Hi, i was curious as to whether or not gardening poison oak was accepted socially and by law. I'm worried that having a garden of poison oak may target me as a drug dealer.... which i'm not... seriously, i'm not... though it does burn quite well.... and no one's gonna want to steal it.... But seriously, not a dealer, don't even know what drugs are... So is it ok from a totally non drug dealerish standpoint? Cause i'm really not.

ROUND UP

For my part, I don't hesitate to cut back sticker vines and poison ivy in areas that I help maintain. I usually carry a folding saw, pruners and work gloves with me when I go out to my local areas in Northern Virginia. Sometimes I even bring a gas powered hedge trimmer if the stuff is really bad. I've considered a herbicide like Round Up but since these areas drain into rivers that we drink and fish from I decided to forego the chemicals.

Yes, get rid of it, but consider this:

Compiled by Caroline Cox, Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides- (NCAP)

Roundup, and related herbicides with glyphosate as an active ingredient, are advertised as products that can "eradicate weeds and unwanted grasses effectively with a high level of environmental safety." However, an independent, accurate evaluation of their health and environmental hazards can draw conclusions very different from those presented in the ads. Consider these facts:

1. Glyphosate can be persistent. In tests conducted by Monsanto, manufacturer of glyphosate-containing herbicides, up to 140 days were required for half of the applied glyphosate to break down or disappear from agricultural soils. At harvest, residues of glyphosate were found in lettuce, carrots, and barley planted one year after glyphosate treatment.

2. Glyphosate can drift. Test conducted by the University of California, Davis, found that glyphosate drifted up to 400 meters (1300 feet) durng ground applications and 800 meters 12600 feet) during aerial applications.

3. Glyphosate is acutely toxic to humans. Ingesting about 3/4 of a cup can be lethal. Symptoms include eye and skin irritation, lung congestion, and erosion of the intestinal tract. Between 1984 and 1990 in California, glyphosate was the third most frequently reported cause of illness related to agricultural pesticide use.

4. Glyphosate has shown a wide spectrum of chronic toxicity in laboratory tests. The National Toxicology Program found that chronic feeding of glyphosate caused salivary gland lesions, reduced sperm counts, and a lengthened estrous cycle (how often an individual comes into heat). Other chronic effects found in laboratory tests include an increase in the frequency of lethal mutations in fruit flies, an increase in frequency of pancreas and liver tumors in male rats along with an increase in the frequency of thyroid tumors in females, and cataracts. (ne fruit fly study used Roundup; the other studies used glyphosate.)

5. Roundup contains toxic trade secret ingredients. These include polyethoxylated tallowamines, causing nausea and diarrhea, and isopropylamine, causing chemical pneumonia, laryngitis, headache, and bums.

6. Roundup kills beneficial insects. Tests conducted by The International Organization for Biological Control showed that Roundup caused mortality of live beneficial species: a Thrichgramma, a predatory mite, a lacewing, a ladybug, and a predatory beetle.

7. Glyphosate is hazardous to earthworms, Tests using New Zealand's most common earthworm showed that glyphosate, in amounts as low as 1/20 of standard application rates, reduced its growth and slowed its development.

8. Roundup inhibits mycorrhizal fungi. Canadian studies have shown that as little as 1 part per million of Roundup can reduce the growth or colonization of mycorrhizal fungi.

9. Glyphosate reduces nitrogen fixation. Amounts as small as 2 parts per million have had significant effects, and effects have been measured up to 120 days after treatment. Nitrogen- fixing bacteria shown to be impacted by glyphosate include a species found on soybeans and several species found on clover.

10. Roundup can increase the spread or severity of plant diseases. Treatment with roundup increased the severity of Rhizoctonia root rot in barley, increased the amount and growth of take-all fungus, a wheat disease), and reduced the ability of bean plants to defend themselves against anthracnose.

... an independent, accurate evaluation of their health and environmental hazards...

Now, I'm not promoting widespread use of herbicides.

"Kill it before it grows, ummm hmmm" in a gutteral voice as you swing the blade, I can pretty much promise no one will bother you!

DMT

Mechanical
Hand-pulling or mechanical grubbing (using a shovel, pick, etc.) can be used to physically remove plants located in a yard or near houses. Remove plants in early spring or late fall when the soil is moist and the rootstalks are easily dislodged. Grubbing when the soil is dry and hard will usually break off the stems, leaving the rootstalks to vigorously resprout. Detached and dried brush can still cause dermatitis, so bury or stack the plant material in an out-of-the-way location, or take it to a disposal site. Never burn poison oak.


(Chemical control)
Glyphosate is one of the most effective herbicides for the control of poison oak. However, effective control depends upon proper timing of the application. Apply glyphosate late in the growth cycle, after fruit have formed but before leaves lose their green color. In hand-held equipment, glyphosate can be applied as a 2% solution in water. (Products or spray mixtures containing less than 2% glyphosate may not effectively control poison oak.) It is important to note that glyphosate is a nonselective compound and will damage or kill other vegetation it contacts.