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Post by FrostyTurnip on Jul 11, 2023 16:52:34 GMT -6
Just be very careful of the roots even of dead poison ivy plants. The oil [called urushiol] can remain active for years even in dead vines and roots. I have an extreme poison ivy allergy as does my mom and at least one of my children. Both my mom and I have had really bad cases, and that seems to build up some level of immunity. Our doctors tell us that immunity can wax and wane, and people who have never had a reaction to poison ivy sitll need to be really careful, as there can always be a first time. A bad exposure can mean a really dangerous case of poison ivy even in a person who’s never had it before. Heavyhitterokra, I’m really glad that with all that exposure you and your tractor had years ago that you never had a bad reaction. I’m glad it’s down to manageable levels. We didn’t ever see poison ivy on our property in Texas, and we only saw it once or twice in other places. I guess it’s too dry there for it to flourish or something. Almost as soon as we crossed the border into Virginia on our drive here, we stopped at a gas station. After filling the tank with gas, my husband pulled our minivan to the side of the parking lot to check the air in the tires, and I had to ask him to pull up farther so that I wouldn’t be opening the door too near a huge mass of poison ivy. The door wouldn’t actually have touched it, but it was just too close for comfort. This is why I do not hesitate using glyphosate on poison ivy and encourage others to do so. That large patch of my neighbor’s? Those with high allergic reactions would only need a whiff of its pollen drift to have a reaction.
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Post by macmex on Jul 12, 2023 6:25:05 GMT -6
This is one reason that it would be beneficial for a person with poison ivy allergies to obtain honey from right nearby. The bees would work poison ivy flowers for nectar and pollen and their honey would be tailor made for building immunity.
Here's my poison ivy "immunity" story:
When I was 5 or 6, my family moved to the town in NJ where I grew up. It was in Monmouth County, which happens to have a very very high amount of poison ivy. We had acres and acres of the stuff both crawling along the ground and climbing trees, in the margins of the forest. From the time we arrived until I left for college I had poison ivy on my person, probably with no respite. The first year we lived there I nearly stayed back a year in school, in part, because I had so much poison ivy that I missed a lot of school. (I suppose it didn't help that during warm weather I tended to walk the trails, barefoot and wearing only shorts.)
About the time I turned 11 my folks purchased a copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons. In that book the author mentioned poison ivy and gave a "logger's trick" for building immunity. He said to wait until it started to bud in spring and then eat one tinsy tiny leaflet a day, while the leaves were growing. I forget how long he said to do this. Well, I tried. I got poison ivy in my mouth!
I have always had a reaction to poison ivy but after so much exposure I have gotten to the point that my immune systems doesn't react as strongly and I have developed a strong resistance to scratching itches. My poor wife, on the other hand, gets it and it goes systemic, attacking internal organs. She has to go to the hospital!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Jul 12, 2023 6:44:09 GMT -6
I think our poison ivy and other pollen allergies were one reason that my mom started keeping bees when I was a kid. The bees eventually got wiped out by some sort of mite, but she has said that if my husband wants to start up beekeeping, she’s all for it.
My girls pulled our copy of Stalking the Wild Asparagus off our shelves in Texas to keep with them when they came to Virginia so that it wouldn’t be packed away in our many boxes of books. It was my dad’s copy, and I remember it from my childhood. My mom gave it to my oldest daughter some years ago after my dad passed away. They’ve been consulting it up here, I think mostly about berries.
I have never tried eating poison ivy leaves, and I don’t anticipate starting. I just prefer to keep away from it at this point.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 14, 2023 15:35:08 GMT -6
I’m an old skeptic to new things. I’ll try to keep this pithy. My lawnmower went down. They had no electric lawn mowers, but we did pick up a 40v weed eater from Walmart. I’ve been using it for a couple weeks now. The battery lasts about an hour. Takes 40 min to an hour to charge (it only charges when the battery is at a certain temperature so the charge time fluctuates for this reason.) Sometimes, when it’s hot I wish it would die so I can go back inside. Lol The work around for the duration of running time, of course, is to have multiple batteries.
It is just as powerful as a regular weed eater.
I don’t need to pull anything to start.
I don’t miss the stinky gas, the oil and messy what nots.
I don’t like the whole business of mining lithium, but that’s another story. I don’t run the planet.
Looking forward to a lawnmower that starts with the push of a button.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 17, 2023 15:51:42 GMT -6
I’m tired of coppicing Elm and Poplar instead of removing them. I have resorted to digging out most of their roots which is more effective but it is tiring and also doesn’t always work. So I have been looking into the use of triclopyr, salts and esters (Brush B Gone) and its application pursuant to the tree’s sap flow.
Sap flows upwards in spring and summer and downwards during fall and winter. But when is the best time to apply? Should the sapling be lopped off now for reduction of growth or is it best to wait and lop off prior to application?
Best time for application is when the tree is transitioning into dormancy, not while it is in dormancy. The sap needs to be flowing well in order for the product to reach the root system. If you apply it right before it goes dormant, then the product is downloaded while it is active and then it sits in the roots doing its thing through the entirety of the tree’s dormancy.
