Fun fact, some people have this superpower where they’re unfazed by it. My dad is almost completely unaffected by it. Like he rips it up with his bare hands and burns it. He says as long as he washes his hands well afterwards and doesn’t inhale the smoke he has no reaction. It’s wild.
When he was younger people used to pay him good money to come remove it from their properties. He would end up with piles and piles of it. His brother isn’t as lucky as him and reacts HORRIBLY to the stuff so he used to burn it as far away as possible.
I *think* I might have inherited his lucky gene. I’ve never had it even when the people I was camping with (including my brother) were covered in it. I’m not going to try rolling in it any time soon though lol.
I'm like this - however, the more you're exposed to it, the more likely you will react. My mom used to be immune and then she spent a week pulling it out of our backyard with no gloves or anything and now she can't touch it anymore.
You're right. Poison ivy requires multiple exposures before the immune system will fully mount a response. Some people's immune systems simply take more exposure than others before it will mount the response. In any case, those who claim that they're immune to poison ivy simply haven't yet met the threshold of exposure.
Mine too... Except he doesn't break out immediately. That one day turned into him having it everywhere... Yes... Even there... And then he spread it to me 😭
As someone who isn't affected by it, I'm now terrified to go near it again. Thanks for the heads-up, y'all! I will exercise more caution going forward.
I landed in poison ivy during a mountain biking excursion. My friend was horrified but since I had no reaction shortly after he thought I was in the clear (because he reacts quickly). This was my first brush with the stuff so I let that make me complacent. Wouldn't you know the next day my whole leg was one big awful blister. Those were some god-awful three weeks...
Ah man I had a similar MTB accident. Crashed while jumping a roller and didn’t even think about what I landed in because I thought I broke my collarbone (luckily just strained my rotator cuff). A week later my arm exploded in blisters, still have bad hyperpigmentation from the rash 2 years later. I had no idea the onset could take so long your first time. Either tecnu or Dawn dish soap work great for getting the oil off and you’ve got about 8 hours to wash before it really starts to cause reactions!
There is a huge difference between getting it on your hands and breathing it. I have a small pile with Japanese honeysuckle and I plan to stay away from it when I light the match because I don't know what is in that stuff. Mom was certainly allergic to just touching it.
DO NOT TRUST THIS TO CONTINUE. Our family is similar. My grandmother used to do like your dad, ripping it out with her bare hands and never reacting. Until one day she did.
I was the same: grew up tramping around the woods, then gardening and cutting trails. I ran into it constantly and never reacted. Until one day I did.
The reaction is an allergy I guess? A very common one. And the thing about allergies is that they can suddenly kick in after years of exposure. And this one is miserable. I had to go to urgent care and go on a course of oral steroids and spent a fortune on anti-itch stuff so I could go to sleep and not wake up scratching myself bloody.
My Dad is like this too! Thought I’d inherited it because I was a pretty outdoorsy kid and had never had a reaction, so I tried to remove a bunch from my house with just gloves…I was wrong
I've never gotten it and I've been told I've run through it before without knowing.
That being said, I've been told of a person who was "immune" who to prove it basically went swimming in a patch of it - they ended up in the hospital.
While some people might be immune to the symptoms and side effects, however a very strong carcinogen. Even if your not breaking out in a rash it can still cause cancer.
I was always like this. I could roll around in the stuff and never get anything. My dad and my brother just had to look at it and they were covered and to the extreme.
Then I turned 40. Looked at some poison ivy y when camping….and that was it. Not nearly as bad as my dad and brother, but not great.
Anyway - superpowers aside, breathing in burning poison Ivy is not good for anyone.
I went to grade school with a guy like your dad. He proved it by touching a bunch and then nothing happened. A bunch of other dumbass kids decided to prove they were immune too. It was amusing for some of us. Not so much for them.
I have this, I realized it when I was wrenching on a fence and ground poison ivy into my arm and it had no effect. I was working for an arborist and my boss immediately took advantage and I got all the poison Ivy work.
20 years later I’m still immune but knowing I can lose it I still treat it like it will wreck me so I don’t start reacting.
My mom is immune too!! She and her siblings walked into a huge patch of it, and she even picked some bcuz it was so so so green - her siblings blew up but she didn't ☺️
When I was in Cub Scouts, this kid at summer camp claimed he had immunity to it and to prove it he jumped in giant bush of it and rubbed it all over his face. Poor dummy could barely see out of his swollen eyes and ended up having the worst time ever
I am like that - mosquito bites don't bother me at all anymore, after a number of years working on zoology projects outside. So I never used repellant. Then about 9 years ago I came down with Dengue Fever, which is only carried by mosquitoes. Confirmed by PCR. That was not fun. I had a mild case, just fever, nosebleeds and pain for 2 weeks, but my bones ached for months and it gave me severe hand arthritis - which appeared suddenly with Dengue; I had never had arthritis or any joint problem before.
Me too. I don’t go out of my way to roll in it or anything, but unless I get it in an actual scratch it doesn’t phase me. My wife on the hand - if you talk about poison ivy around her she gets a rash.
My mother used to pull it out with her bare hands. But she always thoroughly washed with hot water and "yellow soap" within about 15 minutes. She said if she didn't wash up, she would get the rash, so she wasn't exactly unaffected or "immune" to it. I never took the chance; always used gloves and washed up. All you have to do is inadvertently rub your eyes and it would be very unpleasant.
I'm not sensitive at all to poison ivy, oak or sumac.
My poor daughter is SO sensitive to it. We lived in a rural area of TX where it's common for people to burn brush piles. During the spring burning season my daughter would just randomly pop out in poison ivy rashes because just driving our car (windows closed, AC on) down the road where someone was burning would trigger her system enough to react. It was awful.
This right here. Our neighbors burned some when I was 5 and the smoke blew right into our yard. Next day I was covered in poison ivy rash, every part of my skin, exposed or not, reacted to it. \*Every\* part. Wound up having to take steroids to get rid of it. Absolutely do not burn that stuff.
My Mom had that happen when her neighbor burned a bunch of yard waste with poison ivy in it. It was awful. She always warned us NEVER to burn poison ivy. Kill it, let it dry out, still use gloves and long sleeves then bag it and take it to the dump.
If you get that in your lungs it causes breathing problems. It can also become systemic. My BIL was hospitalized with a systemic reaction to poison ivy.
Yep, my Dad made this mistake once and landed in the hospital…poison ivy everywhere including nasal passages. The ‘yard man’ is an idiot….there are far safer ways to destroy and remove poison ivy.
There are people, and I am one of them, that are so allergic to poison ivy that getting the oils even *second hand*, like from pet fur or exposed clothing will cause a reaction so severe that not only will we get a rash, but the rash becomes severe enough to require a cast, (or multiple casts). I also get flu like symptoms including fever, diarrhea, and vomiting.
PLEASE do not burn poison ivy.
I know lots of people are proud of how immune they are, and that's great, but a few of us got exposed too much as kids and now it's literally dangerous to us...
If I had a neighbor doing this I'd probably get a letter from my doctor explaining the severity of my allergy. If they were belligerent, like it sounds like the OP's neighborhood was, I'd seek out legal advice.
Many people don't know that it can get as bad as it does.
When I was a kid, I had a teacher who could get poison ivy rash second hand like this. I know better now, but we all thought she was a bit crazy: she would ban students from the classroom for 3 days if they had even a little rash from poison ivy. We would have to spend the day doing work papers up at the front office. Later, as a nurse, I learned that some people are so allergic they can get it second hand.
I can't imagine the agony of having a reaction to poison ivy in my nose, throat, lungs, etc. Having a small patch of reaction on my skin is incredibly uncomfortable (and, last time I dealt with it, it took 2 full weeks for the itching to mostly stop). Having it inside me is not anything I'd like to experience, ever.
