Acres of Poison Ivy

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I'm pretty sure people are the only ones who have trouble with poison ivy.

Chickens should be fine foraging in that area.

I see you are already aware what will happen when you touch the chickens after they walk through poison ivy.

I was reading somewhere that it’s bad for chickens?
If not that solves a few acres of issues lol

 

[sourland]

I can’t imagine getting more animals at this point. Working our way slowly towards a farm we failed with chicken math and have 27 and still need to build our coop.
I could maybe rent some goats

There are actually folks who rent goats to provide this service. A state park on the NJ shore used their service to control a poison ivy overgrowth. They even provided portable fencing.

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

Goats browse, not Graze. They will eat the Ivy, and it won't seemingly hurt them, but they won't get rid of it, and they may transfer it to you if you touch them after they've rubbed against it. Transfer can happen with your chickens, too - they are smart enough not to eat a harmful amount of the stuff.

Rather than Glyphosphate, I recommend Triclopyr, which is great for woody vines. 2,4-D, unfortunately, is not. The local forestry services (FL, GA, and AL) all recommend a product with just Tryclopyr for poison ivy control, as opposed to one with both Tryclopyr and 2,4-D.

Source (among others)

You're sure its not Virginia Creeper (some of it???) Just being hopeful here, its often mistaken for poison ivy.

I dove deep into researching poison ivy and I really wish it was all Virginia Creeper we have some VC but the ground is covered in PI for sure. I’ll look into that! I’d like to peruse the least earth destructive route but I also hate the ivy

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

There are actually folks who rent goats to provide this service. A state park on the NJ shore used their service to control a poison ivy overgrowth. They even provided portable fencing.

Yes I’ve heard of that however unsure if that exists in my area.
I mostly worry that most goats come with dogs and I have a pack that is not friendly to other dogs and I know dogs that protect goats would easily take on my pack

 

[GardenCityChickens]

Year one living here pregnant AF dogs roaming all in it and rubbing up against my legs. I thought I was going to rip my legs off and throw them away

You have enough to worry about without the poison ivy too! Being pregnant is hard work! I hope you get some relief soon

 

[U_Stormcrow]

There are actually folks who rent goats to provide this service. A state park on the NJ shore used their service to control a poison ivy overgrowth. They even provided portable fencing.

I own goats. and forest. with poison ivy. and Carolina Creeper.

It takes a long time for the goats to eat anything down to the ground - which is what you have to do, repeatedly, to take out poison ivy. Which is why you see the portable fencing - its to keep the goats in a small area and force them to do what they won't do naturally - it keeps them from moving on to better browse.

Then you have to re-treat. Till the plant starves. In the interim, the goats are doing the same to every other thing they are browsing on. In the case of my youpon holly, I'm celebrating, some of the other plants, not so much.

The Triclopyr is used routinely around here (bought as concentrate, mixed with water, and applied with a pump up sprayer on a windless day) in fields used for bee keeping, so I know you can use it w/o destroying the whole ecosystem. It **IS** designed for killing woody broad leaf plants, so while your grasses will ignore it, and your pine trees, and the like, you need to be careful with it around say, a magnolia or a baby oak. What forestry does is hack unwanted broad leaf trees once or more with a machete, then spray the cut, move on. For trees, it can take a while to kill them off. MUCH faster with vines and broad leaf ground covers

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I recommend Triclopyr

After reading up on your link I’m more worried about that product damaging our trees I want to keep the forest but eliminate the poison ivy

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

You have enough to worry about without the poison ivy too! Being pregnant is hard work! I hope you get some relief soon

That happened year one here we are now into year 3 and it’s not been near as bad as year 1 but I hate the constant battle and running to rinse off

 

[HeathenHavenHomestead]

I own goats. and forest. with poison ivy. and Carolina Creeper.

It takes a long time for the goats to eat anything down to the ground - which is what you have to do, repeatedly, to take out poison ivy. Which is why you see the portable fencing - its to keep the goats in a small area and force them to do what they won't do naturally - it keeps them from moving on to better browse.

Then you have to re-treat. Till the plant starves. In the interim, the goats are doing the same to every other thing they are browsing on. In the case of my youpon holly, I'm celebrating, some of the other plants, not so much.

The Triclopyr is used routinely around here (bought as concentrate, mixed with water, and applied with a pump up sprayer on a windless day) in fields used for bee keeping, so I know you can use it w/o destroying the whole ecosystem. It **IS** designed for killing woody broad leaf plants, so while your grasses will ignore it, and your pine trees, and the like, you need to be careful with it around say, a magnolia or a baby oak. What forestry does is hack unwanted broad leaf trees once or more with a machete, then spray the cut, move on. For trees, it can take a while to kill them off. MUCH faster with vines and broad leaf ground covers

Our woods are mainly cedar and pine with dapples of oak and the bane of my existence sweet gum trees

 

[U_Stormcrow]

After reading up on your link I’m more worried about that product damaging our trees I want to keep the forest but eliminate the poison ivy

Your forest, your decision. Triclopyr is more selective than Roundup, and less damaging to the ecosystem - but it is serious business, and needs to be used the right way.

Here's a longer article, covering most available herbicides (not all of which may be available to you). Hope it helps in your efforts to make an educated decision on control methods - and I do applaud your choice to research first. Wish more would do so.