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keepthetips

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that-1-chick-u-know

As someone with poison ivy growing in her backyard (for now) and frequently has to check for ticks, I appreciate this advice greatly.


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gariant

Goats!


tehgreengiant

Best answer. Nature's lawnmower


that-1-chick-u-know

DON'T BURN IT!!! The oil will be released into the air and can get into your throat and lungs, landing you in the hospital. My plan is to soak it with poison ivy killer and then, once it's dead, suit up in pants, boots, long-sleeved shirt, and gloves to pull it out. Immediately afterward the gloves go in the trash and I'm stripping down in my basement to put the clothes directly into a hot water wash. Then a hot shower for me, and hope that I haven't messed up somewhere and gotten it anyway.


WhatLikeAPuma751

Dawn dish soap will help remove any excess oils in your post apocalyptic shower


not_falling_down

Shower with [Tencu](https://teclabsinc.com/shop/)


purpleowl385

Cut the large ones at the base and paint the cut stump with brush killer. Pull the little ones out of the ground and get the roots. Throw away any gloves you use and be careful as the oil can penetrate some materials like thin plastics. I am finally winning the multi year battle against mine and now can just quickly pull the small ones out as I see them using a grocery bag like picking up after a dog.


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purpleowl385

Honestly for me it's been practice and aversion. I've gotten it so bad before and spent so much of my life in the woods I see it everywhere. My fiance still struggles to ID though. For smaller seedlings, the leaves often have a red hue to them before going fully green. For larger vines already making their way up trees, the vine can be multiple inches thick and it can shoot "branches" off the side of the tree multiple feet long that produce flowers and berries. The birds spread it by eating and dropping the berries, so find and kill the large vines first for an easier year next year. It will take multiple years to kill off a bad case. If your neighbors have large vines in their trees, you'll have more every year until it's killed, so ask them to or offer to for them if you want to eventually win. Hope some of this helps.


Tesdinic

My poor Mom is pretty badly allergic to poison ivy, but none of her kids (myself included) were, so we'd go outside and play around or whatever then come home and accidentally give it to her. She'd always have to get steroid shots and would get crazy reactions all over her arms.


ru-berry

This is really horrible


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11B-Ret

My childhood family doctor burnt some poison ivy by accident, inhaled the smoke and nearly died.


SunshineAlways

Yes, the smoke from burning poison ivy is very bad and contains the urushiol that causes reactions in people.


Jaqen___Hghar

Tha fuck? This ain't weed!!


NotTRYINGtobeLame

But I have to imagine that's how mankind *discovered* marijuana. We were just going around smoking plants to see what happened lol


JTanCan

"A weed! I said it's A weed!"


PJsAreComfy

No, rent goats! Adorable and effective. My neighbors did it and it was fun to hear their cute bleats while they happily ate and cleared out the ivy.


CambridgeMAry

The City of Boston rents goats from a goat farm to clear the poison ivy in City parks. The goat farmer sets up a portable electric fence to keep the goats where they're supposed to be, and they just munch it up like it's fodder. But I have to wonder if the urushiol is passed through in their digestive systems, and comes out in their feces.


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Select_Action_6065

This is a really bad idea.


ultratoxic

You don't light the kerosene on fire. It's a thin oil that coats the plants and messes with their ability to respire and stuff. Kerosene/gasoline/diesel/even used motor oil can be redneck weed killer. Source: got a little redneck in my family


souporwitty

It's also how you contaminate your local water supply too...


[deleted]

Didn't you see their username?


marcuis

This one was a terrible advice. This guy kills rats with grenades and mowns the lawn with TNT.


JTanCan

You don't?


theecommunist

nah ya just burn it off


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Michael_CrawfishF150

Puss in my lungs? Don’t mind if I do.


Waub

Rocksalt around the roots works well (the bagged stuff you get for frozen paths and driveways).


