Knowledgebase
Poision Ivy Removal #877447
Asked July 16, 2024, 11:07 AM EDT
Huron County Michigan
Expert Response
The first question I have for you is are you confident that you are dealing with poison ivy? Since you didn't include photos, you should be aware that there are plants that look like poison ivy but are not dangerous.
Poison ivy is not poisonous in the same way as other poisonous plants. All parts of the plant contain urushiol, which causes a reaction in 85% of people. The reaction can be mild in some and potentially deadly in others. Inhaling the smoke from burning the weed or eating any part of the plants can cause severe internal reactions that could lead to death. Urushiol remains in the plant when it's removed from the soil, so it's important to protect yourself at all stages of managing poison ivy.
That being said, a person must have physical contact with the plant to cause this reaction. If the weed is touching the plants or the roots are in the same soil as your garden, the urushiol could be left on the fruit or vegetables. I'm not sure whether a thorough rinsing could remove the urushiol.
The following are two good articles on poison ivy that I think you will find helpful in identifying and managing that weed.
https://yardandgarden.extension.iastate.edu/how-to/how-control-poison-ivy
https://www.aces.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/ANR-1460_TouchMeNots_081120L-A.pdf
I contacted poison control and am waiting for a reply. In the meantime, could you send photos of the affected areas? I might be able to give you a better answer.
I look forward to your response.
I am so excited to hear from you! I just took some more pictures and am uploading them. I'll send a link shortly. I believe it is poison ivy because last summer....I got it. The Nurse Practitioner told me that she thought it was poison ivy because the rash from poison oak is slightly different than what I had. At that point, I had no idea what poison ivy looked like. Since then I have had printed pictures of poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac hanging on my garage wall along with look-alikes. I will be in touch again shortly. Thank you! ~Kristen
https://www.amazon.com/photos/shared/G4nbL0k8TS6td1CG_n1fCQ.Nm83jXj8tC1sbknWJdYEdZ?pageIndex=0
Here are the photos I took. Please let me know if you have issues accessing them.
We live in town and our backyard is fenced off on one side. Last year, I spent the majority of the summer cleaning up and landscaping all along the back fence. Prior to that it was overgrown and not maintained.
The 3 photos from May 19 show the poison ivy growing "inside" of our raspberry patch.
The 4 photos from June 22 show it growing among my flower beds.
For the photos from yesterday, the cement block you'll notice in the background is the back side of our garage which has always consistently been a flower garden (peonies and day lilies primarily). Inside of these flower beds, I planted extra seeds of pole green beans and peas. As you can see, the poison ivy is growing among them. We have no intention of eating these green beans or peas as they were "extras" for us and it doesn't seem worth it to risk it.
The pink yard markers are indicating where I think there is poison ivy (or general area).
I'll also add, in case it is of any value, that I believe we have bunnies who either live between the garage and the peonies and lilies or frequent there often.
Thanks for the photos. Can you tell me how you identified these plants as poison ivy? They are not poison oak or poison sumac. Check out the link below that shows pictures of poison ivy, oak, and sumac. There is also a list of plants that are confused with poison ivy. I believe that some of these are also listed in the articles I gave you in my last email.
https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/poison-ivy-poison-oak-and-similar-plant-identification.html
I can't see any poison ivy in the photos you sent. There could be, but I think box elder leaves are in most of the pictures. Poison ivy can be a shrub, but most often it is a vine. I can't see any evidence of vines in the photos. Again, I may not be picking it out because there is so much foliage in some of the photos that I may be missing it. You can send pictures or a sample to our diagnostic lab at www.pestid.msu.edu.
FYI: I did receive a response from Poison Control. The recommendation is if the berries or vegetables are growing in the same soil, you should avoid eating any of the produce because of the usushoil in the roots of poison ivy.
I hope this information is helpful, but don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions or need more information.
Have a wonderful summer!
Hello. What a relief! I guess I assumed it was poison ivy based on the following:
- Identification with a photo using Google Lens - identified it as poison ivy
- I got into poison ivy somewhere in our backyard last summer, although I could not identify where it was
- The previous homeowners shared they believed they had some in the backyard; they had gotten a poison ivy rash
Thank you for the resources. I can see now the fine details that I wasn't noticing before. What I have growing is not vine-like.
Thank you!
Kristen
Good luck.
