-killer. This requires me to find the roots, which will definitely require a foray into neighbor’s yard.
Another technique I love the idea of, but have never used–with probably the least impact on the environment aside from physical pulling–is to pour boiling water on the offender.
Update: I have a plan to eradicate my Poison Ivy.
0 Responses to “Problem: Poison Ivy”