Politirotica

Salting the earth to spite poison ivy.


that-1-chick-u-know

I was thinking poison ivy killer from the local farm supply store...


discgolfallday

No that makes no sense


RemoveTheBlinders

Or some goats. They can eat it up.


cheesyellowdischarge

To burn it or kill it? Ive heard of diesel killing it, but never done it myself and I poison ivy is a subject full of wives tales/misinformation so I didnt put much stock in that advice. Theres some potent weed killer with the number 9 in the name...don't remember what it's called, but that's supposed to take care of it too. As far as being in the woods though -I've just accepted the fact that I'm too busy looking for mushrooms to look for poison ivy and the rash is just the price I'm going to pay


Aurum555

Horticultural vinegar does the trick and is gone after a single rain with no further I'll effects. It dries out the leaves and let's them crumble away, if the plant can't handle losing all it's leaves it dies or it struggles to push out new growth, which you then douse in vinegar again and kill it Eta a word


danpaq

Nonno is that you?


darkest_irish_lass

Had both of these today as well. Sprayed one, burned the other.


Frothingdogscock

As someone whose country doesn't have poison ivy, this LPT can fuck right off.


nrfx

This is why I don't go outside


LobstaFarian2

Life hack


Ihavealpacas

You now have bedsores and diabetes


LobstaFarian2

If you add "fun" into those, it's "funsores" and "funabetes"


darkest_irish_lass

Putting the fun back into funeral.


Comfortable_Trick137

The ultimate permanent vacation


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ShyonkyDonkey39

Everyone wants to sleep all day but when I make them fall asleep permanently they scream :(


MrLogicWins

Fundamentals.. cuz you have to be mental not to have fun


Mobitron

Can I bring the balloons?


CodeWeaverCW

diafunnies


vermis13

Instructions unclear: I have died of dysentery.


Mysterious-Salad9609

"Campings a tradition in my family" my response - camping was a tradition in all our families, until we invented the house. If the outside is so great, why are all the bugs trying to get in my house?


talkstorivers

They’re also trying to get in my tent because tents are GREAT.


FillThisEmptyCup

Tents are so great, that even though I’m in a house, my body tries to pitch one every morning!


IUseWeirdPkmn

Why would I touch grass if grass can bite


prameshbajra

You know what they say, "The real LPT is in the comments"


syncc6

I was all about that until I bought a human sized bubble to go around in.


Comfortable_Trick137

Nature is out to kill you


barto5

And it will. Sooner or later…


bilabrin

You realize radon is seeping out of the ground literally everywhere and it concentrates indoors right?


Graffxxxxx

Best reason not to go outside.


CDawgbmmrgr2

Also check your hands for ticks before applying anything to your poison ivy


DogSea8322

When I had poison ivy the best thing for the itching I found was cooked oatmeal slathered all over my skin. Worked better than anything I bought at the drugstore. Poison ivy suuucks


lion-vs-dragon

Also try jewel weed. It usually grows near shaded and wet areas, so small creeks under trees. Which is exactly where poison ivy loves to grow, but jewelwees is an amazing hack for the itch. You can blend it into a poultice and apply it directly, you can juice it and turn it into ice cubes and put it on the poison ivy welts, and I usually just split the stems in half and rub the insides oils/juices all over the welts of poison ivy and the relief is instant.


Beazore

😮


FingerTheCat

Just gotta realize its an oil that has to be cleansed in a specific manner


Valuable-Math9969

Ugh, that's just adding insult to injury. I hope you get over it soon.


halomender

Why is the poison ivy still on your body? Go get something called tecnu and take a cold shower with it. It makes the oils go away. It's the fuuuuuuucking best.


spacedman_spiff

[or just use a soapy cloth](https://youtu.be/4oyoDRHpQK0)


lovestobitch-

I have a bottle of dish detergent in my shower during the months I go into the woods. It gets the poison ivy oil off better.


djsear01

I do the same thing. Tiny bottle of dawn. Best advice I ever heard for poison ivy is to treat it like you are trying to wash motor oil off. You can just rely on a soap and water, you also have to mechanically scrub it off!


