Poison oak and chicken eggs

[aart]

The vinegar and salt method works really great on a lot of things (including very well established ivy) but I haven't tried it on poison oak yet.

I've used it on many weeds(undesirable plants) over the years, it'll kill most foliage pretty quick, but it won't kill the plant without long term repeated applications...until you acidify and salt the soil enough to make it inhabitable.

 

[aart]

However, a hen that has been in the PO could transfer the oils to the egg shell after laying.

I don't use herbicides around the house but have used the roundup brush killer with success in other areas. Goats are also very effective at controlling poison oak.

..and goats teats, so if you milk them.....

 

[aliciaFarmer]

Goats are also very effective at controlling poison oak.

I keep telling my husband that. I've been working on him agreeing to goats for years. Now that he's getting over a huge PO outbreak, maybe he's more open to it.

 

[Ginmary]

In the same section as the round up, the stores sell "poison ivy" killer. I have used it for years. Just be careful to only spray the poison ivy leaves. I put a piece of cardboard behind it if it is near other foliage that I don't want killed. It works the first time. I have never needed to spray the same plant another time. It takes a couple of days to show but then you will have a dead brown plant. Removing it is the next problem. Even dead it is just as toxic. It kills it to the roots so I have never seen it grow back from the same dead plant. But, you need to either remove the roots with the rest of the dead plant or bury the root really well.

 

[April’s Zoo]

Really? It doesn't work? I was super frustrated when the roundup didn't work, and we have more growing in. I wonder if I can rig something up to spot treat with the brush killer. A lot of the poison ivy is near our raspberry and blackberry bushes and I don't want to kill those.
I may end up just digging up all of it that I find around the chicken's free range area and throw it deep in the woods, then put a tarp on it.....

It’s ivy— it will continue to spread out from under a tarp.... it can re-root and start spreading from wherever you put it.... it’ll be just like you are transplanting it. If you have a paved or concrete area or even could pile the ivy on a tarp before covering it, your way might work.... but keep in mind that digging the roots will release oils and those tarps should be considered disposable.
You *can* control brush killer by using a coarse, tightly-directed spray on a very calm day.... and using a piece of cardboard to block accidental overspray. Hold the tip of the sprayer close to the plant you are treating. Use one of the battery-operated or pump-style sprayers— not a squeeze-style, trigger sprayer. The trigger sprayers create more aerosolization and overspray than the other types. (Walmart now sells a battery powered sprayer attachment that replaces the trigger-type on standard yard chem bottles. It ends up costing less than buying the same chem that comes with the upgraded sprayer most of the time)
Read labels carefully before you buy! The products that stay active in soil, and prevent plants from growing for a while after, are usually called vegetation killer. Most other herbicides are inert if they come in contact with dirt. It will be clearly stated if the product is going to sterilize your soil or damage nearby plants via runoff.

 

[Chickassan]

Baking soda and water might kill it. Its worth a shot, just don't get it on anything green you want to keep despite it's simplicity its serious stuff.

 

[April’s Zoo]

I've used it on many weeds(undesirable plants) over the years, it'll kill most foliage pretty quick, but it won't kill the plant without long term repeated applications...until you acidify and salt the soil enough to make it inhabitable.

And any nearby plants whose roots grow into the acidic, salty soil will be damaged. Additionally the acid and salt can be pushed by water through loamy soil into other areas causing damage there, too. At that point it is basically the same as the vegetation killer— it might even be worse, because the minerals/salts don’t break down, the soil could remain sterile for years until it finally washes away.

 

[April’s Zoo]

Baking soda and water might kill it. Its worth a shot, just don't get it on anything green you want to keep despite it's simplicity its serious stuff.

it might, with heavy enough & repeated application.... but you’re still just changing pH and creating highly saline soil.

 

[aliciaFarmer]

Ours is poison oak, not ivy, which although "tougher" in that it has a thicker more woody stock, I think covering would work better than with poison ivy. We're cutting it to the ground and spraying with salty vinegar water then covering with thick cardboard and gravel, topped with river rock. I can't imagine it being able to get through that but thankfully ours is just growing in one small area, almost in a meandering path and nothing much is growing there outside of ground cover, a million hawthorn saplings and blackberry. I'll let you know how it works out. There are only three poison oak plants outside of that "path" so I'll see how I can get rid of those without poisons that could harm our chickens, ducks, bees or food gardens, etc.

 

[April’s Zoo]

Good luck with your effort. It may work, especially somewhere you don’t need to worry about trying to grow anything else.
What is up with the hawthorns up here in PNW? They are everywhere! They’re almost the only thing that outnumbers the wild blackberries, and they’re just barely outnumbered by the ferns. Those three things can grow anywhere.... including in near-darkness in the gravel way back under my deck!