Kill Poison Ivy

Poison-ivy (Rhus radicans L.) is a climbing plant of the sumac family aka toxidendrons and can be found in every state in the US and most of Canada. Poison Ivy vines can grow over 30 feet high when attached to a tree and you can kill poison ivy by cutting it or sprayed or cut. You must handle poison ivy with care when removing, cutting or killing poison ivy as contact with it directly or by touching a tool or clothing that came in contact with poison ivy can easily cause an outbreak.
You never want to burn freshly cut poison ivy as the urushiol resins don’t burn up but become airborne, can be inhaled or cover any exposed skin such as the face and arms. This can result in a terrible outbreak and reaction. If you even suspect that there might be poison ivy being burned near you, position yourself upwind from the fire to avoid exposure.

You can kill poison ivy that is growing high up in a tree by cutting out a section (about 6 inches) of the vine near the ground. The plant above the cut will die and dry up. Once the leaves have thoroughly dried, the urushiol resin will oxidize and deactivate – no longer able to cause a reaction to people. The vines will dry up during a cold winter and will also deactivate becoming safer to handle.

Not all herbicides are effective killing poison ivy and the label should read that it is effective for poison ivy.

Killing poison ivy when it grows among plants and flowers is a bit tricky as herbicides will also kill plants you want to keep. Pulling up smaller plants and getting the roots is effective control but you must wash up immediately with a good orange soap, poison ivy scrub, mineral spirit type spray and disinfectant containing surfactants like Benzalkonium Chloride. Pumice soaps are also effective removing urushiol resins when used within 30 minutes of exposure. I have personally used all of these to remove urushiol from my skin when I have handled poison ivy and they are all effective.