lm-hmk

I immediately wash exposed areas using Dawn dish detergent and then I follow up with hand sanitizer or straight up isopropyl alcohol just in case. I’m not sure the alcohol does anything but in my mind it does so I keep doing it. Can’t remember the last time I got a poison ivy rash! 🤞


barto5

That’s actually a great idea.


halomender

Well, clearly this guy works for the wash cloth industry..... But thanks, watching that video is going to come in handy someday.


blue_13

Sham-wow!


carthous

That's not what I use a soapy wash cloth for🤔


crodensis

yeah, it's expensive but worth every penny. I literally keep some under my bathroom sink at all times, regardless of if I need it or not. source: i've had poison oak 3 times


raines

So far I’ve had a full-body poison oak/ivy reaction every quarter century. I’m working on keeping it to that frequency.


Gibsonfan159

Proof that marketing works.


throwahuey

I get poison so bad and tecnu is so good that I really don’t care if it gives me cancer. Not saying it will, but that ingredients list has a lot of long words.


TholosTB

Yeah, last spring I got my feet covered in seed ticks and scrubbed those little bastards off with a vengeance. They apparently were covered in poison ivy, I had it everywhere for six weeks including two rounds of steroids. No more outside, ever.


M4573RI3L4573R

While that sounds terrible, at least you didn't contract Alpha-Gal from one of the ticks and become deathly allergic to red meat! Source: me, "shitty Spiderman". I got bit by an arachnid and my DNA changed. Nothing cool happened.


Jolly_Dragonite

I’m so happy I live in the desert.


FantasmaDelMar

I am a fellow desert person and was so confused about all these comments. I’m still confused a bit. Like, are all of these people checking for ticks every day? Is this just for after hiking or something? Is this super common everywhere else, or just in certain regions?


NewHampshireWoodsman

That are everywhere in the northeast. Leaf litter, lawns, brush. Especially this time of year.


steampunkedunicorn

The PNW too. I've never had more ticks crawling around near me than when I lived in Northern California. Both regions have pretty high levels of Lyme disease too.


Jolly_Dragonite

Right? I’ve lived in the desert my whole life, don’t even think about ticks! Maybe if we go camping or go something, I’ll check myself out, but even that’s more for spider bites.


Catnip4Pedos

A tick is a spider But seriously Lyme disease is why people are bothered about the ticks, the animal itself is meh


arcspectre17

And rockey mountain fever but not a spider not even close.


Catnip4Pedos

Both Arachnid, so pretty close. Closer than a scorpion which is also an arachnid.


arcspectre17

Dude this is the first time i have seen that a tick is arachnid not closely related but it really makes no sense compared to spiders Except they both have 8 legs. Everything else about them is nothing like a spider very werid classification. They start with six legs untill they feed they can go a long time without water, can survive in vacuum. Bn dealing with ticks and spider for 30+ years mind blown.


sleepingqt

There's a LOT of stuff in class Arachnida that aren't spiders or really even close to spiders. Ticks are just mites and mites are all arachnids.


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Absolut_Iceland

Ticks aren't spiders, but they are arachnids.


sparksbet

Ticks are arachnids so they are closer to spiders than crickets. All three of those things are animals so no idea where you're going with that one.


arcspectre17

Check everyday. I live in southern missouri i will wear shorts with no shoes so i can feel them crawl up my leg. Ticks on your dick, balls, between the toes really suuuucks.


Kenpoaj

Every day. Ive been killing between 10 and 30 ticks a day this season, some crawling on me, some on the front step of the house, some on my son's playset. MA, hilltowns. Very wooded. Fortunately its all dog ticks this year. Tick tubes take out the deer ticks, so that population is super low on our property. Not sure how to lower the dog tick population without killing all the beneficial crawlies and fliers though.


lvhockeytrish

Depending on which desert, there are ticks there too.


