Last year i noted that the thing growing in small clusters on the ground and in a thorough manner up one of the four oldest trees on the property was poison ivy. It was about half way up the trunk of the tree and looking very healthy. After much research i mixed up a 3 ingredient super solution that actually had a chemical reaction and heated the spray bottle. Certain i would do irreparable damage to myself if i got the solution on my skin or in my eyes, i very carefully sprayed every little patch of poison ivy on the ground. As for the ivy climbing up the tree…i didn’t see myself learning to levitate or renting a 100 ft ladder so i just cut the vine in half, severing it from its root system. Then i sprayed the bottom half…the part i could reach. The ivy turned brown and died and i thought i had addressed the problem. This was good because i had unknowingly planted a muscat grape vine right in the middle of the poison ivy months before. If i was ever to harvest grapes i had to rid the area of that which could not be touched. Well, it is may. I just went out there and noticed that not only did the poison ivy grow back in full force…it has traveled further up the tree than last year! The poor stunted grape vine wasn’t watered at all as i thought it was dead after icepocalypse but it did come back:..even if barely. I cut the poison ivy in half again at the base of the tree and sprayed the part connected to the root system underground with wasp poison. The leaves have wilted a bit but they did not die. In fact, they remain green and continue to spread. It must be getting water from the tree its roots are attached to. Its been a full week since i cut it in half and the thing is still alive and well. I cannot seem to kill the poison ivy. Eventually what i did was came home with another grape vine and planted it far away from the poison ivy covered tree. Sometimes you gotta know when to walk away.
