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Is this Poison Ivy?


MightyMightyWilkins

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Hi Everyone!

We're new to this and having a GREAT time!!! But I really have a fear of poison ivy. I've had it before, and just can't seem to recognize the threat! (I wish they looked like stinging nettles, those I know! And maybe if the symptoms showed up sooner so I could pin down the when and where!!! But they look like every other plant I see!!!)

So I took a couple of pics on my phone... Can anyone let me know if I need to fear these pics? Thanks!!!

 

111809_27Aug11_2011-08-26_17-45-20_885.jpg

 

111809_27Aug11_2011-08-26_18-16-04_256.jpg

 

Thanks again! (Any hints for identification would also be super appreciated!!!)

Nomi >^,,^<

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Yep that's Poison Ivy. You can protect yourself somewhat by trying to be aware of it and taking action as soon as possible after exposure. Rinse the exposed area with soap and cold water. Rubbing Alcohol also works to remove the irritating oil and commercial Poison Ivy washes are available. Be aware that the oils from the plant can remain viable for some time on clothing and animal fur. This means that if you and your dog walk thru a patch of Poison Ivy you could be exposed to the oil on the dogs fur or from the clothes you wore.

 

Hi Everyone!

We're new to this and having a GREAT time!!! But I really have a fear of poison ivy. I've had it before, and just can't seem to recognize the threat! (I wish they looked like stinging nettles, those I know! And maybe if the symptoms showed up sooner so I could pin down the when and where!!! But they look like every other plant I see!!!)

So I took a couple of pics on my phone... Can anyone let me know if I need to fear these pics? Thanks!!!

 

111809_27Aug11_2011-08-26_17-45-20_885.jpg

 

111809_27Aug11_2011-08-26_18-16-04_256.jpg

 

Thanks again! (Any hints for identification would also be super appreciated!!!)

Nomi >^,,^<

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Yest that is PI. Another giveaway is the presence of "hairy" vines on nearby trees. Other plants have hairy vines, but if you see them there is a good chance it is PI.

 

If you come in contact with it, wash with Tecnu when you get home. It's expensive but worth it. That or wash thoroughly with cool water. Before I discovered Tecnu I would soap myself up and rinse over and over again for about 10-15 minutes.

 

With Tecnu I apply, rinse and I'm done.

Edited by briansnat
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Poison Ivy doesn't bother me. I've been getting PI since the age of 8. I learned by the age of 10 the trick. Don't itch it and it will go away. I never itch ANY of my itches. I haven't itched myself for years, even if I'm 99.9 percent sure it isn't PI.

 

Still doesn't change the fact I've lived 80% of my life with PI. I have it 5-6 days of the week. I just go in the woods too much to worry about PI anymore.

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Poison Ivy doesn't bother me. I've been getting PI since the age of 8. I learned by the age of 10 the trick. Don't itch it and it will go away.

That sure doesn't work for me. By the time I notice any reaction, it's become a nicely inflated rash of blisters on arms and hands, usually localized to a few patches. If I'm real lucky, I haven't spread the poison everywhere else on my body by then. Every instance, it's a little worse.

 

I just go hunting in the woods for both. There's the Geocache. And here & here is the Geopoison. Which I leave be.

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Now that you know what Poison Ivy looks like, google Giant Hogweed, Fire Ants, Wasps, angry Racoons and Skunks etc., as you'll likely encounter those at some point of your geocaching journey, lol.

And don't forget bears, cougars and down right unpleasant goats. Oh, did I mention snakes?

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Now that you know what Poison Ivy looks like, google Giant Hogweed, Fire Ants, Wasps, angry Racoons and Skunks etc., as you'll likely encounter those at some point of your geocaching journey, lol.

And don't forget bears, cougars and down right unpleasant goats. Oh, did I mention snakes?

Not if you never go into Bear Country. I never go to NJ because of the bears.

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That's some big poison ivy!

 

Watch out not only for live posion ivy, but also for dead poison ivy which can give you a bad outbreak too.

 

If you do get poison ivy, I really like a product like Ivarest.

 

"Leaves of three leave them be, leaves of 5 you will survive."

 

I thought "leaves of five" is poison oak?

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I thought "leaves of five" is poison oak?

"Leaves of five" is Virginia creeper (or similar), which also grows along the ground and up trees. Harmless, but individual leaves can look very similar to poison ivy.

 

Around here is another plant called "poison sumac", which is a shrub with urushiol just like poison ivy has. But if you just watch what you're doing, you're fine. Gotta get those caches! :laughing:

Edited by kunarion
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Now that you know what Poison Ivy looks like, google Giant Hogweed, Fire Ants, Wasps, angry Racoons and Skunks etc., as you'll likely encounter those at some point of your geocaching journey, lol.

And don't forget bears, cougars and down right unpleasant goats. Oh, did I mention snakes?