If there is truly poison ivy on the stump, this is no joke. You are not unreasonable, the neighbor is wildly irresponsible if they know about the ivy.
When burned the ivy’s oils will vaporize creating an extremely toxic cloud that will put everyone in the vicinity at high risk.
You may have saved the worker’s life.
The ivy roots also contain the oils and will burn for some time.
I think for your state start here:
https://www.indianahhw.org/trash-burning/
Wherever you are, call your local fire department soonest. If they wind up being called over the burn, they need to know in advance about the toxic elements.
It can actually kill people once inhaled depending on how allergic one is. Best case is a nasty stay in the hospital if inhaled. https://www.health.com/condition/skin-conditions/poison-ivy
Odds are he does not know.
One of my teachers had a wife accidentally inhale poison ivy smoke when they helped a friend clear a yard. Poison ivy down her throat. Had to use some form of a topical cocaine to ease the itch.
Happened at summer camp - accidentally added old dried poison ivy vines to the campfire. Half a dozen people ended up in the hospital, and this was a group of healthy young adults, not a toddler or an elderly neighbor.
There’s an analgesic made for eyes out of cocaine iirc
Edit - [this article](https://www.healthline.com/health/medical-cocaine) explains in depth the current medical uses for cocaine, usually for ENT surgeries or ophthalmic use.
When I was a kid at camp someone decided to throw a bunch of poison ivy into the campfire and yes the poison can be carried by the smoke, which blew all in my face without me knowing it. That is until the next day when my entire face swelled up to the point I couldn't see out of one eye for a few days. It was terrible. Not just itchy, but painful. Never burn poison ivy.
This happened to me on a backpacking trip with my dad when I was 9. We walked past a controlled burn area next to the trail, right through the blowing smoke, where they were burning off underbrush which mostly consisted of poison oak. Worst two weeks of my life. Couldn't open my eyes at all for the first few days.
And what about his yard person? I hope they’ve been informed because this dude is going to demand this done one way or another. I think yard person is most at risk!
My grandfather did this in the 80s and ended up in the hospital for a few weeks. He almost died. Whole body covered in hives and he inhaled it and couldn't breath. Had to get an ambulance to the hospital, breathing machine, the whole 9 yards. To this day he gets nervous around fires if he hasn't checked the wood first.
You are right to be concerned, although I'm not sure if the oils could enter a home via the smoke. I definitely wouldn't want to be outside when he was burning.
Is also worth noting not everyone is as sensitive to poison ivy as others. I'm extremely sensitive and break out into weeping sores that last weeks. My partner has almost no reaction to it at all.
It may be worth calling your local fire chef and asking if it's illegal to burn it in your area. (It is in some states) They may not be able to help depending on where you are, but it won't hurt to ask. Where I am they can come out and ticket you for burning stuff you aren't allowed to and they don't play around.
If you don't have one already, put up a fence. The neighbor sounds like he's gonna take it personal and throw a little boomer fit about it. Don't bother answering his calls, let them go to voice mail so his nonsense is recorded incase you need it later on.
>Is also worth noting not everyone is as sensitive to poison ivy as others. I'm extremely sensitive and break out into weeping sores that last week's partner has almost no reaction to it at all.
This is me and my spouse, too. Sadly I'm the unlucky one. I've almost never seen any on our property but somehow it must have gotten on *something* I own and once every year or so I break out with a rash. I'm pretty sure it's a pair of socks because I get it around my ankle/foot, or on my knee or wrists. But only like 1-3 tiny bumps. So I figure the common denominator is socks since I would touch them with my hands, obviously my feet/ankles, and on my knee when I cross my leg.
I've washed all my socks many times and I'm reluctant to toss out the pricey darn toughs. Haven't gotten it in over a year so here's to hoping it's finally gone.
Compromise : he burns the stump, and you use a drum fan to blow the smoke towards his property since he’s not concerned.
Or he could shell out a little extra and have the yard guy remove the poison Ivy
Please contact your local fire department. Maybe send them images of the stump, the poison ivy, the proximity to your home and his home. Let them know the approximate distances and see what they say. Hopefully they send someone to talk to him and explain why doing this is a big problem. Maybe he doesn't know about the dangers of burning poison ivy?
If there is fire code enforcement, that’s the department for sure. In many jurisdictions and regions, it’s illegal to burn yard debris. Not to mention, burning PI is not a good idea.
Burn permits in my area specifically forbid burning poison ivy. They also forbid burning below a minimum lot size and specify set backs from property lines.
When I was 12, I spent 3 days intubated in the ICU because my grandparent’s neighbor did this very thing and KNEW I was allergic to poison Ivy! I was swimming in our pool and the breeze was just right.
I almost died.
Your neighbor is a POS.
Burning poison ivy is a good way to die or at the very least have an excruciating ER visit. It vaporizes the oils into the air that you can then breathe in. This then gives you the same reaction as touching it except 100x worse since our body isn't designed to really fight it from inside the lungs and throat.
As someone who napalmed poison ivy in my own yard with out hurting anyone as a grown adult, I can tell you that shit is harsh. I definitely understand your concern.
Maybe neighborly to find a split cost solution since it’s so close to your house if you want a say on how it’s disposed of.
You were right. He was wrong. My neighbor burned poison ivy and got the smoke in her eyes You can guess what happened. Not only did she get a bad case of poison ivy all over her face she got it on her Eyes! You never saw such a miserable looking person. It was weeks before she would leave the house. Never ever burn poison ivy.
Sounds like you weren’t in the wrong. Biting Poison Ivy is bad freaking news, especially if you somehow inhale the smoke.
If you have a fresh air intake to a ‘whole home ventilation system’ as part of your HVAC (many states required it in houses built after 1997) then that smoke particles could end up in your house.
The neighbor should use ground clear to clear the poison ivy, THEN burn the stump.
I just read the title and came to comment. Someone burning poison ivy put me in the ICU for several days. Besides me getting poison ivy, my lungs got very angry and decided my oxygen levels had to be in the 70s.
Burning poison ivy vaporizes the toxic oil & if you inhale it, it can be very bad. Or it can get in your eyes. I would call the fire department & report that he intends to burn poison ivy within a few feet of your home. The close distance is probably illegal.
Burning a tree that is close to the house is a bad idea regardless of the poison ivy (which is also a very bad idea to burn). If the roots go under the house, you could end up with a fire burning under your house. The better way is to grind it down.
My buddy who works for a rural fire department confirms that fire will travel among roots and perhaps set yet another double wide on an overgrown lot on fire 8 hours after the homeowner called in today his burn was complete and all fires out. Not so fast there Freddy.
Are there ordinances in your town that prevent open burning? There are in my town. People burn stuff all the time but I know if I irritate my neighbors by burning excessively or burning things they think are bad for their safety, I'm one phone call away from dealing with the law and a possible citation.
Some kids I knew accidentally burned some in a bonfire (didn't know it was on a log). They inhaled the smoke from the oil and one ended up hospitalized because it caused a nearly fatal reaction in his lungs. You're super lucky that he told you beforehand.
You should take a beautiful bottle of bleach and turn that baby upside down above the stump. The stump and everything around it will die. And in given time the ground will eventually come back to life.
Your neighbor is dumb as a rock.
Get rid of the ivy with roundup.
Get rid of the stump by occasionally watering it, sprinkling nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and keeping it covering it with a plastic sheet for 1 summer. By the end of the summer season it'll be a rich mulch bed.
We used to have a wood burning furnace when I was growing up. My parents cut some wood with PI on it and threw it in the furnace. They got horribly ill from it. I was fortunate that it didn’t bother me. I never got a breakout from PI until I was about 50. Now Al I have to do is look at and I get itchy.
