The poison ivy problem

Over the winter I scouted out some particularly nice climbing trees. I've been revisting them lately to prepare to climb them. But alas my hopes have been dashed one by one as I find each of them guarded by poison ivy. What to do when some of the best wild trees in my area are sharing the woods with thick poison ivy? Two trees that I'm most interested in have no PI growing up the trunk, just thick on the ground surrounding the tree. Any ideas on how to get in and climb without getting myself in trouble?

Cut the vines carefully at the base take out a 6 to 12 inch piece for each vine. Wait a few weeks for the oil to dry up then it should be safe to climb. You will be doing the tree a favor being the ivy isn't any good for it and just compitition for food.

In this case the PI is mixed in with raspberry carpeting the entire area around the base of the tree out to the dripline. There's no PI vine on the trunk. I'm thinking of laying down a small tarp under where I'll hang an SRT access line. Once I'm in the canopy I'll climb DdRT on a 125 ft. rope, it won't touch the ground while I'm climbing. When I'm done stuff the tarp into a garbage bag and wash it later. It's all theoretical. This is a huge cottonwood, I really want to get into it.

When you wash the tarp, throw some rubbing alcohol into the wash; it's apparently a pretty efficient solvent of the active oil in poison ivy. Rubbing alcohol is also one of the best ways to get it off of your skin if you've been exposed.

I disagree about dried poison ivy being harmless. If you have a systemic reaction the dry ivy can still hurt you. It will depend on your tolerance level. I was climbing with Tengu last month in Mendecino County Calif. with a thick carpet of poison oak everywhere. Tengu is very sensitive to these plants and we used tarps, gloves, long sleeved shirts and Tengu used pre-wipe poisoin deterant before exposure and reapplied every few hours. He had a few small break outs but no strong reaction.

I am not allergic to the stuff but still treat it with respect. I hear you can become allergic suddenly even if you have a history on non allergic reactions.

I had the task of pulling and cutting out the poison oak. A remote tree climbing camp is being prepared for a gathering next year at this site. It overlooks the Eel River and is really pretty!

I have been allergic to that stuff for most of my life and I do respect it and try to stay away from it as much as possible. I have been treated many times and the allergic reaction may be getting stronger with the years. I have not been exposed lately but it gets pretty bad including visits to the Doctor for injections or the Antihistamine dose-packs. I agree w/ Treeman.

So Moss,...I know this is a recall from quite a while ago. But it's raining very hard here,(I'm house bound), and I've had way too much coffee on very little sleep. What solution did you come up with for the PI ground cover issue?

2chops wrote:

So Moss,...I know this is a recall from quite a while ago. But it's raining very hard here,(I'm house bound), and I've had way too much coffee on very little sleep. What solution did you come up with for the PI ground cover issue?

I went to the tree on a rainy day and pulled out all the PI by the roots going out 10 feet around the trunk. I wore raincoat and rain pants, double gloved latex gloves with cotton gardening gloves on top, hat, eye protection etc. I'm highly allergic to PI, had no problems following the removal. After I was finished I peeled off gloves into a garbage bag and stood in a stream and washed my boots. Last couple of years I've returned and pulled a couple sprigs of PI moving back in. the rest of the area around the tree is still full of ground cover PI, it's a low wet area.

The tree (eastern cottonwood) is a great climb:







-Andrew

WOW! Talk about armoring up. Good idea about the rainy day timming. Nice pics. Looks like the tree was worth the effort. We have a cottonwood here in town that's a state champ. Absolutely massive. I would love to climb it, but it sits in this old ladies front yard. I stopped by once to talk to her and asked a few questions about the tree. Judging from her tone, I think she would let me do it. She said there used to be a tree house in it a while back. I gave her my ISA credentials right off the bat to try to establish some credibility. I think I'm going to approach her about climbing it in the spring. I'll let you know how it goes.

Ron