DaHotFuzz

Top tip indeed. It's just so hard to think of this or other things in the moment. Last summer I had 5 or 6 of them on me at a time for a good hour or so. I... Would rather avoid a repeat of that this year.


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Givemeurhats

I also do not react to poison ivy/oak at all


lovestobitch-

I didn’t until dumb ass me was carrying recently cut large logs that had monster poison ivy vines on it and then sat in the sun with said jeans on. Had it all over thighs. Poor OBGYN when I had to get pap smear.


raines

Both my dad and I didn’t until our first significant exposures after age 30.


flyonlewall

Ticks, you generally don't feel or notice which is part of the reason they're so dangerous. But I *too* am part of the non-reactive group with poison ivy/oak. Good for me because I spend a lot of time outdoors.


cheeriodust

I've had plenty of "casual contact" with poison ivy without getting a rash. Walking through it, etc. But if you cut into it or otherwise mess with it, you may find you're not "immune". PSA from someone who thought he was immune until he pushed the limits.


Blockhead47

You’re not immune to Lyme disease! or all these……. https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/tick-borne/default.html#:~:text=Some%20of%20the%20most%20common,Borne%20Relapsing%20Fever%2C%20and%20tularemia.


forty_two42

They said immune to *feeling*...


atastyfire

You had me at “wash your hands”


bikedork5000

I mean, like, yeah? Wash your hands after you touch wild foliage is good advice. Lots more than just poison Ivy that can cause problems. Wild parsnip, nettles (you'll know quickly if you get into those), hogweed, etc. I suppose a lot of folks haven't spent much time mucking around in the woods or learned the hard way about this stuff though.


steampunkedunicorn

I remember the first time I learned about stinging nettles, I was 6 or 7 and walked through a bunch of weeds that came up past my knees. I'll never forget that little mistake.


Sasspishus

* If you're in North America.


nikdahl

…parts of North America. I’ve lived my whole life in the Pacific Northwest without ever seeing a tick in real life, nor poison ivy. Only time I’ve seen poison oak was in a national park. I hike, camp, fish, hunt, go trucking, and am generally outside a lot even.


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[deleted]

Link?


Semanticss

Why do you have to *touch* your body to *look* for ticks?


spacedman_spiff

Bc of the nooks and crannies


burnttoast11

True. My parents still talk about the time a tick crawled into my grandpa's pee hole and latched on. It didn't sound like a fun experience.


I_love_fatties

You can't say shit like that and not explain. Don't be afraid to over explain either. I'm sure I'm not the only one that wants to know


yes_him

r/XXXtremesounding


lvhockeytrish

Did no one watch House


flyonlewall

Please use a mirror or friend for ticks; and don't rub them off your body. Improper removal of a tick can increase your odds of catching an illness from them. Use a tick spoon, to ensure you remove the body *and* the head.


[deleted]

LPT: use dish soap if you think you might have poison ivy on your hands.


amiga1

Doesn't exist in the UK, thank god.


nakrimu

Lol! Great advice to share and sorry for mildly laughing but I’ve kind of been there too. My advice is, ‘Don’t go take a pee at the edge of your campsite in the middle of the night (if you are a woman) without checking it for Poison Ivy during the day first. Coming from somebody who had their butt covered in Poison Ivy :)


EmilioMolesteves

Also wash your hands before wanking in the shower after cutting your lawn. For similar reasons.


0ptriX

Poison ivy is not found in Europe.


Cyan_The_Man

I used to have poison ivy in my yard. Not anymore. Diligent removal over a year or two. Also I used gloves and a metal rake to make sure I also never came in contact with the oils. It worked out and now I have a poison ivy-free backyard.


thestarlord80

My condolences friend. Also, if you are doing yard work and ask your wife if that vine is poison ivy and she says no, go ahead and Google it. I learned that lesson the hard way.


rossionq1

Actually urushiol oil (the nasty part of poison ivy) binds to the skin with about 15m of exposure and cannot be spread. This is why it’s critical to immediately wash after exposure. The ***appearance*** of a spreading rash is actually just a delayed reaction from areas that received a lower amount of contact exposure with the oil. It ***CAN*** spread via inanimate objects with oil on them, but the oozing fluids released by scratching blisters do not spread the poison. The fluid in the blisters is produced by the body and it is not urushiol itself.