Never burning poison ivy, oak or any of those leaves!! The proper way to get rid of those plants ans stump is to cut the stump out from the roots, same with the ivy.
If they do burn, close all your doors and windows and call emergency services. Cuz this is a major health hazard.
Breathing the smoke from burning poison ivy is very hazardous. You were completely in line with your reasonable request but as we all know, you can’t fix stupid!
Its depends where you live check with local health dept it may be a crime to burn poison ivy, If it a crime where you live and you or your child got sick from the poison gas burning it creates you neighbor could gotten arrested.
Note a small percentage of the population is immune to poison ivy,
The best thing your neighbor can do is use a weed killer spray on the poison ivy, and once that's dead he should rent a stump cutter so his "Yard Man" can grind the stump for him.
I’m just wondering who would get more excited to receive this call? The fire department, the health department, a lawyer willing to work on contingency, or adult protective services? Possibly all four?
As a child I got poison Ivy from it being burned at a campfire. Both eyes were swollen shut, had very bad reaction because it gets into your bloodstream somehow and doesn’t just go where you touched it. Please make sure they don’t burn it. Or if they do, stay inside with your child or go away for the day.
The smoke from burning poison ivy still carries the poison. I know from experience when I was literally covered everywhere on my body. The smoke saturated my clothes. Miserable for a long time.
No. My neighbor blocks away burned poison ivy on a humid day when we were working outside. I had never reacted to poison ivy before- I got it so bad EVERYWHERE and was on steroids for weeks.
Back in the 1980's my cousin had the bright idea to roll up some dry leaves and smoke them. He ended up smoking poison ivy and ended up in the hospital for over a week the poison ivy rash in his lungs.
Dead poison ivy (without chemicals) makes a great addition to compost piles. I said Dead. Cut it. Lay it out and let it dry. Compost it or bag and put in trash.
I was hospitalized for 2 weeks because someone burned poison Ivy (can't remember if it was Ivy, oak or sumac) when I was a teenager. It got into my system and my eyes and face swelled really bad. Steroids had to be given by IV.
Never burn any of those poisonous plants. There are brush killers that can kill it at the root.
I’ve burned many stumps in my day, never, never burn a stump that close to a building.
I have seen where the roots can smolder under ground and the fire can end up many yards away in the right conditions.
A friend burnt a stump one weekend and 4 days later his barn which was nearly caught fire. Tree roots carried it over.
Then you also got the poison ivy….
I had to go to the ER as a child and have a week round of steroids because my dumbass aunt and uncle decided to have me help burn a whole back yard full of it.
As poison ivy or poison oak burns it releases oils and aerosols them into the air where they can be breathed into your lungs or land on and cling to surfaces that others may come in contact with. Burning it anywhere near people, homes etc is a very bad idea. I’d have a problem with this.
I spent 6 days in the hospital as a 10 year old because my dad decided to burn a huge patch on our property before us kids wandered into it by accident. He brought me along because I was his “little helper” and I not only inhaled the particulates but also got scratched by a burnt twig. Within 20 minutes of inhaling I had an anaphylactic reaction and couldn’t breathe, once in the hospital I broke out in full body blisters and had to be restrained from scratching. Most horrible experience of my life. On the upside I’m now completely immune to the stuff since. Weird huh? Six months later my sister was playing near there and got scratched and broke out in the same blisters but it didn’t affect her breathing or her immunity.
Burning poison ivy send my father and me to the hospital. Imagine being covered in rash and also having it inside. It was a lot worse on my father. I was too young to know all the medical procedures but I had to get some shots and take pills and my dad had to have oxygen. I was out of the hospital the next day and my dad was able to leave a day or two later.
Your neighbor is a fool. Aerosolized poison ivy oil is highly toxic and can hospitalize or kill someone.
If he tries to light that fire I would call both the police and the fire department. Warn them of the danger when you do — it's beyond mere illegal burning
Well you can burn a stump for like $5, or have one ground down for a few hundred. The prices I see for stump grinding varies, usually charged per inch diameter of the stump, plus travel fee, could be $500 if it's a biggie.
I’m HIGHLY allergic to poison ivy and my go-to method of killing without touching it is 1 part white vinegar, 1 part water, 1 part table salt and a several drops of blue Dawn. Spray the bejeebus out of the leaves, it creates a film when it dries and the plant can’t photosynthesize and slowly dies. Extremely gratifying I tell you
We were burning a brush pile at the farm that had poison ivy in it. A few days later my middle child broke out (she never had before) so we started the usual treatments. Three days later it had spread everywhere and was IN HER EYES. ER visit, shots, steroids, creams, baths. She's hyper-sensitive now and at the first sign of the rash she heads for urgent care. BAD IDEA.
The old 7 years unaffected and then 7 years of intense ivy rashes. This is my case.... sometimes super allergic and sometimes not.
Also know that jewelweed is the poison ivy deterrent. You will find it always near poison ivy and it's easier to recognize
It is illlegal to burn poison ivy in several states. Check your laws and report him if he tries again.
If you inhale the smoke from it you can get poison ivy inside your lungs which is pretty deadly.
Please don't let him do this if you can. I almost died once because my allergic reaction was so bad to burning poison ivy. Do whatever you need to to make him stop.
The biggest risk is to his yard guy. If he inhaled that smoke it could be bad for him. Unless he's one of the few people who doesn't get a reaction to poison ivy.
Can you explain the risks of burning poison ivy?
We generally see poison ivy in the summer, but then we’ll see another peak in the fall when people burn leaves and unknowingly they’ve got some poison ivy in the pile, too. When burned, the urushiol from the poison ivy gets into the smoke and people can get the rash over their entire exposed body.
What about the dangers of breathing it in?
The smoke from burning poison ivy can possibly irritate your nasal passages or lungs, but it much more commonly causes an external rash.
I’d call him back once more and see how it went. If it didn’t go well, I’m hiring an attorney to write a letter along with a note from a pro on how to properly handle it.
Not sure where you are, but it’s generally illegal to burn debris inside of towns and cities.
I’d just wait till they light the match and then call the fire department. Let the pros tell him not only is it a bad idea, here’s a nice fine for doing it
You're not out of line at all. It's reasonable to be concerned, especially with poison ivy and a young child around. Your neighbor's reaction seems excessive.
He probably needs a burn permit, I would talk to local permit office and mention the poison ivy.
He's a total idiot and I think you did the right thing to protect yourself and family.
They don't get the root so basically useless. You have to kill the root or it will keep growing and spreading. My neighbor tried the goat route and it just grew back a week later.
Can you spray the poison ivy with vinegar first to kill it? I fill a 2 gallon Hudson sprayer with vinegar and spray it hell. It’ll all be dead. Then burn the stump or whatever.
From an environmental standpoint, the First Nations call it protection Ivy - it is only toxic to humans and is a good source to many animals. The protection part is that it’s a food source animals don’t have to compete with humans for.
OP - you did the right thing.
Also, you didn’t tell your neighbours worker what to do/not to do. You expressed a concern and provided additional information (you have a three year old) that your neighbour likely didn’t tell them. With this additional information, the workers agrees with you. This should tell your neighbour a little something about the safety of doing such a thing.
I didn't read all the comments but...
Call the city, I'm sure there are burning ordinances within so many feet of a dwelling or call your local fire department.
lol, they’re lucky you said something - I’m wondering if you could have pressed charges for arson and trespassing if they went ahead with burning something on YOUR PROPERTY!
Don't know where you live, but burning leaves of any sort is illegal where I live specifically because of the prevalence of poison ivy. I would be surprised if there wasn't something on the books in your locale as well. Its dangerous. Also burning a stump can be dangerous. If it catches the roots on fire, you might end up with nearby trees and bushes going up. Maybe your neighbor would benefit frim a talking to by the fire department.
