Poison Ivy

[harr0140]

I am curious about everyones opinion of poison ivy on the course.

I had poison ivy when I was a kid once while playing GOLF. SInce I started playing disc golf (2 years ago) I have had cases of poison ivy, oak or sumac, no less than 4 or 5 times. It has progessively gotten worse each time. The last time was almost unbearable and it lasted literally 2 months.

I am wondering what you guys have for experiences in dealing with the parks department about its maintenance or should I say eradication?

I think the parks departments are responsible to take care of the problem, but am wondering about the best way to approach them. If it helps I can certainly justify myself by saying I am a professional landscaper and horticulturist. I could take care of it myself but want to know how I go about getting our local parks departments to take care of the problem. I do not expect them to take care of it on the entire property but think they should be able to take care of it within reasonable distance of the fairways and green areas.

Any input here will be helpful!

Mike

[Apothecary]

two words: agent orange.:thmbup:

[j0atz]

never affected me for some reason..and I know I get in it all the time. My cousin gets it just from being AROUND it...

[devin_707]

I got poison sumac whenever I first started playing disc golf... Not a fun experience. It lasted for about a month. But, I havent gotten it since :)

[jongoff09]

I would like to know this as well. Also, how much can poison Ivy be taken care of? I used to not be affected by poison ivy, but the last time I came in contact with it was scary...really scary. I am almost fearful of it on the courses now because of that experience.

Definitely let me know if anyone has a way to deal with the parks department about poison ivy. I don't want a fellow DGer (or myself) to get extremely sick if he/she is really allergic to it.

[agent_peebody]

get some of this and put it on before and after a round.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lDpTRQWjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

i'm HIGHLY allergic to poison ivy/oak/sumac. if i get even the smallest dot on me, i have to be hospitalized and get steroid shots. and this stuff prevents me from getting it.

for save measure, if i KNOW i touched any poison, i'll also shower and scrub my body with that Technu stuff.

[S.Cann]

I get it fairly easily and had it a couple times this past summer. The best thing I've found is dish detergent with cold water. Sounds weird, but it dried it out pretty well.

[Mr. Plow]

Dude, I'm with you. I get it terrible. Poison ivy, oak, sumac it doesn't matter.

I can tell you as someone who studied horticulture (as did you), when you contact the parks department about the eradication of poison anything they are going to laugh in your face. It's not possible. The only way to get rid of it would be to clear out every green living thing (other than trees maybe) in that particular area and start over from scratch. Unless you live in an area where millions of dollars are allocated for disc course maintenance, it's not feasible.

My best solution: Always wear pants. Always. If that's too much to ask then wear tall socks. Learn to identify the plants, and if you think you touched one on the course wash off that particular area with a strong soap such as Ivory as soon as you get home. The plants have an oil in them, which is what causes the allergic reaction so in washing your skin thoroughly you eliminate the cause of your problems. I wash off my legs when I get home almost every time after I play and I rarely get poison ivy now.

Tecnu is great, but if the rash has already developed there is a product called Poison Ivy Super Dry which works wonders.

http://www.amazon.com/Zytrel-Liquid-Quickly-Relieves-Itching/dp/B000GCPWXW/ref=pd_bxgy_hpc_img_b

[woodcutter]

[QUOTE=agent_peebody;658636]get some of this and put it on before and after a round.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lDpTRQWjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

^ that stuff is the schiz nit. A-P told me about it once. Best thing since toilet paper

[superberry]

I've erradicated it in traffic areas at Winter Park with the county's approved use of Amine 2, 4-D. It works great, but due to dense root colonies, typically needs two applications before the area is completely clear.

I get poison ivy bad when I'm not careful, working in new areas of the course, making new holes, tees, alternate pin locations, etc. Last spring I was digging in a new tee box in April. No poison ivy was sprouting. It was HOT so I took my shirt off and was handling the clumps of dirt, braced with my forearms, against my body. I got poison ivy SOOOO BAD on my cheast and forearms! It was the work case I ever had and I've had many bad ones, especially in the early years of designing and building the course. Watch out for the roots!

Anyway, I'd approach the parks director directly. Tell them you plan to take care of the posion ivy, ask them if they have an approved herbicide, and then ask if they need to survey the proposed areas and ensure no other threatened or sensitive plants are near. Approach with confidence. I'm sure larger cities are much different to deal with though!

