One of the springtime rites of passage of living in the Northeastern United States is encountering poison ivy. Although it may be a “native” plant, its spread can prevent the growth and development of other native plants, and it has some nasty side effects for anyone unfortunate enough to brush up against it. As a Hudson Valley-based poison ivy removal company that also offers native landscaping services, we offer this deep dive into the history of poison ivy identification and removal in the Hudson Valley.
Natives and Early Settlers Encountering Poison Ivy
There are some references in literature that some Native Americans would use poison ivy oil to enhance their immunity to dermatitis. Long before Europeans arrived, the Lenape already had a word for poison ivy: pootcheeskʼtáaw, which was directly understood by Moravian missionaries that arrived later to be a cautionary word about its poisonous oil. Haudenosaunee healers treated stubborn warts with its sap but washed exposures with jewelweed from Catskill creekbanks.
In 1624, the explorer John Smith (of Pocahantas fame) wrote what is considered the first documentation of poison ivy, writing, “The poisoned weed is much in shape like our English Ivy, but being but touched, causeth rednesse, itching, and lastly blisters.”
Cadwaller Colden wrote about flora in New York in the 1730s, describing “poison vine” and “climbing poison sumach,” while Swedish naturalist Pehr Kalm, while traveling through upstate New York in the 1740s, wrote of “poisonous sumach.” Kalm learned from experience, as he rubbed poison ivy into his eyes while sweating on a long hike:
“Being in some perspiration, he cut a branch, and carried it in his hand for half an hour, occasionally smelling it. During a week, his eyes were very red, and the eyelids very stiff, but the disorder went off by washing the parts in cold water. The persons most susceptible to the effects of this poison, are usually of irritable and unstable habits. In about forty-eight hours after being exposed to it, inflammation appears on the skin, in large blotches, principally on the face and extremities, and on the glandulous parts of the body ; soon after, small pustules appear in the inflamed parts, and become filled with watery matter, attended with an almost insupportable itching and burning. In two or three days, the eruptions suppurate; after which, the inflammation subsides, and in a short time the ulcers heal.
The Albany botanist and geologist Amos Eaton (who also co-founded Rensselaear Polytechnic Institute in Troy) published the Manual of Botany of 1820, where he specifically detailed the “poison vine” or “poison ash” under the specific name toxicodendron, and differentiated varieties such as radicans (poison ivy) and quercifolium (poison oak).
Although poison ivy was already here, development in our region undoubtedly contributed to its rise, as it thrives in disturbed soil and ecosystems.
Dealing with Poison Ivy
In the late 1700s, European scientists tried in vain to find a way to utilize poison ivy for good. Andre-Ignace-Joseph Dufresnoy, a French army physician, had poison ivy shipped to him from the Americas; he tried for years to boil poison ivy leaves to harness its oils to treat various ailments, while French flower collectors and botanists grew poison ivy in their gardens.
John Burroughs noted in the 1890s that cows will sometimes eat poison ivy with no ill effects. The Catskill Recorder, in 1889, published a surveyor’s letter describing how he “accidentally handled a poison oak vine,” and within hours, his face was “swollen and disfigured.”
In 1923, botanist James B. McNair published a comprehensive study, Rhus Dermatitis: Its Pathology and Chemotherapy, examining poison ivy rash and evaluating treatments, and in 1929, the U.S. Department of Agriculture labeled poison ivy plants as pernicious weeds to be controlled.
It’s around this time that area newspapers like the Daily Freeman in Kingston and the Poughkeepsie Eagle-News began publishing accounts of poison ivy removal techniques and other issues related to it.
In 1916, an army regiment training in Beekman, NY had to clear an area of poison ivy in order to set up their tents:
The Tenth Regiment, of which Company M is a unit, is the biggest regiment in camp and numbers just 1,815 men, and they have been al-lotted what is said to be the worst site in the camp. Big patches of poi-son ivy had to be dug up and buried before the boys could start pitching the tents, and that work took then until nearly 10 o’clock that night.
The Poughkeepsie Daily-Eagle reported in 1898 that a woman in Brooklyn was awarded $3,500 in damages from a cemetery that allowed poison ivy to grow on her husband’s grave; she came in contact with the ivy and had injuries.
The Poughkeepsie Daily-Eagle in 1910, also wrote of poison ivy as a “plant to shun.”