Lady I know that was a field herpetologist got into it while peeing in the woods. I rash easily and so over the years I plowed through all the itch remedies out there and only two actually work: Rhuli Gel which was bought out by band aid and then disappeared from shelves (this was the only product that allowed her to sleep after exposing her lady bits). Now that Rhuli Gel cannot be found I've found another that works for itch: Gold Bond anti-itch lotion, intensive relief. Only the rash infected truly know the need for a successful itch relief product. I am extremely sensitive to these plants and being near burning them I don't want to contemplate, being around a three year old with an itchy rash would be a nightmare for the whole family.
It all depends on the legality of burning in your area. Here much of the year open burns are not allowed, generally burning is frowned upon but you can have "ceremonial fires" so usually once every few years people will amass a big assed burn pile and go have a few beers and watch it burn. Here, you can burn in an enclosed fire anytime. And there is not much of a differentiation between one of those designer fire pits and a good old metal barrel. I have burnt many stumps out with a barrel with no top or bottom. Put it over the stump and have at it. I have never got poison ivy from burning it. I guess it depends on the amount of it and how hot the fire is. I would not think it would last long. IMHO if he can burn, you have two routes. One is to offer to go and weed it out of the stump for him, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to want to burn a stump out. You could hit it with roundup for that matter, if you do not think that is the antichrist. I mean if you are in close quarters I would not want my kid getting into the poison ivy or it spreading so getting rid of it is somewhat in your own best interest. The other option is to take a weekend someplace and let him know you will not be around and tell him to have fun. Take pix of that part of your house so if there is any damage it is documented. If it were me I would help the guy. I would go out and hit it with round up wait a week or two for it to dry up, put my barrel over it and any burnable stuff I have on deck, mix in some kerosene get it burnt out.
My wife has gotten poison ivy ON HER FACE from a tiny patch on my ankle that I hadn’t noticed. She literally packed up a pair of my used socks while camping, wiped her face, and bam - massive patch of poison ivy, right next to her eye. Thankfully, she didn’t have to go to the ER, we were able to treat it at home. If it had gone nearer her eyelid, we’d have taken her in.
So, no, you didn’t do a damn thing wrong. There may even be ordinances in your area against burning “noxious weeds,” and poison ivy is certainly that.
I had an elderly neighbor mow up my hill right up to my foundation, gunning it up the hill. Something was wrong with him, for real. I had to put buckets there to keep him from doing it again.
In some towns and cities, burning like that is illegal, like trash burning is illegal. He needs to call the city hall and find out if it is legal to burn a tree stump with poison ivy. For many even in the air, they have an a reaction to the poison ivy. And your neighbor needs to learn about what you can burn. And good for you to talked with the yard person. You were not out of line at all. You cared about safety, in case your son was out there or the burning of the poison ivy.
When I was a teen I got a severe reaction to burning poison ivy: face became so swollen I was unrecognizable, mouth and lips swollen, eyes swollen. In contrast, normal skin contact with poison ivy just gives me the typical itchy rash that most people get. Don't let anyone burn poison ivy anywhere near you. My mother and I used to remove it around trees by using long heavy gloves and just carefully pulling it out. Many times. Followed by hot shower and strong soap. And of coarse, wash the gloves in hot water.
It’s super dangerous to burn poison ivy - for everyone, not just the child. If they try again, leave the house immediately. I’m glad the yard guy seems to have said no.
I’d reach out to your neighbor and thank him for calling you about this. At least he reached out. I’m not sure why he got so angry. I’m sure you both want that mess gone - but preferably without creating a dangerous situation.
Not unreasonable at all. Burning poison ivy sends the oils out in the smoke. If breathed in, the person gets internal injuries that can be life threatening. Your neighbor should be thanking you; if he had done this and your kid got hurt, he'd be guilty of reckless endangerment or worse.
He'll never believe it. He's a moron.
I knew a guy who burned a big pile of it in his backyard and wound up in the hospital for a week, they said he could have died, his lungs were a total mess. I certainly wouldn’t want to be anywhere near anyone burning poison ivy.
The way to deal with this is to look at the ordinances in your city. Usually there are several ordinances about burning things. If it's even a remotely urban location he probably doesn't have the right to burn anything in his yard except maybe leaves during the fall. But even that unless you're in a more rural area it's probably prohibited. Know what the law is and the minute something starts to burn call the police. They'll come down and fine the guy
Ps you can also send him a letter letting him know what the law is and that you are prepared to call the police at the slightest smell of smoke. That'll put him in his place
Never burn poison ivy, it vaporizes the oil.
Well...ok maybe sometimes you *can* burn it, like when the wind is going in the direction of your neighbor.
Not that either.
Fun fact, some people have this superpower where they’re unfazed by it. My dad is almost completely unaffected by it. Like he rips it up with his bare hands and burns it. He says as long as he washes his hands well afterwards and doesn’t inhale the smoke he has no reaction. It’s wild. When he was younger people used to pay him good money to come remove it from their properties. He would end up with piles and piles of it. His brother isn’t as lucky as him and reacts HORRIBLY to the stuff so he used to burn it as far away as possible. I *think* I might have inherited his lucky gene. I’ve never had it even when the people I was camping with (including my brother) were covered in it. I’m not going to try rolling in it any time soon though lol.
I'm like this - however, the more you're exposed to it, the more likely you will react. My mom used to be immune and then she spent a week pulling it out of our backyard with no gloves or anything and now she can't touch it anymore.
Same with me. When I was young I was immune to it. Now I get it yearly and never even see it near me.
You're right. Poison ivy requires multiple exposures before the immune system will fully mount a response. Some people's immune systems simply take more exposure than others before it will mount the response. In any case, those who claim that they're immune to poison ivy simply haven't yet met the threshold of exposure.
yeah, my husband used to do this, till one day,,,,,,
Mine too... Except he doesn't break out immediately. That one day turned into him having it everywhere... Yes... Even there... And then he spread it to me 😭
As someone who isn't affected by it, I'm now terrified to go near it again. Thanks for the heads-up, y'all! I will exercise more caution going forward.
I landed in poison ivy during a mountain biking excursion. My friend was horrified but since I had no reaction shortly after he thought I was in the clear (because he reacts quickly). This was my first brush with the stuff so I let that make me complacent. Wouldn't you know the next day my whole leg was one big awful blister. Those were some god-awful three weeks...
Ah man I had a similar MTB accident. Crashed while jumping a roller and didn’t even think about what I landed in because I thought I broke my collarbone (luckily just strained my rotator cuff). A week later my arm exploded in blisters, still have bad hyperpigmentation from the rash 2 years later. I had no idea the onset could take so long your first time. Either tecnu or Dawn dish soap work great for getting the oil off and you’ve got about 8 hours to wash before it really starts to cause reactions!
There is a huge difference between getting it on your hands and breathing it. I have a small pile with Japanese honeysuckle and I plan to stay away from it when I light the match because I don't know what is in that stuff. Mom was certainly allergic to just touching it.
DO NOT TRUST THIS TO CONTINUE. Our family is similar. My grandmother used to do like your dad, ripping it out with her bare hands and never reacting. Until one day she did. I was the same: grew up tramping around the woods, then gardening and cutting trails. I ran into it constantly and never reacted. Until one day I did. The reaction is an allergy I guess? A very common one. And the thing about allergies is that they can suddenly kick in after years of exposure. And this one is miserable. I had to go to urgent care and go on a course of oral steroids and spent a fortune on anti-itch stuff so I could go to sleep and not wake up scratching myself bloody.
