Need some "Groundskeeping" Advice

[bogeybrown]

As many of you know, I just moved back to South Alabama. My "tenants" allowed my yard to become totally overgrown with ivy, creeping vines, poison oak/ivy/sumac. Almost all of my oak trees are covered in it, and one of my older oaks came down into my neighbor's yard. It was an otherwise healthy tree, more dense than Ash when I was cutting it.

I need some advice on what to spray this crap with that won't harm my oak trees. I've tried Ortho Ground Clear and it doesn't even make a dent. The yard is very shady, so most of the products that need to "burn" the vegetation in sunlight just don't work.

Anyone have a recommendation on a diabolical product I can get my hands on that won't poison my trees in the process?

Thanks guys.

 

[MtnCreek]

Round-Up. Look at Tractor Supply and Home Depot for off brand 41% glyphosate. You should be able to find it for less than $60 / 2.5 gal, sometimes less than $50. Mix per directions and spray vines on the ground. You can spray the vine leaves that are growing up the trunk, but don't spray the leaves of the trees. I'd cut larger vines and blot the cut end with undiluted glyphosate using a small paint brush.

This will kill the vines, but it's going to be a long process. Stay on it and it will work. Don't use 2-4D or similar broadleaf herbicides! They will leach into the ground and can damage the tree.

Edit: Congrats on the move back to LA!

 

[TheGerman]

You need the concentrated Roundup and do 2x-3x the concentration in the mix.

Poison Ivy is known to need more chemical to kill it, but it dies. If its near/over grass, just get the version that's safe on grass.

Also fun - hot boiling water.

 

[bogeybrown]

Thanks guys. I've got a Tractor Supply just up the road.

It's raining pretty solid today, so a good day to run errands and be prepared for when it dries out enough to "scorched earth" on this bitch.

 

[oneshot86]

bog, dude,
mow, mow hard and weedeat to gain access to the trunk base of trees, cut 1 ft linear pieces of the vine out and pull away...
just let everything topside die and crumble away after time. it will look like shit till the dead leaves fall off but do it all at the same time so you only have to see it once...
take caution, and i reall y mean it... poison whatever, dripping out of the vine and on to you will stupidly fuck you up...

story

i was cleaning a property line on some land we have...
cutting everything back to the fence so i can drive trucks next to the fence, to keep up maint and inspect for shit falling on the fecnce and letting cows out
heres where it gets good
i didnt recognise that there was some p oak there, the vine was a couple inches thick
i was using the chainsaw and cutting shit at eye level, i felt something leak down my r side body and it had a gas type tingle to it..i thought i was leaking gas on me
well turned out to be p oak, it ran out of that vine like a hose...
dude, it was bad, holy shit
cut out the sections low, so you wont get any on you...
be patient and waite a coupe weeks, after the vine is dead, leaves are gone you will be able to pull alot of it out of the trees
other than that get drunk and light everything on fire

 

[MtnCreek]

When I mix round-up, I fill the sprayer up about 2/3 with water, add the chem and mix well. Then fill the rest of the way and give it another quick mix. Helps keep it from foaming. You can add a touch of Dawn dishsoap or similar to use as a cheap surfactant. Diesel also works, but I don't believe I'd use it around trees.

Givem Hell.

 

[Veer_G]

One more unnecessary vote for Round-Up. It kills nuisance vegetation deader than Julius Caesar.

 

[TheBigCountry]

Regular household bleach with a few drops of Dawn is another option, especially on the poison ivy.

 

[supercorndogs]

bog, dude,
mow, mow hard and weedeat to gain access to the trunk base of trees, cut 1 ft linear pieces of the vine out and pull away...
just let everything topside die and crumble away after time. it will look like shit till the dead leaves fall off but do it all at the same time so you only have to see it once...
take caution, and i reall y mean it... poison whatever, dripping out of the vine and on to you will stupidly fuck you up...

story

i was cleaning a property line on some land we have...
cutting everything back to the fence so i can drive trucks next to the fence, to keep up maint and inspect for shit falling on the fecnce and letting cows out
heres where it gets good
i didnt recognise that there was some p oak there, the vine was a couple inches thick
i was using the chainsaw and cutting shit at eye level, i felt something leak down my r side body and it had a gas type tingle to it..i thought i was leaking gas on me
well turned out to be p oak, it ran out of that vine like a hose...
dude, it was bad, holy shit
cut out the sections low, so you wont get any on you...
be patient and waite a coupe weeks, after the vine is dead, leaves are gone you will be able to pull alot of it out of the trees
other than that get drunk and light everything on fire

Poisson Ivy can get you from the smoke when you burn it. I don't know about the Oak and Sumac.