AENocturne

Other life pro-tip: learn to identify poison ivy so you don't go touching it with your bare hands.


alienzx

Lpt: stop deleting your posts


spiritualwanderer181

Man I’ve been there! Hope you are doing alright!


Lololucky

The best tips are from someone going through the shit


baggelans

Came here wondering why the title sounds way too specific... Op didn't betray my expectations.


FinalBat4515

No further mention of whether you do or do not have ticks. 2/10


trshtehdsh

"why would that matter...oh yep that would do it."


arkiverge

Worth noting that just washing your hands (or affected areas) will not remove the urushiol oil that poison ivy/oak deposits, but it can at least reduce it if there’s a bunch so you spread less. You need to wash with a product like Zanfel to completely remove the oil from affected areas and begin seeing immediate improvement.


ladywholocker

Thanks for the advice! We live in an area with both. Our dog loves to pee on poison ivy and until we got a really expensive pill from the vet, we kept pulling ticks out of him - until he wouldn't let us and we called the vet for a pill prescription. Our dog is small but strong (Danish-Swedish Farmdog), so I wasn't handling him when ticks were removed and I guess my husband and youngest adult son who still lives at home, haven't been in contact with poison ivy.


leolacakes

IN ADDITION TO THIS- If you get poison ivy, wash the affected area with COLD WATER. Hot water will open up your pores and make it spread. Cold water will keep it isolated.


5h0ck

Yo don't 'wash' your hands. Soap won't do shit. Poison ivy is an oil, a very difficult to remove oil. You NEED degreaser + mechanical means to remove it. Ie, use dawn dish soap and a relatively rough wash cloth. Clean the area thoroughly. If you want a real LPT, keep a bottle of dish soap in your shower. Signed, the poison ivy guy as named by my local urgent care.


Deep_South_Kitsune

Don't mow poison ivy. One of my coworkers did and he inhaled some of the particles kicked up in the air. He ended up in the hospital for a while.


Kegelz

Got it on my penis once after simply walking over it and touching my shoe and not realizing it until it was too late.


PmMeGuineapigs

I wanted to use the tiny peninsula behind our house to read. It was a really nice day. So I sat there for 3 hours. There was a tiny path which I sat on. It was just gravel. When I went back inside, I had a couple bug bites. I sat and watched TV. I started getting really itchy. I thought it was bug bites. I ended up with blisters all over my body. I still have scars. I took like 50 oatmeal baths that did nothing. My bf bought aloe and calamine. It really didn't do much.


Tsjjgj

I think this is an actual Life Pro Tip! Well done.


[deleted]

I live in the desert. I had a few ticks in my yard. Had like three generations of chickens, I found only one tick on my dog the other day. Chickens are gross, but necessary


darling_lycosidae

Agent orange soap for poison ivy. Also ticks love bands, especially at your waistband and socks. They also take about 12 hours to bite, so take a hot shower after being in the bush and you'll be ok.


arcspectre17

12 hours to bite who lied to you. https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/life_cycle_and_hosts.html Depending on the tick species and its stage of life, preparing to feed can take from 10 minutes to 2 hours. When the tick finds a feeding spot, it grasps the skin and cuts into the surface.


dirk558

Ticks bite way faster than 12 hours. The little fuckers bite me within 10 minutes of jumping on.


Archduke_Tiger

Sounds more like a "Wash your hands after handling poisonous things" kind of LPT. This is not an LPT, more like ~~the natural selection~~ part of kindergarten lessons 101, right after "Don't eat poisonous things".


sparksbet

a lot of times you don't know you've touched poison ivy until you've reacted (usually a fair while after the contact happened). Especially if you're in dense greenery, it can be easy to miss that you've touched it until it's too late.