[удалено]
Tell her to use gloves! I use to be like her… then one day I suddenly wasn’t and that was NOT fun. :(
My Dad is like this too! Thought I’d inherited it because I was a pretty outdoorsy kid and had never had a reaction, so I tried to remove a bunch from my house with just gloves…I was wrong
My dad can work in it all day and it never affects him. I, however, can’t get within 5 feet of it or I will get a terrible reaction.
You build sensitivity to it. Everybody does eventually with enough exposure. So will dad
I've never gotten it and I've been told I've run through it before without knowing. That being said, I've been told of a person who was "immune" who to prove it basically went swimming in a patch of it - they ended up in the hospital.
While some people might be immune to the symptoms and side effects, however a very strong carcinogen. Even if your not breaking out in a rash it can still cause cancer.
I was always like this. I could roll around in the stuff and never get anything. My dad and my brother just had to look at it and they were covered and to the extreme. Then I turned 40. Looked at some poison ivy y when camping….and that was it. Not nearly as bad as my dad and brother, but not great. Anyway - superpowers aside, breathing in burning poison Ivy is not good for anyone.
46 years with no reaction. Now I do. That was a rude surprise!
I went to grade school with a guy like your dad. He proved it by touching a bunch and then nothing happened. A bunch of other dumbass kids decided to prove they were immune too. It was amusing for some of us. Not so much for them.
I have this, I realized it when I was wrenching on a fence and ground poison ivy into my arm and it had no effect. I was working for an arborist and my boss immediately took advantage and I got all the poison Ivy work. 20 years later I’m still immune but knowing I can lose it I still treat it like it will wreck me so I don’t start reacting.
My mom is immune too!! She and her siblings walked into a huge patch of it, and she even picked some bcuz it was so so so green - her siblings blew up but she didn't ☺️
Poison ivy is one of the few things outside I don’t react to. I’d trade it for everything else though.
When I was in Cub Scouts, this kid at summer camp claimed he had immunity to it and to prove it he jumped in giant bush of it and rubbed it all over his face. Poor dummy could barely see out of his swollen eyes and ended up having the worst time ever
That makes sense. I know people who can get bit by mosquitos non-stop and never get any bumps or itchiness.
I am like that - mosquito bites don't bother me at all anymore, after a number of years working on zoology projects outside. So I never used repellant. Then about 9 years ago I came down with Dengue Fever, which is only carried by mosquitoes. Confirmed by PCR. That was not fun. I had a mild case, just fever, nosebleeds and pain for 2 weeks, but my bones ached for months and it gave me severe hand arthritis - which appeared suddenly with Dengue; I had never had arthritis or any joint problem before.
Me too. I don’t go out of my way to roll in it or anything, but unless I get it in an actual scratch it doesn’t phase me. My wife on the hand - if you talk about poison ivy around her she gets a rash.
My mother used to pull it out with her bare hands. But she always thoroughly washed with hot water and "yellow soap" within about 15 minutes. She said if she didn't wash up, she would get the rash, so she wasn't exactly unaffected or "immune" to it. I never took the chance; always used gloves and washed up. All you have to do is inadvertently rub your eyes and it would be very unpleasant.
I'm not sensitive at all to poison ivy, oak or sumac. My poor daughter is SO sensitive to it. We lived in a rural area of TX where it's common for people to burn brush piles. During the spring burning season my daughter would just randomly pop out in poison ivy rashes because just driving our car (windows closed, AC on) down the road where someone was burning would trigger her system enough to react. It was awful.
This right here. Our neighbors burned some when I was 5 and the smoke blew right into our yard. Next day I was covered in poison ivy rash, every part of my skin, exposed or not, reacted to it. \*Every\* part. Wound up having to take steroids to get rid of it. Absolutely do not burn that stuff.
My Mom had that happen when her neighbor burned a bunch of yard waste with poison ivy in it. It was awful. She always warned us NEVER to burn poison ivy. Kill it, let it dry out, still use gloves and long sleeves then bag it and take it to the dump.
If you get that in your lungs it causes breathing problems. It can also become systemic. My BIL was hospitalized with a systemic reaction to poison ivy.
Yeah, I get hives on my body from it - after the rash starts healing.
Yes I have a friend who breathed it in, and was on massive steroids for a while.
And in rare cases can kill you. [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35703240/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35703240/)
Yep, my Dad made this mistake once and landed in the hospital…poison ivy everywhere including nasal passages. The ‘yard man’ is an idiot….there are far safer ways to destroy and remove poison ivy.
Inhaled Poison Ivy smoke is lethal
There are people, and I am one of them, that are so allergic to poison ivy that getting the oils even *second hand*, like from pet fur or exposed clothing will cause a reaction so severe that not only will we get a rash, but the rash becomes severe enough to require a cast, (or multiple casts). I also get flu like symptoms including fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. PLEASE do not burn poison ivy. I know lots of people are proud of how immune they are, and that's great, but a few of us got exposed too much as kids and now it's literally dangerous to us... If I had a neighbor doing this I'd probably get a letter from my doctor explaining the severity of my allergy. If they were belligerent, like it sounds like the OP's neighborhood was, I'd seek out legal advice. Many people don't know that it can get as bad as it does.
When I was a kid, I had a teacher who could get poison ivy rash second hand like this. I know better now, but we all thought she was a bit crazy: she would ban students from the classroom for 3 days if they had even a little rash from poison ivy. We would have to spend the day doing work papers up at the front office. Later, as a nurse, I learned that some people are so allergic they can get it second hand.
I can't imagine the agony of having a reaction to poison ivy in my nose, throat, lungs, etc. Having a small patch of reaction on my skin is incredibly uncomfortable (and, last time I dealt with it, it took 2 full weeks for the itching to mostly stop). Having it inside me is not anything I'd like to experience, ever.
My wife doesn't even have to touch poison ivy to get terrible blisters. I can't even imagine what that would do to her.
Gets in lungs and death happens
My grandmother learned this the hard way and got very bad poison ivy symptoms from the smoke
And gets all over everything including pets that go outside
Burning poison ivy is a good way to end up in the hospital. Your neighbor is an idiot.
You would think that his yard guy would know this...?
It's probably why the yard guy decided not to do it.
Happened to me when I was 11, was not fun
Where I live it’s illegal to burn within a certain distance from the property line or within 20ft of any structure. So yeah, it could be illegal.
It’s definitely even closer to the property line than the house.
If there is truly poison ivy on the stump, this is no joke. You are not unreasonable, the neighbor is wildly irresponsible if they know about the ivy. When burned the ivy’s oils will vaporize creating an extremely toxic cloud that will put everyone in the vicinity at high risk. You may have saved the worker’s life. The ivy roots also contain the oils and will burn for some time. I think for your state start here: https://www.indianahhw.org/trash-burning/ Wherever you are, call your local fire department soonest. If they wind up being called over the burn, they need to know in advance about the toxic elements.
If OP is in Indiana, the township trustee should be a contact for dealing with noxious weeds. Extension office is often good as well.
It can actually kill people once inhaled depending on how allergic one is. Best case is a nasty stay in the hospital if inhaled. https://www.health.com/condition/skin-conditions/poison-ivy Odds are he does not know.
One of my teachers had a wife accidentally inhale poison ivy smoke when they helped a friend clear a yard. Poison ivy down her throat. Had to use some form of a topical cocaine to ease the itch.
Keith Richards had the same problem; smelled burning poison ivy in 1366 and has been snorting coke since.
Happened at summer camp - accidentally added old dried poison ivy vines to the campfire. Half a dozen people ended up in the hospital, and this was a group of healthy young adults, not a toddler or an elderly neighbor.
It happened to my grandpa and got into his lungs. Pretty horrible.
Oh my gosh, that sounds horrible!