 

[Maggot]

bog, dude,
mow, mow hard and weedeat to gain access to the trunk base of trees, cut 1 ft linear pieces of the vine out and pull away...
just let everything topside die and crumble away after time. it will look like shit till the dead leaves fall off but do it all at the same time so you only have to see it once...
take caution, and i reall y mean it... poison whatever, dripping out of the vine and on to you will stupidly fuck you up...

story

i was cleaning a property line on some land we have...
cutting everything back to the fence so i can drive trucks next to the fence, to keep up maint and inspect for shit falling on the fecnce and letting cows out
heres where it gets good
i didnt recognise that there was some p oak there, the vine was a couple inches thick
i was using the chainsaw and cutting shit at eye level, i felt something leak down my r side body and it had a gas type tingle to it..i thought i was leaking gas on me
well turned out to be p oak, it ran out of that vine like a hose...
dude, it was bad, holy shit
cut out the sections low, so you wont get any on you...
be patient and waite a coupe weeks, after the vine is dead, leaves are gone you will be able to pull alot of it out of the trees
other than that get drunk and light everything on fire

This.

And be careful burning the remains. The poison in the smoke can wreck your lungs.

Tractor Supply has generics called Cost Cutter, and Groundwerks that are about 1/2 the price f the name brands. Groundwerks makes some good weed killers but be careful around the trees.

 

[Rthur]

Roundup/glyphosate with some 2-4d/hi-dep also add in some dawn dish washing liquid to break the surface tension.
As stated double or triple the roundup rate. Add in a solid dose of 2-4d/hi-dep. Your spray should look like weak milk.
This should put a serious dent in the listed above.
This is also safer than mechanical removal.

R

 

[bogeybrown]

Thanks guys. I'm actually using a pair of the insulated rubber "BBQ" gloves to pull shit down, having learned my lesson (more than once) of getting regular work gloves saturated with poison whatever.

Heres a few pics of a small piece of what I'm dealing with:


I've already manually de-vined that sweet gum in the foreground of the first picture.

 

[Maggot]

Thanks guys. I'm actually using a pair of the insulated rubber "BBQ" gloves to pull shit down, having learned my lesson (more than once) of getting regular work gloves saturated with poison whatever.

Heres a few pics of a small piece of what I'm dealing with:


I've already manually de-vined that sweet gum in the foreground of the first picture.

Not all that bad.

But that sweet gum, what a totally worthless piece of vegetation. Drips gooey shit all day the if you cut it down you cant split it even with a hydraulic splitter and if you do, it wont burn.

 

[bogeybrown]

I hear you on the sweetgum Maggot . I've got three of them, two conveniently cover my driveway and coat my truck for me. One has sent an 8" root under my slab. These bastards haven't even attracted woodpeckers the way many do and are growing exponentially faster than my oaks. What they do help provide is much needed shade, ensuring my house doesn't get above 85* even in the worst of summer.

 

[W54/XM-388]

Get a big bottle of this to keep on hand:

https://www.teclabsinc.com/products/poison-oak-ivy/tecnu

It works wonders in keeping you from the results of irritant plants.
You can also put it in the wash with your clothes like fabric softener.

 

[WATERWALKER]

Poison Ivy is a bitch. Long after it's dead you can still get a full blown reaction to that shit. Years ago, I was bunny hunting in a swamp. Well, I put a dip in my mouth & I had to make some yellow snow too. I'm sure y'all can figure out the rest. This is Michigan. In late January. The worst part is having that shit in the webbing between your fingers. Instead of paying $120 for a tube of cream that took 3-4 days to work, my neighbor (a 90+ year old USC from Lithuania) turned me on to jewel-weed. You harvest the plant & roll it in your hands til it makes a green liquid / rough paste & apply to all areas generously. The jewel-weed works immediately. The blisters will be gone in a few hours most times, but the the itching stops immediately. It grows near ditches, ponds, creeks or anywhere else near water. At least a stuffed Ziploc bag in the freezer at all times is a must if you live in close proximity to poison ivy. Not sure if it works w/ poisons sumac & oak.