Not if you never go into Bear Country. I never go to NJ because of the bears.

 

And, you'll miss lots of great caches! I've only replaced three bear chew toys so far this yer...

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Scratching a Poison Ivy rash will not cause it to spread unless you happen to have the plants oils on your fingers or under your fingernails. The liquid in the blisters is pus and will not spread the rash. How quickly a rash develops can depend on where the contact was made. For example, Poison Ivy contact on the fingers and arm might result in a rash on the fingers sooner than on the arm. Scratching is not good and can lead to infection. If you are sensitive to Poison Ivy do some research and don't rely on hearsay.

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Wow, thanks everyone for the replies and advice! Now I need to change my "found" log post to include the warning! I would say that the one cache had a carpet of this stuff for 10's of meters around. I've never seen so much, which is why my husband didn't think it was poison ivy... it looked so common to the entire area! The trail itself is an old railway track, with the tracks pulled up, and "trail gravel" put down. Both sides flanked with this poison ivy. Maybe enough that the city should put up a warning!

I know we all got poison ivy from these caches :( (I was the last to arrive on the scene... "uh, guys...")

The good news... Now I finally feel confident in identifying it!!! But I'll need to wait another day or two to find out how bad the bad news is...

Edited by MightyMightyWilkins
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I think that's poison ivy, the leaves here in north Texas are a bit different. But a good general rule is the " leaves of three, let it be" that has been mentioned. We also have bullnettle, chiggers, poison oak, poison sumac, and lots of animals here that can be a real pain if you catch them!

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Once I found a cache that was in a poison ivy bush,against a tree with the vines going up it. Didn't wash, kept caching for 5 hours and no PI. Walked thru it countless times and haven't ever gotten it. Same thing with other members of the family. Guess I was born to be a cacher :rolleyes: Just wish I could share that attribute with everyone else.

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It's never bothered me. Some of us are just lucky. :laughing:

I just got a cache yesterday that the last person dnf'd because of poison ivy. got there and was like, oh, that it? I was expecting the area to be knee deep and covered in it. I walked right up to it in a skirt and flip flops while it was raining. There was grape vines and viginia creeper there too. The PI looked minimal from what i saw. lol

 

I'm always aware of poison ivy and do make a habit of saying, watch out for the poison ivy. But I've tromped through the stuff so many times and never got anything. Neither has the hubby and he could care less where he walks. lol.

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Once I found a cache that was in a poison ivy bush,against a tree with the vines going up it. Didn't wash, kept caching for 5 hours and no PI. Walked thru it countless times and haven't ever gotten it. Same thing with other members of the family. Guess I was born to be a cacher :rolleyes: Just wish I could share that attribute with everyone else.

When I was in my teens, my cousin Keith and I spent a lot of time in the woods, hiking and camping. I practically slept in the stuff, and never once got the rash.

 

Fast forward 43 years. Within two weeks of my finding my first geocache, I also was gifted with my first-ever case of poison ivy. I found my ninth cache in an old cemetery, hanging on a fence and hidden in the stuff. Thinking I was still immune, I dove right in. Big mistake. A week of misery later, I'd learned my lesson the hard way: You can be immune for years, then suddenly develop a sensitivity. Ever since that first incident, I've taken precautions, including keeping Tecnu nearby in case of exposure.

 

--Larry

Edited by larryc43230
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MightyMightyWilkins - from your caches I see you live near us. All the railtrails around here are full of poison ivy. We have yet to get a rash but we are very careful of it and avoid getting caches that have too much around them. My husband is very paranoid of poison ivy. Other than that, we love to ride our bikes on the railtrails.

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If I saw a cache was near it I would completely avoid it. You also would hope people wouldn't knowingly place a cache in an area with poison ivy. I caught a bad case of it moving logs that had been cut down in the woods. I used gloves the day I moved them. Piled them near the road. A month later I load them up with no gloves and I get the poison ivy. Had it so bad I'd wake up itching in the middle of the night. I tried so many things too to help it.

 

I tend to want to stay away from thick woods now if I can help it.

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If I saw a cache was near it I would completely avoid it. You also would hope people wouldn't knowingly place a cache in an area with poison ivy. I caught a bad case of it moving logs that had been cut down in the woods. I used gloves the day I moved them. Piled them near the road. A month later I load them up with no gloves and I get the poison ivy. Had it so bad I'd wake up itching in the middle of the night. I tried so many things too to help it.

 

I tend to want to stay away from thick woods now if I can help it.

Some people knowingly place caches under bushes in urban parks frequented by unsavory sorts, thereby leaving us to figure out which is the cache and which is trash. Wait till you put your hands on a used c*****m. Give me poison ivy any day!