[wolito]

Wear long pants. I have played several course with significant poison ivy and it is never any fun. I think it would be tough to convince a parks department to handle the problem since it is tough enough to get them to even mow the fairways half the time. I feel it is more the responsiblity of the local disc golf club to work on that. I know some of those plants can be very difficult it eradicate and unless you get every last plant, they eventually come back again.

[harr0140]

Im actually going to be offering my time and chemicals to keep it at bay . . . unless they say they will go in and do some spraying for it.

[CFH-mn]

if infected with p/ivy you have 10 minutes untill its to late...
the oil from the plant needs to be removed from the skin! ive used rub alc, then rinsed with peroxide then a coating of Ivarest! WORKED

chiggers= nightmare! rinse with listerine and use clear nail polish on each bump.

[kcplease]

Don't get it. That always helps me... Maybe try ivy-block. it blocks the oils from getting into your skin. after rounds, take a cold shower, no soap. That helps decrease the effects.

[JSurmann]

Keep a small bottle of bleach on you. (2-3 oz)

It dries your skin out but also removes the poison.

[kcplease]

chiggers= nightmare! rinse with listerine and use clear nail polish on each bump.

And nail polish and other remedies don't work with chiggers. at all. they are really easy to knock off, the bump isn't really the chigger, either, its your body's reaction to the chigger saliva. So, don't do that, all you really acn do is take a bath and use itch cream.

[harr0140]

Guys I know what to do if I get Posion ivy, I am interested to hear how others have dealt with parks departments on how to eradicate it fromt he courses.

[discmeister]

wear soccer socks.

[eegor]

And nail polish and other remedies don't work with chiggers. at all. they are really easy to knock off, the bump isn't really the chigger, either, its your body's reaction to the chigger saliva. So, don't do that, all you really acn do is take a bath and use itch cream.

This is true. By the time you know you have a chigger bite, it's too late. Just do what you can to relieve the itching.

[tmahan]

napalm or C4

[Ray Gunnell]

The hard part is you nor a volunteer can apply it if it is in a public park. I work for my local Parks & Recreation department and can tell you unless you have a.) an abundance of resources(staff, $$, etc.) it may be hard, or b.) have a ton of foot traffic going through the course. However, you can always try the petition route. Get signatures and show there's enough interest for it to happen.

[vonDrehle]

Played a course this past weekend where poison ivy was right off the fairway and very close to the baskets. :(... Even with long songs I was able to add on to the poison ivy I had gotten the week before.

Only bad thing about killing it off is I imagine you will have to use chemicals. So you are trading poison ivy on people and their disc to poisonous chemicals all over their disc.

[MikePinchico]

Get some 2-4 D herbicide and spray the crap out of it. Guarantee that it won't be a problem again.

[Jivecody]

I am curious about everyones opinion of poison ivy on the course.

I had poison ivy when I was a kid once while playing GOLF. SInce I started playing disc golf (2 years ago) I have had cases of poison ivy, oak or sumac, no less than 4 or 5 times. It has progessively gotten worse each time. The last time was almost unbearable and it lasted literally 2 months.

I am wondering what you guys have for experiences in dealing with the parks department about its maintenance or should I say eradication?

I think the parks departments are responsible to take care of the problem, but am wondering about the best way to approach them. If it helps I can certainly justify myself by saying I am a professional landscaper and horticulturist. I could take care of it myself but want to know how I go about getting our local parks departments to take care of the problem. I do not expect them to take care of it on the entire property but think they should be able to take care of it within reasonable distance of the fairways and green areas.

Any input here will be helpful!

Mike


Keep it on the fairway :thmbup:

stuff is wretched though, always fearful of getting the stuff.

[Noill Golf]

Even with long songs I was able to add on to the poison ivy I had gotten the week before.

Hah, that's funny...long songs always work for me :confused:

[bubbadreier]

I have just taken to wearing long soccer socks!

[TxDiscGolfBoy]

I've got some currently-drying-out ivy on my calves and ankles, a tad on the rist, but nothing bad yet -- meaning I haven't gotten any to where it's starting creeping up to my nuts (you ALLLLLLLLLL know what I'm talking about)

[notBOB]

im lucky enough that im not allergic to poison ivy. theres a brand new course ive played 4 times recently in Noble, OK, (hit by a large tornado today, hopefully its alright..) that has the most poison ivy ive ever seen in any forested area ive ever been to. theres poison ivy bushes, poison ivy on trees, poison ivy on pavement, poison ivy instead of grass and esp in the fairways. ive brushed against it for hours on end and nothing has come of it. I feel, just like and sort of weed, that its going to grow no matter what. It comes with the territory and theres not much anyone can do about it. ointment seems like the only ailment..???