It is best to lop them off right before application of triclopyr, salts and esters. I’d like to lop them off now for the satisfaction of cleaning up the yard, but the sapling will partially die and the sap will not be very active causing a reduction of efficacy.
I’m not certain when dormancy hits, it’s different for each species and depends also on the climate. I’ll wait for the tree to lose all of its leaves and apply the production about a week following.
Elm is persistent with growth directly from the root system. Poplar is nefariously invasive by the spreading of its root system. Hopefully, this will retard Poplar, but it will probably only slow it down. Continued application may be necessary.
With the poplar, however, application of this product directly to the root system will probably retard the health of long standing poplar trees. I’ll take that chance
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 18, 2023 13:10:51 GMT -6
Frosty,
OSU recommended hitting the poison ivy and elm sprouts with 41% glyphosate 3 weeks before frost. (So around mid-September in this neck of the woods). They said that is the time when the trees are pulling winter stores down to the roots.
At first, I blew that recommendation off because it sounded like a good way to waste my expensive herbicide. Finally, one year, I bought the big 2.5-gallon jug of 41% Glyphosate and thought "What the heck? I'll try it and see what happens."
Let me tell you, that recommendation worked wonders! Spraying brush three weeks before frost smokes them dead as can be.
I use Eraser now though. It's a nonselective herbicide and it was cheaper than the 41% Glyphosate, though when I compared labels Eraser and 41% Glyphosate are the exact same thing, except Eraser had an added surficant. Who knows why it was cheaper? I bought mine at Atwood's in Tahlequah. 2.5 gallons will last me for several years. I mix it at a rate of 8 ounces per gallon of water and only use it maybe twice per year.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 18, 2023 23:19:04 GMT -6
Thank you for passing that information along. Takes the guess work out. I plan on painting or drilling the product. I have gobs of saplings whose roots are beneath concrete. If this product doesn’t work, I’ll try Tordon. You’ve recommended this before. I’m wanting to limit its reach, tho. I don’t want to take out my pecan tree. I may not have a choice.
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Post by rdback on Aug 20, 2023 8:40:19 GMT -6
...I plan on painting or drilling the product.
Hey B, you might want to look up "hack-and-squirt", if you haven't already. HERE is an example. I have Tree of Heaven here, and it is NOT heavenly. Very difficult to control/eliminate. I'm getting ready to give this a whirl.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 20, 2023 17:16:26 GMT -6
@rdback Accolades for that article. Superb. Thank you for posting it. Good luck on your removals. We’ve had explosive growth this year. Unfathomable, really. I cannot do anything else but clean up tree trash and dedicate saplings and trees to cull. Whew.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 26, 2023 21:18:05 GMT -6
After everything I just listed via Heavy Hitter Okra thread, we’ve been robbed within the last 48 hours. They cut through the metal panels of the shop and made off with a small tractor engine. We called to make a report. I cannot believe he actually asked us if we wanted to file a report. Um, yeah? He was all whiney about howthey cannot be everywhere. We’re in their frickin’ back yard. Time to load up and call the sheriff when we’re done? I’ll be here to chat with ya’ll, see how you’re doing, but we’re leaving this god forsaken city as soon as we can. I have tons (Literally) of stuff to go through and get rid of, 2 houses to bring up to code and professional thieves to trap.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 27, 2023 8:06:03 GMT -6
Frosty,
The audacity of that crime just burns me up.
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Post by amyinowasso on Aug 27, 2023 13:55:14 GMT -6
I am so very sorry. I can't imagine, after all the work you've done.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 27, 2023 20:08:07 GMT -6
Frosty, The audacity of that crime just burns me up. Please forgive me for inadvertently doing a tit for tat on the other thread. I do not want to diminish your hardships that are just as real and difficult. Knowing you, it is probably even more difficult than you are describing. It breaks my heart for you. To what purpose are grasshoppers and locusts but to cause hardship? At least thieves gotta regroup somewhere.
I was at a breaking point over the topic and lacked self restraint.
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Post by heavyhitterokra on Aug 29, 2023 13:48:16 GMT -6
Grasshoppers are an inconvenience. Being robbed involves violation of a person's personal space, a deep, festering wound that takes away a person's sense of safety and security. (No one has a right to visit that sort of harm on another person). Grasshoppers will die when winter comes, thieves live on to cause heartache and despair another day. Grasshoppers are nothing compared to the brazen predator mentality of a thief. Those kinds of personal violations would drive anyone to their breaking point.
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Post by FrostyTurnip on Aug 30, 2023 12:30:56 GMT -6
I’m not very good at jokes, but the other day I was considering concertina wire. I had to laugh hard. We’re in the backyard of the police department. We have new slum lord wannabes that bought houses sandwiching our old house.
And if their would be renters saw the concertina wire on the dilapidated home next to them after passing by the police department a block away?
Our houses being in disrepair has nothing do with our morals, pride, work ethic or priorities or mental health, etc. I must qualify this. There’s another reason, But for most, God blinds them to our truth because judgment is coming for them too. So, I no longer speak of it. (Matt 5:19)
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