# Leaves of Three, let it be...



## JimP (Feb 8, 2002)

Keep an eye out folks,
“Leaves of three, let it be”
"Longer Middle Stem, Don't Touch Them"
“Berries white, run in fright”
“Hairy vine, no friend of mine”


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## hillbillie (Jan 16, 2011)

I've seen plenty poison ivy and sumac but never recall seeing poison oak. What areas is it common? 

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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

hillbillie said:


> I've seen plenty poison ivy and sumac but never recall seeing poison oak. What areas is it common?
> 
> Sent from my Torque using Ohub Campfire mobile app



Barry County. Been there, done that. Though it was many years ago.


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

hillbillie said:


> I've seen plenty poison ivy and sumac but never recall seeing poison oak. What areas is it common?
> 
> Sent from my Torque using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Poison Oak is generally found out west and some in the east. Not so much in the midwest. I've never seen it in MI. I've run into a lot of people that mis i.d. poison ivy, especially when the clumps of white berries are or display.


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Then there is a monster called "Poisonwood" that attacked me when I was fighting wildfires around Everglades National Park in 1973.

On days when we were not on the fire line we would do other things, like survey crocodile nest for eggs, count deer or do quail surveys. 

One of the jobs was to kill Casuarina Pines, an invasive species in the Everglades. It's root system is dense which made it difficult for the turtles to lay their eggs. This was a problem for the alligators since turtles were a primary food source for them. 

I spent many hours along the sloughs with a machete and a spray bottle full of Agent Orange girdling pines and spraying the cuts. 

We used a canoe to go to the opposite side. The banks were steep and there were lots of sturdy shrubs along them, just the right size to use as a handle to get up and down the banks.

After 5 or 6 hours of this my partner, who was native to Florida asked me if I was allergic to poison ivy, which I am. I told him so and all he said was "OOPS". Then he went on to tell me that shrub was poisonwood and that I was going to be in rough shape soon. I was. 

I am so allergic to poison ivy, sumac etc, I will likely break out from reading this thread.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metopium_toxiferum


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## Fabner1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Poison Ivy is just a nuisance to me. I pull small ones out of the ground with my bare hands. (real tough guy)

Poison Sumac on the other hand goes systemic on my ast! It starts at the point of first contact, then everywhere I have been wounded in the past, cuts, abrasions, scars all start swelling and itching all spreading out from there. Something you might wish on your worst enemy! Not FUN!

old


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Fabner1 said:


> Poison Ivy is just a nuisance to me. I pull small ones out of the ground with my bare hands. (real tough guy)
> 
> Poison Sumac on the other hand goes systemic on my ast! It starts at the point of first contact, then everywhere I have been wounded in the past, cuts, abrasions, scars all start swelling and itching all spreading out from there. Something you might wish on your worst enemy! Not FUN!
> 
> old


LOL! Speaking of using it on your "worst enemy", my wife has always said that we should "weaponize" the oil in poison ivy and use it as a non-lethal means of taking out the enemy. Just spray an area, wait a few days, and they would be SO miserable they would be unable to fight. Capture them and it's over. 

Women can be really mean!


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

DecoySlayer said:


> LOL! Speaking of using it on your "worst enemy", my wife has always said that we should "weaponize" the oil in poison ivy and use it as a non-lethal means of taking out the enemy. Just spray an area, wait a few days, and they would be SO miserable they would be unable to fight. Capture them and it's over.
> 
> Women can be really mean!


That delay in reaction happens when I contact it. It takes at least 2.5 days for the reaction to start. Most people take at least a day to start to react. For a defense mechanism it's hard to relate the encounter with the plant to the reaction much later. I understand the defensive mechanism of stinging nettle and multiflora rose!


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## DecoySlayer (Mar 12, 2016)

Don't forget that the plant is "active" even when it is dormant. You can come in contact with the oil from touching the vines. People with severe allergies should not burn poison plants since the oil can become airborne and they could breathe it in. Then they are really in trouble. I have known one person who was hospitalized by poison ivy. Stay clear if at all possible. You may not be allergic now, you never know when that could change.