[DSmith]

When I do the spring maintenance on our local courses I just cut the vines at the base of the trees and pull the rest off to get ground up by the mowers. Wearing gloves of course. Not much you can do to get rid of it all but if you actually get your but out just as it's sprouting leaves you can get it to exhaust itself out. If you wait till like now it'll be at full power.

[Lewis]

Poison ivy is native to the continent and actually a food staple for deer. Or so I hear. So it's going to come around no matter what we try to do to get rid of it. Just thank God it doesn't grow like kudzu. Once you get it on you, try using Zanfel (http://www.zanfel.com/help/productfaq.html) to get it off. It has worked for me in the past.

There are also specialized formulas of weed killer that target poison ivy if you're trying to clear it from your course.

[superberry]

Amine 2, 4-D mixed with any glyophosphate killz-all solution will handle the ivy even at full growth.

[discmeister]

I getting itchy reading this thread.

[bubbadreier]

im lucky enough that im not allergic to poison ivy. theres a brand new course ive played 4 times recently in Noble, OK, (hit by a large tornado today, hopefully its alright..) that has the most poison ivy ive ever seen in any forested area ive ever been to. theres poison ivy bushes, poison ivy on trees, poison ivy on pavement, poison ivy instead of grass and esp in the fairways. ive brushed against it for hours on end and nothing has come of it. I feel, just like and sort of weed, that its going to grow no matter what. It comes with the territory and theres not much anyone can do about it. ointment seems like the only ailment..???

Haha I was playing at the Noble course when the storm was coming in! River, Andrew, and I had to peace out quickly!

[New013]

I'm not allergic so I know after I say this the people who are allergic will flame me but...

Leave the Poison Ivy be, it is a staple of wildlife and is great for the soil. If there are insane spots on a course where the Ivy is rampant and that is a place where a lot of discers are walking through... then you may want to exterminate it.

[FredVegasDGC]

I have seen poison ivy or poison oak on every DG course I have played.

I'm not allergic to it at all but I still try to avoid it.

A few weeks ago I reached in to a patch of Kudzu to retrieve a disc and some poison ivy was mixed in & got it on my hand & arm. Later in the round I was introduced to a guy and when he shook my hand the oils from my hand went to his and in just a few holes his hand & arm was beginning to blister. He had to go home before the end of the round.

I felt real bad about it (I chickened out & didn't tell him I was the cause)

If you are allergic I recommend that you become real aware of what the different kinds look like & the most likely places it will grow so you can keep out of it.

[kcplease]

I am fine with it since I dont react to it

[IHearChains]

What was said above about "you only have 10 minutes to wash it off" is only part true. If its been 2 or 3 hours, go ahead and wash because it still helps A LOT.

I am highly allergic to poison ivy, and can't play disc golf in long pants unless it is below 40 degrees. My solution is to always keep a small bottle of dish soap and a 2-gallon water jug and some sandals in my trunk. After every DG round, without exception (whether I saw any ivy or not), before I get in the car I take off my shoes and wash my legs from just above the knee all the way down with plenty of soap.

All I get now is a few little dots of ivy rash, it's like bug bites, no big deal.

Before I got religious about this procedure, I used to get rashes that looked like I burned myself with a blowtorch, and they would spread like crazy and it would be 3-4 weeks of hell, with pus seeping through my clothes all day at work. :gross:

That is the big difference, if you wash it off after a couple hours, you might not avoid a few little dots of ivy rash, but you can prevent the major outbreaks which seem to come from the oil getting smeared all around.

[superberry]

Itching it does two things...

It spreads the oil around if still on your skin and causes more outbreak

It causes irritation of the antibodies inside you and causes more spreading of the actual rash.

[New013]

using regular soap doesn't really help that much.. they make special poison ivy soap that i recommend. my friend who is allergic uses it and he doesn't have problems.

another point thing is to use COLD WATER to wash off the oils. hot water will open up your pores and let the oil sink in.