 

[Mike Casselton]

On a lighter note, it looks like you got a jon boat in the deal

 

[bogeybrown]

Get a big bottle of this to keep on hand:

https://www.teclabsinc.com/products/poison-oak-ivy/tecnu

It works wonders in keeping you from the results of irritant plants.
You can also put it in the wash with your clothes like fabric softener.

Thanks for the recommendation, I definitely need that in the tool room, especially with a northern girlfriend who is discovering all the joys of southern flora and fauna. The other morning she discovered fire ants for the first time in her life. It's been fun.

@MikeCasselton, even better than a John boat, that's an old Tracker that belonged to my dad and his brother. My uncle gave it to me after my dad passed. Now they're both gone, so it's going to be a project for my gf and I to work on and enjoy in their honor.

 

[powdahound76]

Spray that crap and go fishin in thatjon boat while you wait for it to die!
thats surely the proper way!

congrats on the escape from the commie chi town!

 

[TheGerman]

Don't mind me. Just sitting here playing my banjo.

 

[thejeep]

I would kill the shit out of with the aforementioned weed killer. Pull or weed eat the dead shit up and if you want it gone for good you must block all sunlight with thick plastic for a month or two. Ivy is a bitch.

 

[TheGerman]

The irony is that I am from Bavaria, and I do not believe I have ever owned a pair of lederhosen in my life.

But if I'm in Bogey's yard from the pics above, I'm definitely bringing a banjo.

 

[bogeybrown]

Just got back from Tractor Supply with the 41% concentrate liquid and some 70% granules. If it would ever stop raining I'll see what it does.

If that don't work, my buddy has offered me a couple of goats that are set to arrive in a few weeks. I'm tempted to leave this shit alone and see what kind of damage 2 goats can do. My lady is begging for the goat option, so I may hold off on coating my whole yard in poison. Decisions decisions

 

[TheGerman]

Never thought I'd hear, 'My lady is begging for the goat option', but hey, it is Alabama.

 

[MtnCreek]

Goats will eat it, but they're not going to kill it.

 

[Mike Casselton]

If you go to Bogey's yard, I'd suggest:

Dude,
I don't ever wanna wear a suit like that again. Had to occasionally don one for hydrazine response on F-16's.
Winter wasn't so bad, but anything over 80* was miserable.

Now, as for wearing one at Bogey's in LA, and the icky vines.
Not no, but hell no!
Anyway, how the hell do you drink your beer or sip yer whiskey in that thing?

 

[supercorndogs]

Just got back from Tractor Supply with the 41% concentrate liquid and some 70% granules. If it would ever stop raining I'll see what it does.

If that don't work, my buddy has offered me a couple of goats that are set to arrive in a few weeks. I'm tempted to leave this shit alone and see what kind of damage 2 goats can do. My lady is begging for the goat option, so I may hold off on coating my whole yard in poison. Decisions decisions

You can get a brush and bucket and apply it only the leaves of the vines you want to kill, with the brush.

http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Poison-Oak Is this where the goat idea came from?

 

[bogeybrown]

You can get a brush and bucket and apply it only the leaves of the vines you want to kill, with the brush.

http://www.wikihow.com/Kill-Poison-Oak Is this where the goat idea came from?

Thanks man, but there is really no way for me to tackle this with a brush.

The goats are an offer from a buddy who has some new ones arriving. I like the idea but it now appears they won't get here till September, so as soon as I can get a day without rain I'm going to get started with the Round Up. The pain is going to be digging out about 20 poison sumac plants after I've nuked them.

 

[sjoliat]

I've been going through the same thing myself, except my land is a few acres of wide open field with over a hundred patches of poison ivy basking in the sun. Never in my life prior to this have I seen poison ivy growing in full sun. I got the Tractor Supply version 41% glyphosate and mix roughly 10 oz per gallon. Takes a few days to see results but it will kill it for sure.

 

[vh20]

10 oz/gal?? 3 will kill pretty much everything. I generally use about 2.5. Yes, it takes about a week to effect.