# Is this poison ivy???



## Snigg (Sep 13, 2013)

I got a bad case of poison ivy back in May, and I'm a bit paranoid nowadays.  I scored a few rounds of cherry this week, and was careful with a couple of them due to this hairy looking vine.  The leaves look like a regular ivy, but I would rather be safe than sorry.  Thanks in advance.


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## dasuberdog (Sep 13, 2013)

Looks like it to me, but hard to tell without the leaves, could  be english ivy, but I'm leaning to the itchy stuff.  Just slice it off with an axe if you are allergic put it in a plastic bag. try not to burn the vine the active ingredient (*Urushiol*) could get into your lungs.  When I get an outbreak I use the hot water method, helps speed up recovery and subdues the itch, Holding the rash under as hot as you can stand without being burned water for about 1-2 minutes.


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## chazcarr (Sep 13, 2013)

Leaves of three let it be.  I am still on topical steroids for my bout of poison ivy.  Those look exactly like the things that gave it to me.


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## Jon1270 (Sep 13, 2013)

Leaf shapes on poison ivy vary a bit, but you can get a general idea from a Google image search.


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## ScotO (Sep 13, 2013)

Looking at those leaves, I'm going lean towards English ivy.  But it'd pay you to be careful and play it safe, get an old pair of gloves, peel it of as best you can, dispose of it and the gloves.....

But I'm around 95% certain its NOT PI.


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## billb3 (Sep 13, 2013)

The english ivy I have growing  on my garage does not have hairy roots like that and the leaves are shaped more like a small maple leaf.
Photo 7 looks like english ivy

The poison ivy that grows up trees here has hairy roots just like that.
Dried up is supposedly when the oils are released more readily and there are plenty in the roots.
Photo 6 looks like PI vines have been pulled off leaving hairy roots behind but you could have had both there at one time or the hairy root stuff is something else completely.

I've pulled them off with needle nose pliers and still been careful cutting not to get saw chips on bare skin.


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## Applesister (Sep 13, 2013)

The leaves look like English Ivy. But when I opened the pic...I said Holy Sh*t!!
Aerial roots ARE a major identification of Poison Ivy. Virginia Creeper does the same thing. 
Black cherry is a hedgerow tree and poison Ivy loves living on the edge of the woods.
You can do what the other guy said and scrap all the bark off to salvage the wood. But...wear gloves. 
I dont know if English Ivy gets vines that turn woody, maybe...but that looks creepy to me. The tree isnt as old as the vine. It takes a LONG time for a vine to get that size.


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## Applesister (Sep 13, 2013)

The smoke from the wood is way more dangerous than any rash.


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## Augie (Sep 13, 2013)

dasuberdog said:


> When I get an outbreak I use the hot water method, helps speed up recovery and subdues the itch, Holding the rash under as hot as you can stand without being burned water for about 1-2 minutes.



Better than the hot water method is the Hair Dryer Method. Same principal, same results, and the hair dryer helps dry the blisters out. 

Holding the rash under the hot setting on a hairdryer as you can stand without being burned, usually 45sec 1min 30sec is good.


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## paul bunion (Sep 13, 2013)

The leaves are English ivy and English ivy vines can look like that so you are probably safe.


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## Mitch Newton (Sep 13, 2013)

Scotty Overkill said:


> Looking at those leaves, I'm going lean towards English ivy.  But it'd pay you to be careful and play it safe, get an old pair of gloves, peel it of as best you can, dispose of it and the gloves.....
> 
> But I'm around 95% certain its NOT PI.



I'm with Scotty


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## JOHN BOY (Sep 13, 2013)

Cut the end of the vine and rub it on your best friend ,, next day you will no


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## Paulywalnut (Sep 13, 2013)

I too think its English Ivy. I am not allergic to the poison ivy and have never had it but I have seen poison ivy and English ivy growing together in a hedgerow.
Just be careful if you get it that easily.


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## Coog (Sep 13, 2013)

chazcarr said:


> Leaves of three let it be.  I am still on topical steroids for my bout of poison ivy.  Those look exactly like the things that gave it to me.



We tell our kids the same catch phrase.  

Ya, English ivy does look a lot like poison ivy but the leaves differentiate.  I have a lot of the poison kind around my place.  I always take extra precautions when weed eating around the trees.  Just wash your hands before you take a whiz.


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## Jacktheknife (Sep 13, 2013)

Paulywalnut said:


> I too think its English Ivy. I am not allergic to the poison ivy and have never had it but I have seen poison ivy and English ivy growing together in a hedgerow.
> Just be careful if you get it that easily.


I'm not allergic either, we should get t-shirts made. 

The woods outback our cabin was overgrown with the stuff, I used to lead my cousins through it. Man, good times.