[GripEnemyS2K]

anybody playing TYLER STATE PARK in PA look out this year...i mean i always get poison ivy every single spring/summer, disc golfing or not, but its BADDD there this year. as we speak i am covered from head to toe. **** you poison ivy.

[S.Cann]

I've gotten it for the first time this year... I may struggle with it again this year if I don't use some of the preventative measures talked about in this thread.

[IHearChains]

using regular soap doesn't really help that much.. they make special poison ivy soap that i recommend. my friend who is allergic uses it and he doesn't have problems.


I'm highly allergic, and prefer regular soap. It works great for me. To each his own.

[tistoude]

I like that this thread is supposed to be about how to approach the Parks Departments about the removal of Poison Ivy, Oak Sumac and you all keep posting about remedies or how you got it once.

Harr,

I think that if you can pinpoint some high traffic areas of the course that are infested and volunteer your services on a restricted basis they would be receptive. It would help if you had some really concrete examples of where it is and how you would plan to get rid of it. If they are still unhelpful I would ask the question of who is liable when a bad reaction occurs.

[CTRobuck]

I am SUPER allergic to Poision Ivy, Sumac, Oak or whatever is out there. I love playing this game so much though that I just used to deal with it or leave a disc sitting in the middle of a huge patch of it. I play down here in Texas where this stuff runs CRAZY, when one day I was giving a very very useful tip.


I was at Bear Creek up in Dallas gazing into a huge clump of Ivy as my favorite driver just sat there. A guy walk up out of nowhere, walks directly into the Ivy and grabs my disc. I was AMAZED!!!!! He then took out a bottle of hand sanitizer and cleaned off his hands. He told me that 90% of the time you get Ivy on your hand then spread because you touch other areas on yorself. If you kill the Ivy on your hand you can stop the nasty outbreaks.

I have no scientific proof to back this but ever since this happened 5 years ago I have had an enormous drop in outbreaks and the ones that I get are much smaller and way more manageable. If you do get Ivy go to a local CVS, Walgreens or whatever and get "Ivy Dry" it is the absolute BEST stuff to use when the outbreak is starting to occur!

I am a shorts wearer so I go buy a lot of "Soccer" socks that cover my legs up to the knee, and I carry Hand Sanitizer everytime I hit the course. If your disc goes in the Ivy pour some Sanitizer on the disc also to get the Ivy juices off the disc and then clean your hands, it will save you A LOT of agony

[Cgkdisc]

A news segment the other day was mentioning that shoe laces are the most likely places that continue to spread the oil from poison ivy after the original exposure. Those who are extra sensitive may want to have an extra set of laces and wash the exposed ones.

[cmcolomb]

I'm highly allergic, and prefer regular soap. It works great for me. To itch his own.

FTFY... Why am I one of the few people in this world that know about TECNU?!??!?!

Get some, Walgreens.. buy it in bulk online much much cheaper.

TECNU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, tecnu.

That is all

[cmcolomb]

get some of this and put it on before and after a round.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41lDpTRQWjL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

^ that stuff is the schiz nit. A-P told me about it once. Best thing since toilet paper

^^^That stuff is for AFTER you have the rash. Get this (http://www.amazon.com/Tecnu-Poison-Oak-n-Ivy-Cleanser-oz/dp/B00455T85O). And use it within 2 hours of contact as a body wash, I put it on before the shower. You don't wanna let it sit on your skin for too long, it is POWERFUL stuff (as evidenced by the fact that the main ingredient was developed to remove nuclear waste)

I would advise against putting it on before a round... but do what you please..

THIS STUFF WORKS
/thread

[IHearChains]

FTFY... Why am I one of the few people in this world that know about TECNU?!??!?!

Get some, Walgreens.. buy it in bulk online much much cheaper.

TECNU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, tecnu.

That is all


Get over yourself. Tecnu is well known.

It is also known that soap is a fraction of the cost, and works fine. :)

[DSmith]

Back on topic.....


I had a talk with maintenance about poisonous plant removal. I was told in order for the department to be able to spray they need to have a license or be certified. So he was taking classes on pesticides specifically for being able to legitimately spray.
I'm sure you can just go and buy pesticides and spray but if you work for the city its a different story.
I'm on the fence with spraying as I grew up in the 80's when the environment was pretty much getting wrecked by industrial pollution. I'm not really a big fan of heavy use of pesticides. Food production I can deal with but not so much the use on weeds.