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## Fabner1 (Jan 24, 2009)

I cut a lot of wood, just drive by in the fall and see! I cut some dead Elm (pronounced LUM in some areas of the South!) one fall after the leaves had fallen off everything. These trees had inch and a half thick Poison Ivy vines on them. I usually cut without gloves and I did that time. Bad mistake! The wood chips from the Ivy flying out of the saw and hitting my hands gave me a nice little rash! I now use Tea Tree Oil if I get a rash or sting (Allergic to Honey Bee stings now, after years of keeping Bee's!).

old


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

Buy a tube of Zanfel. Wash up with a dab or two after working outdoors. It works.

Even if you are already breaking out, it works. Use prophylacticly.


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## hillbillie (Jan 16, 2011)

The old timers said to wash with Fels Napa ( spelling?) soap 

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## Fabner1 (Jan 24, 2009)

Fels Naptha Soap

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha


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## TK81 (Mar 28, 2009)

eucman said:


> Poison Oak is generally found out west and some in the east. Not so much in the midwest. I've never seen it in MI. I've run into a lot of people that mis i.d. poison ivy, especially when the clumps of white berries are or display.


I stand corrected. Thought we got into poison oak as kids, but it must have been poison ivy. After reading your post I did a little googling. Two buddies and I camped under the stars one night when were about 11 or 12. Layed our tarp and sleeping bags right down in a patch of it. They got it bad. I was not allergic and did not. I never had to be careful around poison ivy until I was about 30. I mowed a big patch and must have inhaled some of the stuff. Throat and eyes started swelling shut. Had to rush to the doc and get a shot. I was pretty allergic for about 10 years and now I don't seem to be bothered by it again. It's all over my property (poison ivy).


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## hillbillie (Jan 16, 2011)

While on a overnight camping trip my brother's boy scout troop used poison sumac branches to build their latrine and firewood. A couple of the scouts had to be admitted to hospitals because they had inhaled smoke from the campfire and poisoned their lungs. My brother was given a massive dose of penicillin and had a reaction to that. 

Remember my Dad saying " Damn Fools"




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## jonesy16 (Sep 19, 2011)

Fabner1 said:


> Fels Naptha Soap
> 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fels-Naptha


I'm doing a mix of that and Tecnu. Seems to be going better then just dish soap. Had two bad out breaks this winter pulling vines on a mild day. Easier now that I can identify stuff. Also invested in a back pack sprayer and some round up. It is slowly disappearing. I've come to the conclusion it will never eradicate it from my property but if i can cut it down some it should be a little better.


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## Gamekeeper (Oct 9, 2015)

Jonesy16- I am extremely allergic to it now. But I live my life outdoors.

Zanfel is a soap that comes in a tube that draws the irritant oil out of the skin.
I can now pull PI in the spring when it's irritant oil is at it's most powerful, and then go in the house and wash up with it. Or, if I see a couple blisters between my fingers, whatever, I can wash up per directions and stop the infection.

I've had it exactly where no man would ever want it.

For the 7$, I *KNOW* I've got it covered.

I have Fels Naptha soap bars etc. and I just integrated Zanfel into my woods work, and don't bother with the rest anymore.


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## eucman (Jan 24, 2009)

Gamekeeper said:


> Jonesy16- I am extremely allergic to it now. But I live my life outdoors.
> 
> Zanfel is a soap that comes in a tube that draws the irritant oil out of the skin.
> I can now pull PI in the spring when it's irritant oil is at it's most powerful, and then go in the house and wash up with it. Or, if I see a couple blisters between my fingers, whatever, I can wash up per directions and stop the infection.
> ...


The Tecnu works great. As a preventative, I know a crew leader of a tree service who gets into P.I. regularly. He applies Dawn Platinum? dish washing detergent liberally to his exposed skin before cutting the tree tangled with P.I. He swears it works and prevents a rash.


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## Crawfish (May 7, 2002)

Yes, my poison ivy just sprang up over the past week. Beginning of last week, I noticed it starting to come up but it was only 2-3 inches. By the time I sprayed it yesterday, it was 12-18". 

Heavy dose of glyphosate with 2,4-D seems to have worked on a patch I sprayed last year. Yesterday I touched up a few stragglers on the edges of that patch, and then hit a newly discovered patch.


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## PerchPatrol (Mar 31, 2006)

Good thread - I have the rash on my arms right now from somehow getting into it over the holiday weekend. 
Havent had it for 20 years or so.

I always got it real bad as a kid, even after finding out what it looked like. Eventually traced it to the dog, who had no issues about rolling around in it.


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