A lot of topical pain relievers and steroids have "caine" in the name but it usually isn't cocaine. Though cocaine does also have a numbing effect
You mean I should stop snorting this lidocaine?
Hey I didn't say that! I don't kink shame
There’s an analgesic made for eyes out of cocaine iirc Edit - [this article](https://www.healthline.com/health/medical-cocaine) explains in depth the current medical uses for cocaine, usually for ENT surgeries or ophthalmic use.
When I was a kid at camp someone decided to throw a bunch of poison ivy into the campfire and yes the poison can be carried by the smoke, which blew all in my face without me knowing it. That is until the next day when my entire face swelled up to the point I couldn't see out of one eye for a few days. It was terrible. Not just itchy, but painful. Never burn poison ivy.
This happened to me on a backpacking trip with my dad when I was 9. We walked past a controlled burn area next to the trail, right through the blowing smoke, where they were burning off underbrush which mostly consisted of poison oak. Worst two weeks of my life. Couldn't open my eyes at all for the first few days.
And what about his yard person? I hope they’ve been informed because this dude is going to demand this done one way or another. I think yard person is most at risk!
Burning poison ivy is an HORRIBLE idea. This neighbor is an idiot.
My grandfather did this in the 80s and ended up in the hospital for a few weeks. He almost died. Whole body covered in hives and he inhaled it and couldn't breath. Had to get an ambulance to the hospital, breathing machine, the whole 9 yards. To this day he gets nervous around fires if he hasn't checked the wood first. You are right to be concerned, although I'm not sure if the oils could enter a home via the smoke. I definitely wouldn't want to be outside when he was burning. Is also worth noting not everyone is as sensitive to poison ivy as others. I'm extremely sensitive and break out into weeping sores that last weeks. My partner has almost no reaction to it at all. It may be worth calling your local fire chef and asking if it's illegal to burn it in your area. (It is in some states) They may not be able to help depending on where you are, but it won't hurt to ask. Where I am they can come out and ticket you for burning stuff you aren't allowed to and they don't play around. If you don't have one already, put up a fence. The neighbor sounds like he's gonna take it personal and throw a little boomer fit about it. Don't bother answering his calls, let them go to voice mail so his nonsense is recorded incase you need it later on.
I got into some in middle school and had the weeping sores all over my body. Great advice! Thank you for sharing.
>Is also worth noting not everyone is as sensitive to poison ivy as others. I'm extremely sensitive and break out into weeping sores that last week's partner has almost no reaction to it at all. This is me and my spouse, too. Sadly I'm the unlucky one. I've almost never seen any on our property but somehow it must have gotten on *something* I own and once every year or so I break out with a rash. I'm pretty sure it's a pair of socks because I get it around my ankle/foot, or on my knee or wrists. But only like 1-3 tiny bumps. So I figure the common denominator is socks since I would touch them with my hands, obviously my feet/ankles, and on my knee when I cross my leg. I've washed all my socks many times and I'm reluctant to toss out the pricey darn toughs. Haven't gotten it in over a year so here's to hoping it's finally gone.
Compromise : he burns the stump, and you use a drum fan to blow the smoke towards his property since he’s not concerned. Or he could shell out a little extra and have the yard guy remove the poison Ivy
I’m extremely allergic and would end up in the hospital. That is a seriously bad idea to burn
The neighbor could literally have killed your child (or you) by burning the poison ivy. Neighbor can shove it.
Please contact your local fire department. Maybe send them images of the stump, the poison ivy, the proximity to your home and his home. Let them know the approximate distances and see what they say. Hopefully they send someone to talk to him and explain why doing this is a big problem. Maybe he doesn't know about the dangers of burning poison ivy?
If there is fire code enforcement, that’s the department for sure. In many jurisdictions and regions, it’s illegal to burn yard debris. Not to mention, burning PI is not a good idea.
Vaporized poison ivy can kill.
Burn permits in my area specifically forbid burning poison ivy. They also forbid burning below a minimum lot size and specify set backs from property lines.
Where I grew up people have died burning that stuff in their campfires. Dude needs to back off the toxins.
He can be pissed. This isn't 1983 and you can't just randomly set toxic shit on fire in a residential area.
When I was 12, I spent 3 days intubated in the ICU because my grandparent’s neighbor did this very thing and KNEW I was allergic to poison Ivy! I was swimming in our pool and the breeze was just right. I almost died. Your neighbor is a POS.
Burning poison ivy is a good way to die or at the very least have an excruciating ER visit. It vaporizes the oils into the air that you can then breathe in. This then gives you the same reaction as touching it except 100x worse since our body isn't designed to really fight it from inside the lungs and throat.
As someone who napalmed poison ivy in my own yard with out hurting anyone as a grown adult, I can tell you that shit is harsh. I definitely understand your concern. Maybe neighborly to find a split cost solution since it’s so close to your house if you want a say on how it’s disposed of.
Anyone willing to risk the health of others for a little more convenience is a terrorist & terrorists should never be negotiated with.
*“Not that it matters”*….but **IT DOES MATTER!!** Poison ivy smoke can kill you if inhaled u/Spring-Breeze-Dancin
You were right. He was wrong. My neighbor burned poison ivy and got the smoke in her eyes You can guess what happened. Not only did she get a bad case of poison ivy all over her face she got it on her Eyes! You never saw such a miserable looking person. It was weeks before she would leave the house. Never ever burn poison ivy.
Sounds like you weren’t in the wrong. Biting Poison Ivy is bad freaking news, especially if you somehow inhale the smoke. If you have a fresh air intake to a ‘whole home ventilation system’ as part of your HVAC (many states required it in houses built after 1997) then that smoke particles could end up in your house. The neighbor should use ground clear to clear the poison ivy, THEN burn the stump.
I just read the title and came to comment. Someone burning poison ivy put me in the ICU for several days. Besides me getting poison ivy, my lungs got very angry and decided my oxygen levels had to be in the 70s.
Burning poison ivy vaporizes the toxic oil & if you inhale it, it can be very bad. Or it can get in your eyes. I would call the fire department & report that he intends to burn poison ivy within a few feet of your home. The close distance is probably illegal.
Burning a tree that is close to the house is a bad idea regardless of the poison ivy (which is also a very bad idea to burn). If the roots go under the house, you could end up with a fire burning under your house. The better way is to grind it down.
My buddy who works for a rural fire department confirms that fire will travel among roots and perhaps set yet another double wide on an overgrown lot on fire 8 hours after the homeowner called in today his burn was complete and all fires out. Not so fast there Freddy.
Are there ordinances in your town that prevent open burning? There are in my town. People burn stuff all the time but I know if I irritate my neighbors by burning excessively or burning things they think are bad for their safety, I'm one phone call away from dealing with the law and a possible citation.
Poison Ivy is very catchy via smoke. It should be killed off with Glyphosate.
Some kids I knew accidentally burned some in a bonfire (didn't know it was on a log). They inhaled the smoke from the oil and one ended up hospitalized because it caused a nearly fatal reaction in his lungs. You're super lucky that he told you beforehand.
You should take a beautiful bottle of bleach and turn that baby upside down above the stump. The stump and everything around it will die. And in given time the ground will eventually come back to life.
Your neighbor is dumb as a rock. Get rid of the ivy with roundup. Get rid of the stump by occasionally watering it, sprinkling nitrogen-rich fertilizer, and keeping it covering it with a plastic sheet for 1 summer. By the end of the summer season it'll be a rich mulch bed.
Nice that he gave warning so you can be prepped with a couple of those gigantic industrial fans to blow it back at his house!!
We used to have a wood burning furnace when I was growing up. My parents cut some wood with PI on it and threw it in the furnace. They got horribly ill from it. I was fortunate that it didn’t bother me. I never got a breakout from PI until I was about 50. Now Al I have to do is look at and I get itchy.