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The trail itself is an old railway track, with the tracks pulled up, and "trail gravel" put down. Both sides flanked with this poison ivy. Maybe enough that the city should put up a warning!

That is ideal habitat for poison ivy; along the edges of yards, tree lines, trails, etc. In the open, where grass is abundant, the grass will win out and keep poison ivy from taking root. Deeper into the woods, usually the poison ivy can't get enough sunlight, so it is less likely to grow under a thicker canopy (not to say it CAN'T grow there, because it can). So right along the edge, with plenty of sunlight and no grass to hinder its growth, is where it likes it best. If you know you've been exposed, try to get washed off within the next half hour. By then, the oils have soaked into your skin (I've even read after 15 minutes, its done its damage). If you use water, use cold water because warm/hot water will open up your pours and allow the oils to soak in faster. BUT, if you've already broke out into an itchy rash, washing it with hot water, as hot as you can stand, provides relief for a while. When I get it, I usually use the hot water after a shower, turn the cold completely off and spray the rash with hot. It first feels like an intense itching sensation, but that goes away and (at least for me) actually does provide some serious itch relief.

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Yest that is PI. Another giveaway is the presence of "hairy" vines on nearby trees. Other plants have hairy vines, but if you see them there is a good chance it is PI.

 

If you come in contact with it, wash with Tecnu when you get home. It's expensive but worth it. That or wash thoroughly with cool water. Before I discovered Tecnu I would soap myself up and rinse over and over again for about 10-15 minutes.

 

With Tecnu I apply, rinse and I'm done.

 

+1 Tecnu before outbreak. Zanfel after (if, for whatever reason, you forgot the Tecnu). Both work great and make caching in PI-heavy areas easily manageable.*

 

--Matt

 

*Note: To my knowledge, no one on our "team" is allergic to PI, so if you are, YMMV.

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Yes, but it doesn't look very healthy. As you go south it gets better... :(

 

I agree! The OP's pic looks like October Poison Ivy or something. Surprised it's looking like that in August even "up" where their finds are from. And heed the Giant Hogweed warnings too, lots of that in Ontario too. Hard to miss though, it's um, Giant.

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I reached into a patch of it today while doing some cache maintenance. Once I realized it, and got back to the boat, I jumped into the river and tried to rub it off as best I could in the cold water. Once I got home a few hours later I got a shower with lots of soap. We will see in a few days if I escaped.

 

 

Well, two days later.

The arm that reached into the bush is clear (did I mention that the leaves had a coating of river mud all over them from Irene?).

The other arm has a short strip of it developing on my elbow. Just a few bumps. No big deal.

 

My ankles are on fire though. I was wearing water shoes and no socks and must have walked right through a bush.

Lots of cortizone cream for me.

 

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Oh my gosh, all those pictures look totally different to me. I'm screwed.

 

Sweetpea,

 

Lifelong Poison Ivy sufferer here. I've studied book pics, internet pics, etc. and they've always confused me. On a side note, it is not like I can't identify plants...I can name most any tree I glance at.

 

You get enough exposure to PI you develope a sixth sense. Kind of like when you see a "snakey-looking" place. Just don't "go there". If my GPS is leading to one of those snakey-PI-looking places I just do one of those Catholic cross gestures (even though I'm not a Catholic) and back away. :)

 

Even if the Devil loaded the cache with gold and Swedish Bikini Team sirens.

 

 

 

(Well, I would come back to that one with a Hazmat suit) :)

Edited by Woodstramp
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As a cacher who get a PI rash from petting cats and dogs that have been in it, I'm lucky to have a hubby who doesn't (at this time) react to it. I have DNF'd caches because of the PI when hubby hasn't been with me.

 

I use Ivy-Dry and hydrocortisone to help calm with itch. It also helps to run HOT HOT water over the effected area for as long as I can tolerate it (usually done right before applying one treatment or the other).

 

I have had to take steroids at least four times in my like due to PI rash.

 

PI can be tricky to identify. I agree with the person saying that you develop a sense about it.

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Here are two that are not poison ivy. This one's called "Virginia creeper", it has five leaves, and lives and grows in the same way and the same places that poison ivy does:

 

2ch50nd.jpg

 

That one's a problem, since the leaves and vines are so similar. Although Virginia creeper is harmless, poison ivy could be present among it or nearby.

 

 

These leaves are on a tree branch, I think it's hickory:

 

2lv0f9w.jpg

 

I don't yet have a photo of wild blackberries to post, but those are also in leaves of three. They have obvious thorns (PI has no thorns). Fortunately, you probably don't need to memorize what's NOT poison ivy.

Edited by kunarion
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Fortunately, you probably don't need to memorize what's NOT poison ivy.

It helps though. I'm pretty tired of seeing logs from people claiming that they had to "swim through PI" or similar to get to a cache, when in fact there isn't any. Same with Giant Hogweed.

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