Chicon Street Poison Ivy... An Unexpected Journey

Last weekend, my son and I worked for so long in the yard and made so much progress. When we were doing some work on the back neighbor's yard on the other side of the fence, the neighbor pointed out that some of the area we had not touched (it was further down the fenceline) had poison ivy on it. We were really glad we didn't touch it, but we knew that we'd have to get back there and take care of it next weekend. Phew! Crisis averted.

However, yesterday (10/18) there was no doubt that we had indeed encountered quite a bit of it. I thought it would be instantly itchy, but apparently it can take days to appear and then last weeks before clearing.

Last night we started some new treatments. Calamine lotion, baking soda paste, Benadryl, and a new soap. Today a friend brought over another new soap. This one contains jewelweed, which gets some good reviews online.

Our New Yardworking Clothing Line

Doing the research on how to treat this stuff, I've found that there are HUNDREDS of home remedies that are all supposed to be the best. I'd like to try all of them!

Before we get back into that yard, we're going to get 100% up on what poison ivy, poison oak, poison sumac, etc. before we even walk out there. We have to clear the rest of that fence and we also need that poison ivy to NOT be able to come back.

Here's one of the sites I believe it taking this stuff seriously.

I found a formula that I'm going to consider for treating the area in the lawn. This is to spray on the leaves so it'll get pulled down to the roots and kill the plant completely: 

It Doesn't Look Bad

"Make a mixture of 1 cup of salt, 1 gallon of vinegar and about 8 drops of dish detergent. Combine the salt and vinegar in a pan and heat to dissolve the salt. Allow it to cool, then add the liquid detergent and put the mixture in a spray bottle. You can spray the poison ivy or pour on the plant. This will kill all vegetation, so be sure to get it on the poison ivy."

Next time I get to a neighborhood meeting, I'm going to bring some show and tell. Pictures on the internet, an actual plant (in a clear plastic bag), soaps and other medicinal items, and a warning that you have to DIG UP the plant to get it to stop coming back. I read yesterday that their roots can go 8 inches deep!

It would be wonderful to be able to share this with the community so that no one will have to deal with this when they are just trying to clean up their yards!

Now... back to my skin treatments. Damn this itches!

What do YOU use to treat this?