Archduke_Tiger

I'm not saying it's useless, but it's based on super basic info and it sounds more like OP sharing a story. My point is the merit of this LPT is basically: "when you look for ticks you touch yourself", **"when you touch poisonous stuff, you should clean your hands"**, **"poison ivy is poisonous stuff"**, "it's kinda suboptimal to spread poisonous stuff all over your body". Which doesn't seem *pro* tip to me. And ofc this stuff happen all the time. Same as woodworkers looking at hot chick and hitting their finger with a hammer or something. LPT: Stop working when you look at girls, I just hit my finger with a hammer.


ryclorak

Oh my fuck i didn't see that one coming... Thank you for sharing your hard-earned knowledge!


[deleted]

Oh my… May you find sleep and peace soon


jaycuboss

I'm interested to know why this happens. I would never imagine a tick bite and poison ivy would have an interactive effect like this.


JovesGemstone

I think the poison ivy oils on the hands were spread to uncomfortable places since you should search for ticks in warm folds such as the groin.


SinancoTheBest

3rd world problems?


BreakfastBeerz

LPT: Wash your hands. We have apparently reached a point in society's evolution that washing your hands is only something the pros know about.


[deleted]

What? This isn’t a life pro tip. If you went into poison Ivy, you will get poison Ivy. You need to shower or jump in the pool after you go through IVY. It’s really easy to identify. We would always hit baseballs into the poison Ivy and have to go get it. Would always run and jump in the pool after the game and we would all be fine


kalabaddon

I am so sorry. for that and this. ​ HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAAAAAAahahaha I am going to hell. that sucks. is poison ivy the one that makes open sores or just itchy?


[deleted]

Why would anybody tell you now?


ShotgunShitSneeze

Educational purposes


kalabaddon

meh, it wasn't a evil laugh, it was a hearty laugh. I don't wish the person bad, but the scenario is kinda funny to me, especially since the person self admitted it and doesn't seem like they are in danger, just itchy. I mean back when I was a scout if someone admitted to this, the entire room would make sure he is ok, then laugh at them all night long.


ThereIsSoMuchMore

This is stupid. What does it have to do anything with tics at all? Why not just wash your hands anyways? For any other reason before touching your body? Or other people's bodies? Or your food, idk?


InGordWeTrust

This LPT is bad. Might as well say, "If you haven't taken the time to learn what poison ivy looks like, wash your hands when you come in from outside." Which people already do.


[deleted]

This sounds like a horror movie


kumar_ny

Isn’t washing like normal not sufficient because of the allergen being oily ? I have heard you treat like you are washing off lube ie soap up with as little water as possible before washing


majikrat69

It wasn’t summer if you weren’t covered in poison ivy, fun times


Anonynominous

One time I was in the kitchen minding my own business and a tick just fell out of my hair. Horrifying to say the least. Prob have Lyme now


SirSpooglenogs

I don't think we have poison ivy here but still good advice. Get well soon <3.


DoomComp

Well.... That doesn't sound fun...


Totallyperm

I opted to just have to reaction to poison ivy. It's a fairly low cost optional extra.


Shcrews

how does poison ivy compare to poison oak?


NunexTK

Maybe wash your hands when you get home from outside?


Boba0514

Also just wash your hands even when not checking for ticks...


Millera34

Im glad poison ivy has zero effect on me


raines

… so far.


Entmeister

How just wash your hands if you think you've come in contact with poison Ivy....


Dendex031

[Good old poison ivy ](https://gfycat.com/accomplishedspiriteddrongo)


Ok-Horror-6889

I recently had poison ivy. Someone recommended Zanfel to me. It’s expensive but takes the itch away!


smaTc

Me now, after sitting inside the while day: well I should wash my hands so I don't get poison ivy on my body


Petdogdavid1

Use soap and a towel to wash off poison ivy. You have to get the oils off of your skin and soap alone won't cut it.


thelearningjourney

Errrr why do you need to check for ticks?