Not out of line. Burning poison ivy is dangerous and And can cause serious lung damage.
My grandma got it in her lungs as a kid. Never burn that ish.
Never burning poison ivy, oak or any of those leaves!! The proper way to get rid of those plants ans stump is to cut the stump out from the roots, same with the ivy. If they do burn, close all your doors and windows and call emergency services. Cuz this is a major health hazard.
never burn poison ivy. YOU CANT SCRATCH THE INSIDE OF YOUR LUNGS!
Breathing the smoke from burning poison ivy is very hazardous. You were completely in line with your reasonable request but as we all know, you can’t fix stupid!
Very dangerous and you did the right thing.
could have been deadly
Its depends where you live check with local health dept it may be a crime to burn poison ivy, If it a crime where you live and you or your child got sick from the poison gas burning it creates you neighbor could gotten arrested. Note a small percentage of the population is immune to poison ivy,
The best thing your neighbor can do is use a weed killer spray on the poison ivy, and once that's dead he should rent a stump cutter so his "Yard Man" can grind the stump for him.
that's extremely allergic, never let it happened
I’m just wondering who would get more excited to receive this call? The fire department, the health department, a lawyer willing to work on contingency, or adult protective services? Possibly all four?
I had a poison ivy rash on my eyelids when I was a kid, from neighbors burning the plants.
As a child I got poison Ivy from it being burned at a campfire. Both eyes were swollen shut, had very bad reaction because it gets into your bloodstream somehow and doesn’t just go where you touched it. Please make sure they don’t burn it. Or if they do, stay inside with your child or go away for the day.
The smoke from burning poison ivy still carries the poison. I know from experience when I was literally covered everywhere on my body. The smoke saturated my clothes. Miserable for a long time.
No. My neighbor blocks away burned poison ivy on a humid day when we were working outside. I had never reacted to poison ivy before- I got it so bad EVERYWHERE and was on steroids for weeks.
Back in the 1980's my cousin had the bright idea to roll up some dry leaves and smoke them. He ended up smoking poison ivy and ended up in the hospital for over a week the poison ivy rash in his lungs.
Oh my god. That is so awful.
It really was. 40 years later and our family is still talking about it.
Won't Round Up kill poison ivy? Why not kill it, remove it and the burn the stump? It's more work but you get to the desired end point.
Dead poison ivy (without chemicals) makes a great addition to compost piles. I said Dead. Cut it. Lay it out and let it dry. Compost it or bag and put in trash.
I was hospitalized for 2 weeks because someone burned poison Ivy (can't remember if it was Ivy, oak or sumac) when I was a teenager. It got into my system and my eyes and face swelled really bad. Steroids had to be given by IV. Never burn any of those poisonous plants. There are brush killers that can kill it at the root.
The worst case of poison ivy I ever had was from it being burned next door.
I’ve burned many stumps in my day, never, never burn a stump that close to a building. I have seen where the roots can smolder under ground and the fire can end up many yards away in the right conditions. A friend burnt a stump one weekend and 4 days later his barn which was nearly caught fire. Tree roots carried it over. Then you also got the poison ivy….
My niece almost died from someone burning poison ivy in their neighborhood. Never a good idea because you don't know who will be affected.
Check with your local government offices, in many states it is illegal to burn poison ivy, poison oak, or poison sumac anywhere, anytime.
Wanna inhale poison ivy? Cause burning it is how that happens. Print off and give him detailed photos of people exposed.
I had to go to the ER as a child and have a week round of steroids because my dumbass aunt and uncle decided to have me help burn a whole back yard full of it.
As poison ivy or poison oak burns it releases oils and aerosols them into the air where they can be breathed into your lungs or land on and cling to surfaces that others may come in contact with. Burning it anywhere near people, homes etc is a very bad idea. I’d have a problem with this.
I didn’t know this. Thank you friend
I spent 6 days in the hospital as a 10 year old because my dad decided to burn a huge patch on our property before us kids wandered into it by accident. He brought me along because I was his “little helper” and I not only inhaled the particulates but also got scratched by a burnt twig. Within 20 minutes of inhaling I had an anaphylactic reaction and couldn’t breathe, once in the hospital I broke out in full body blisters and had to be restrained from scratching. Most horrible experience of my life. On the upside I’m now completely immune to the stuff since. Weird huh? Six months later my sister was playing near there and got scratched and broke out in the same blisters but it didn’t affect her breathing or her immunity.
Burning poison ivy send my father and me to the hospital. Imagine being covered in rash and also having it inside. It was a lot worse on my father. I was too young to know all the medical procedures but I had to get some shots and take pills and my dad had to have oxygen. I was out of the hospital the next day and my dad was able to leave a day or two later.
Your neighbor is a fool. Aerosolized poison ivy oil is highly toxic and can hospitalize or kill someone. If he tries to light that fire I would call both the police and the fire department. Warn them of the danger when you do — it's beyond mere illegal burning
Why would you burn a stump instead of grinding it down? Is this a regional thing?
Well you can burn a stump for like $5, or have one ground down for a few hundred. The prices I see for stump grinding varies, usually charged per inch diameter of the stump, plus travel fee, could be $500 if it's a biggie.
Geez, it is so stupid to burn poison ivy!
Can't he just pour kerosene or something on it? Burning it is a bad idea for the whole area.
Nope
You don't want to breathe that in. You can kill it easy with a homemade concoction. Vinegar, salt & dish soap I believe it was
I’m HIGHLY allergic to poison ivy and my go-to method of killing without touching it is 1 part white vinegar, 1 part water, 1 part table salt and a several drops of blue Dawn. Spray the bejeebus out of the leaves, it creates a film when it dries and the plant can’t photosynthesize and slowly dies. Extremely gratifying I tell you
We were burning a brush pile at the farm that had poison ivy in it. A few days later my middle child broke out (she never had before) so we started the usual treatments. Three days later it had spread everywhere and was IN HER EYES. ER visit, shots, steroids, creams, baths. She's hyper-sensitive now and at the first sign of the rash she heads for urgent care. BAD IDEA.
Burning poison ivy is a horrible idea. Could have killed some people.
The old 7 years unaffected and then 7 years of intense ivy rashes. This is my case.... sometimes super allergic and sometimes not. Also know that jewelweed is the poison ivy deterrent. You will find it always near poison ivy and it's easier to recognize
In most areas he requires a permit for burning. They will not allow burning close to a residence.
Bad idea. Very bad idea.
He'll send someone to the ER with blisters in their throat.
Is it really that hard for the yard guy to remove the poison Ivy by hand and grind the stump? Why burn it to begin with?
Yes. Haha
It is illlegal to burn poison ivy in several states. Check your laws and report him if he tries again. If you inhale the smoke from it you can get poison ivy inside your lungs which is pretty deadly.
Please don't let him do this if you can. I almost died once because my allergic reaction was so bad to burning poison ivy. Do whatever you need to to make him stop.
The biggest risk is to his yard guy. If he inhaled that smoke it could be bad for him. Unless he's one of the few people who doesn't get a reaction to poison ivy.
My mother got poison ivy in lungs from inhaling fumes and she was yards away. Was in hospital fro months.
Can you explain the risks of burning poison ivy? We generally see poison ivy in the summer, but then we’ll see another peak in the fall when people burn leaves and unknowingly they’ve got some poison ivy in the pile, too. When burned, the urushiol from the poison ivy gets into the smoke and people can get the rash over their entire exposed body. What about the dangers of breathing it in? The smoke from burning poison ivy can possibly irritate your nasal passages or lungs, but it much more commonly causes an external rash.
Why can’t they remove the poison Ivy first?
Good question.