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## Ram 1500 with an axe... (Sep 13, 2013)

Looks like ivy, poison ivy has leaves of three...no?


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## Hearth Mistress (Sep 13, 2013)

The tree that fell on my house had English Ivy vines over a inch in diameter but it's harmless.

THIS vine, however, Virginia Creeper gets hairy vines, climbs on anything it can and makes me break out worse than any poison ivy I've ever accidentally came in contact with. Watch for it, 5 shiny leaves, my hubby calls it "pot ivy" for the obvious reasons but whatever helps you look for it


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## Hearth Mistress (Sep 13, 2013)

Here's a picture of the English Ivy vines. Granted this tree was 85 ft tall and a Husky saw with a 32” bar had to make 2 cuts to get through it as the vines added a few inches stacked on top of each other.  English Ivy CAN get big vines...


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

English ivy.


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

Positive that's English ivy. I am fixing to have a contract let for removal job.  Not me doing it but I have my herbicide license and I oversee jobs on federal property.

Positive its ivy,  even though some lady on a base promised me they were poison ivy,  even though the trees are eat up with English ivy vines.


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## NortheastAl (Sep 14, 2013)

Those leaves are def English Ivy. Had lots of PI growing on trees this year.


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## Wood Duck (Sep 14, 2013)

The leaves in the initial post are English Ivy. English Ivy grows thick hairy vines just like Poison Ivy. Virginia Creeper also gets hairy vines, but not as thick as the vine in the first picture.

I have never heard of anyone getting a rash from Virginia Creeper (until I read this thread), but I have many, many times found a little bit of Poison Ivy growing in a patch of Virginia Creeper. Both vines grow in places where birds crap out the seeds after eating the fruit, and both like sunny edges of woods, fence lines, etc.


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

I missed the part about va creeper giving a rash! What its not poisonous? Maybe its like how some folks are allergic to peanuts??   But I'm not allergic to poison ivy either. Can I get a shirt?


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## Corey (Sep 14, 2013)

I concur - the leaves you show are english ivy - usually not a problem.  Though you always have to be careful - poison ivy can/does co-mingle with other vines and sometimes the other vine can choke the leaves off the poison ivy.  So you have the poison ivy vine with all it's rash causing potential, but no real leaves to warn you.

A couple months ago I was hacking through a hedge tree with what I thought was a thick creeping virginia vine.  Virginia doesn't bother me, so I was hacking through it, chucking rounds in the truck, hacking some more, etc.  As I get to the end of the log, I find those familiar 'mitten' shaped poison ivy leaves.  CRAP!!  A closer look shows those leaves attached to a poison ivy vine co-mingled with the creeper, though the creeper had choked off most of the poison ivy leaves, so it wasn't immediately clear there were two separate vines just by looking at the trunk of the tree.  I got home and did a good cleansing in Tecnu, but still got a pretty good rash on my wrists right where my leather gloves ended.


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

Mitten leaf is poison oak?, not a vine but a ground dweller. Also poisonois


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## Wood Duck (Sep 14, 2013)

clemsonfor said:


> Mitten leaf is poison oak?, not a vine but a ground dweller. Also poisonois


Poison Ivy has three-part leaves. I am not sure what Clemsonfor means by 'mitten leaves' but sometimes Poison Ivy has large teeth on the edges of its three-part leaves, and I guess that might make them look a little like mittens. Usually when I hear 'mitten shaped leaves' I think Sassafras.


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

Do you know what poison oak is?  You would know what the mitten leaf is. Poison ivy has ridges or edges on the. Leaf but not really a mitten.


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## lumbering on (Sep 14, 2013)

I vote English Ivy.

I am way sensitive and paranoid about poison ivy.

But I pull that english ivy off my trees every few weeks. its out of control. 99% sure english ivy


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## clemsonfor (Sep 14, 2013)

I'm 100% sure its English ivy.


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## firefighterjake (Sep 15, 2013)

Jacktheknife said:


> I'm not allergic either, we should get t-shirts made.
> 
> The woods outback our cabin was overgrown with the stuff, I used to lead my cousins through it. Man, good times.


 
Never had an issue with it either . . . until about three weeks ago. I'm happy to say that this week I am most definitely feeling better.


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## Foragefarmer (Sep 16, 2013)

Jacktheknife said:


> I'm not allergic either, we should get t-shirts made.
> 
> The woods outback our cabin was overgrown with the stuff, I used to lead my cousins through it. Man, good times.



I will take one of those t-shirts as well. I am not allergic either, but I still respect it. I am pretty sure I gave someone PI by touching them after I had been pulling some off a tree.

I always thought Virginia Creeper was fine.


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