[linn]

What are your thoughts. The bees are happy. How do you deal with this problem?

 

[tomkat]

Goats

 

[JWChesnut]

Poison oak (the west coast form of the same taxa) makes great June honey. It often is the last flow before the summer dearth.

I sell it for a premium to folks who believe it is a homeopathic desensitization to the allergy. I have a waiting list, honest.

I think the honey actually does work this way. I am non-responsive to the dermatitis, a great boon.

 

[Harley Craig]

I'd just trample in there and work it as I don't react to ivy or oak however several guys I work with get both bad and I see them putting on a barrier cream lotion called ivy block they say it really works

 

[Zbee]

This is a bonus! Help keep folks out of your yard. I have the stuff popping up all over the place near my hives, but luckily am not affected by it and bees do not mind it so I leave it be.

If its a real concern, suit up and grab a hoe and cut that brush out.

 

[linn]

Oh, this is great news. I was worried about transferring the oil of poison ivy onto my clothing and equipment.

 

[waynesgarden]

Goats? Worst case of poison ivy I've ever had (and I've had some serious ones, ) I got from some goats that I was tending that I did not realize were feasting on a huge growth of the plan growing behind the barn. Sent me to a doctor for treatment and later, when he tried to "immunize me," rendered me unconscious and unable to breathe. After being resuscitated, I decided not to continue with "immunization" treatments.

When I moved to the Adirondacks, I found a poison-ivy-free area. I believe the plant won't grow in the High-Peaks area where temps plunge to minus 40 degrees.

Wayne

 

[waynesgarden]

Oh, this is great news. I was worried about transferring the oil of poison ivy onto my clothing and equipment.

Only if you come into contact with the plant. (Live or dead, in bloom or not, growing or dormant. The compound Urushiol, that causes a reaction for many people, remains on the plant's surface year-round.

Fortunately, it does not occur in the plants nectar or pollen.

Wayne

 

[linn]

How do you manage? Do you worry about getting poison ivy on the outside of the honey supers-especially when you pull the honey supers?