Beware poison ivy

The Standard
Posted By By TIFFANY MAYER

Nancy Iannizzi knows it when she sees it.

The infamous three leaves with a slight sheen and jagged edges.

Lately, she's been seeing a lot more of it.

It's poison ivy and she's seeing too much, if you ask her.

"I hadn't seen it for years, but now it's back and it seems to be back in a fury," Iannizzi said.

The Merritt Trail she enjoys walking - It's "covered" with the noxious weed that causes an irritating rash that's no match for a bottle of calamine lotion.

Along the Welland Canal? Ditto. The ravine along Woodruff Avenue?

"It's loaded with poison ivy," Iannizzi said.

Turns out, concerns about poison ivy in the Garden City are sprouting up now more than ever, said Jerry McLaughlin, the city`s acting parks manager.

"Within the last few years, we have seen a lot more of it. We're probably responding to a lot more poison ivy requests than ever," McLaughlin said.

Those requests are from people itching to do away with the plants that lurk in forests, ditches and greenspaces, and snake their way up trees as clingy vines.

Some of the city's poison ivy hot spots include the CN rail spur, Government Road and Broadway Avenue.

McLaughlin attributes the surge to people becoming more aware of what poison ivy looks like.

However, with the city's pesticide ban taking effect this year and the provincewide prohibition on the chemical concoctions ramping up for 2009, dealing with the tough-to-kill plants isn't going to be easy, McLaughlin said.

"It's really hard to get rid of it because of the root system it has," he said. "You can only spray what you see."

The city has a stock of Roundup at the ready to take the poison ivy out, but more earth-friendly ways of dealing with it are being tested, including a vinegar product to kill it and corn gluten to keep it from ever breaking through the soil.

But for those who stumble upon poison ivy in their home garden, local master gardener June Streadwick has another suggestion.

Dig up the plant as much as possible, making a trench around the roots and pour several gallons of boiling water on it, Streadwick said.

Leave the roots exposed to the elements and nature should take care of the rest. But leaving any trace of the roots means the plant will make a comeback.

When the poison ivy is dead, throw it in the garbage, not the compost.

And perhaps most importantly: "When you dig it up, make sure your arms and hands are covered up," Streadwick said. "You just have to handle it so carefully."

Leaves of three, let it be: How to identify poison ivy

Poison ivy has three almond-shaped leaves. Each leaf has some or no teeth along its edges and its surface is smooth. It sometimes has a sheen to it.

The leaves are dark green and turn bright red in the fall. The plant also has greyish-white berries.

A poison ivy vine has lots of hair along the stem.

Burning it won't help. That just makes the urushiol oil, which causes rashes, to become airborne. If the smoke is inhaled, the rash can appear on the lungs, causing extreme pain and respiratory difficulty.

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