An excellent service would be done for mankind if the deadly poison ivy could be expunged from our flora, and, according to the opinion of a nature lover, who declares that he is poisoned every time his manual of botany opens at Rhus toxicondendron, the extermina-tion of this polson plant would not be difficult.
The thing that does the work of poisoning is a volatile oll secreted by the leaf. It is insoluble in water, but completely soluble in alcohol and ether. This latter fact offers a possible means of escape to those who are willing to guard against Inoculation by taking the necessary means of prevention. Upon returning home from the woods the hands and face should be immediately bathed in a mixture of three parts alcohol to one part ether, and the exposed parts of the body should then be washed with some good strong soap. With ordinary exposure to poison ivy, washing with soap and water and rubbing with alcohol and ether…”
In 1914, the Poughkeepsie Daily-Eagle continued the drumbeat against poison ivy, with an article on “how to destroy the plants:”
Experiments in destroying poison ivy with chemicals have shown only limited usefulness. Strong solutions of crude sulphuric acid or crude carbolic acid can be effective, but they pose serious handling risks. Work by the Massachusetts Experiment Station found that arsenate of soda could successfully kill poison ivy on large trees (over six to ten inches in diameter) and on stone walls, buildings, and similar structures. In open fields, however, this treatment proved expensive and harmful to other vegetation, rendering the soil unusable for several years. Typically, two or three applications of arsenate of soda—mixed at a rate of two pounds to ten gallons of water—were sufficient, but the preparation is poisonous, so livestock must be kept away from treated plants.
The cheapest and most effective method remains simply rooting up the plants and destroying them. In large fields, it may be necessary to plow and cultivate the land. The safest time to handle poison ivy is in the fall, after the sap has left the plants and flowering has ended, because sap and pollen make the plant more likely to affect anyone who touches it.
Regardless of timing, the following protective measures are advised for eradication:
Wear overalls and gauntleted gloves, exercising due care.
Grease the hands with lard and wash with a strongly alkaline soap after finishing work.
If possible, hire someone who is not susceptible to poison ivy, as many individuals are nearly immune.
When burning poison ivy, stay clear of the smoke; serious injuries to the eyes, nose, and throat have been reported from inhaling its toxic fumes.
Modern Attempts to Address Poison Ivy
Later, in the 1940s, new chemicals came onto the market to address poison ivy, as this ad in the Daily Freeman attests:
In 1955, the Village of Saugerties passed a weed control ordinance that mandated the removal of poison ivy and any other “rank vegetation” from local properties, as they were “poisonous plants detrimental to health.”
In 1960, the State Health Department issued a pamphlet titled “Poison Ivy,” which showed how to identify poison ivy and detailed what should be done if a person comes in contact with the vine.
In 1976, the Daily Freeman wrote of Marbletown’s finding of a “poison ivy cure:”
The Marbletown Beautification Committee has been testing a new method for combating poison ivy, and Mrs. DeWitt Hasbrouck reports it is completely successful.
Any weed killer that lists the herbicide 2,4,5-T in its ingredients can be mixed with a lightweight lubricating grease—one pint of weed killer to one pound of grease. Apply this mixture with a dauber to freshly cut poison-ivy vines.
Mrs. Hasbrouck prepared the blend in her electric blender and painted it on the poison-ivy vines surrounding the Stone Ridge Library. She says the vines are now dying and notes that this is an ideal time of year to eliminate poison ivy.
How we Deal with Poison Ivy These Days
Poison Ivy Patrol begins each job with a careful site walk-through with the client. Once the team knows where it is, using shovels and mattocks, they follow every runner, lifting out the entire root and rhizome system, and pile it all onto tarps so none of it touches your yard or sidewalks. Because nothing is sprayed, desirable ornamentals and the soil’s microorganisms are left unharmed. If the poison ivy vines tangle through a prized shrub, they simply tease it free by hand.
For large, heavily infested areas our team a one hour maintenance visit might be necessary in six months to pull out any regrowth that might occur.
What they never do is spray herbicides such as glyphosate, which only scorch leaves while leaving the deep root network alive.
Once your poison ivy is gone, the next question is: what will you do with your reclaimed space? That’s where our woodland restoration service comes into play: we can help you foster a thriving ecosystem where native plants and wildlife can flourish.
Contact Poison Ivy Patrol today at (845) 687-9528 to schedule a consultation and take the first step towards revitalizing your wooded property. Let us help you transform your poison ivy-riddled property into a sustainable, all-natural ecosystem.