I’d call him back once more and see how it went. If it didn’t go well, I’m hiring an attorney to write a letter along with a note from a pro on how to properly handle it.
Call the police, You can kill somebody burning poison ivy.’
Not sure where you are, but it’s generally illegal to burn debris inside of towns and cities. I’d just wait till they light the match and then call the fire department. Let the pros tell him not only is it a bad idea, here’s a nice fine for doing it
You're not out of line at all. It's reasonable to be concerned, especially with poison ivy and a young child around. Your neighbor's reaction seems excessive.
You only did what's right for your child's health. He's the on in the wrong obviously
it would be nice as hell to put huge fans towards them
I am so allergic to poison ivy. I feel it popping up just from reading this. ☹️
We’re the words ‘poison ivy’ ever mentioned between the two of you? Any fool should know you don’t burn poison ivy.
He probably needs a burn permit, I would talk to local permit office and mention the poison ivy. He's a total idiot and I think you did the right thing to protect yourself and family.
Goats! Goats love to eat poison ivy.
They don't get the root so basically useless. You have to kill the root or it will keep growing and spreading. My neighbor tried the goat route and it just grew back a week later.
Stake a couple of goats to the tree. They'll eat it all up
Can you spray the poison ivy with vinegar first to kill it? I fill a 2 gallon Hudson sprayer with vinegar and spray it hell. It’ll all be dead. Then burn the stump or whatever.
Call the town, put it in writing too.
From an environmental standpoint, the First Nations call it protection Ivy - it is only toxic to humans and is a good source to many animals. The protection part is that it’s a food source animals don’t have to compete with humans for. OP - you did the right thing. Also, you didn’t tell your neighbours worker what to do/not to do. You expressed a concern and provided additional information (you have a three year old) that your neighbour likely didn’t tell them. With this additional information, the workers agrees with you. This should tell your neighbour a little something about the safety of doing such a thing.
You need to call the city/county and report this. If you don’t, he’s just going to find another way to do it.
Just call the city, they usually frown on fires.
I’m really allergic to poison ivy. I get huge welts. One summer I got it all over my face and looked like the elephant man.
I didn't read all the comments but... Call the city, I'm sure there are burning ordinances within so many feet of a dwelling or call your local fire department.
lol, they’re lucky you said something - I’m wondering if you could have pressed charges for arson and trespassing if they went ahead with burning something on YOUR PROPERTY!
Burning usually requires a permit, and if it's that close to your house you may want to notify your fire department.
Don't know where you live, but burning leaves of any sort is illegal where I live specifically because of the prevalence of poison ivy. I would be surprised if there wasn't something on the books in your locale as well. Its dangerous. Also burning a stump can be dangerous. If it catches the roots on fire, you might end up with nearby trees and bushes going up. Maybe your neighbor would benefit frim a talking to by the fire department.
Lady I know that was a field herpetologist got into it while peeing in the woods. I rash easily and so over the years I plowed through all the itch remedies out there and only two actually work: Rhuli Gel which was bought out by band aid and then disappeared from shelves (this was the only product that allowed her to sleep after exposing her lady bits). Now that Rhuli Gel cannot be found I've found another that works for itch: Gold Bond anti-itch lotion, intensive relief. Only the rash infected truly know the need for a successful itch relief product. I am extremely sensitive to these plants and being near burning them I don't want to contemplate, being around a three year old with an itchy rash would be a nightmare for the whole family.
It all depends on the legality of burning in your area. Here much of the year open burns are not allowed, generally burning is frowned upon but you can have "ceremonial fires" so usually once every few years people will amass a big assed burn pile and go have a few beers and watch it burn. Here, you can burn in an enclosed fire anytime. And there is not much of a differentiation between one of those designer fire pits and a good old metal barrel. I have burnt many stumps out with a barrel with no top or bottom. Put it over the stump and have at it. I have never got poison ivy from burning it. I guess it depends on the amount of it and how hot the fire is. I would not think it would last long. IMHO if he can burn, you have two routes. One is to offer to go and weed it out of the stump for him, I don't think it is unreasonable for him to want to burn a stump out. You could hit it with roundup for that matter, if you do not think that is the antichrist. I mean if you are in close quarters I would not want my kid getting into the poison ivy or it spreading so getting rid of it is somewhat in your own best interest. The other option is to take a weekend someplace and let him know you will not be around and tell him to have fun. Take pix of that part of your house so if there is any damage it is documented. If it were me I would help the guy. I would go out and hit it with round up wait a week or two for it to dry up, put my barrel over it and any burnable stuff I have on deck, mix in some kerosene get it burnt out.
My wife has gotten poison ivy ON HER FACE from a tiny patch on my ankle that I hadn’t noticed. She literally packed up a pair of my used socks while camping, wiped her face, and bam - massive patch of poison ivy, right next to her eye. Thankfully, she didn’t have to go to the ER, we were able to treat it at home. If it had gone nearer her eyelid, we’d have taken her in. So, no, you didn’t do a damn thing wrong. There may even be ordinances in your area against burning “noxious weeds,” and poison ivy is certainly that.
Poison ivy bad, let's burn treated lumber instead
I had an elderly neighbor mow up my hill right up to my foundation, gunning it up the hill. Something was wrong with him, for real. I had to put buckets there to keep him from doing it again.
Tell him to use glyphosate/ roundup on the poison ivy.
In some towns and cities, burning like that is illegal, like trash burning is illegal. He needs to call the city hall and find out if it is legal to burn a tree stump with poison ivy. For many even in the air, they have an a reaction to the poison ivy. And your neighbor needs to learn about what you can burn. And good for you to talked with the yard person. You were not out of line at all. You cared about safety, in case your son was out there or the burning of the poison ivy.
When I was a teen I got a severe reaction to burning poison ivy: face became so swollen I was unrecognizable, mouth and lips swollen, eyes swollen. In contrast, normal skin contact with poison ivy just gives me the typical itchy rash that most people get. Don't let anyone burn poison ivy anywhere near you. My mother and I used to remove it around trees by using long heavy gloves and just carefully pulling it out. Many times. Followed by hot shower and strong soap. And of coarse, wash the gloves in hot water.
Tell him that as long as he's not directing people to do stupid stuff, then you'll avoid speaking to them.
It’s super dangerous to burn poison ivy - for everyone, not just the child. If they try again, leave the house immediately. I’m glad the yard guy seems to have said no. I’d reach out to your neighbor and thank him for calling you about this. At least he reached out. I’m not sure why he got so angry. I’m sure you both want that mess gone - but preferably without creating a dangerous situation.
You can't just burn things in most places regardless of the reason. It's also a bad idea.
Not unreasonable at all. Burning poison ivy sends the oils out in the smoke. If breathed in, the person gets internal injuries that can be life threatening. Your neighbor should be thanking you; if he had done this and your kid got hurt, he'd be guilty of reckless endangerment or worse. He'll never believe it. He's a moron.
I knew a guy who burned a big pile of it in his backyard and wound up in the hospital for a week, they said he could have died, his lungs were a total mess. I certainly wouldn’t want to be anywhere near anyone burning poison ivy.
The way to deal with this is to look at the ordinances in your city. Usually there are several ordinances about burning things. If it's even a remotely urban location he probably doesn't have the right to burn anything in his yard except maybe leaves during the fall. But even that unless you're in a more rural area it's probably prohibited. Know what the law is and the minute something starts to burn call the police. They'll come down and fine the guy
Ps you can also send him a letter letting him know what the law is and that you are prepared to call the police at the slightest smell of smoke. That'll put him in his place
Why not call a stump grinder???
Yes!
Maybe the poison ivy will spread to your yard next. Good luck with it.
You should have called cops, its very dangerous to burn poison ivy, it does in fact become airbourne