The dry weather may be killing a lot
of grass but no such luck for poison ivy.
The pesky plant is thriving at Potato Creek
State Park and could also
be thriving in your own back yard. It's summertime
and that means kids want to be outside playing tag, hide and seek, and using
their swing sets.
But watch out! Potato Creek State Park Interpretive Naturalist,
Tim Cordell, said you could have poison ivy near that swing set. "It could be
about any place a bird might fly over," said Cordell.
And while your grass by the swing
set may not be surviving the dry conditions, poison ivy will. "The weather
would be negligible if any effect at all…around us here it's thriving,"
said Cordell.
Everyone knows it's a really bad
idea to touch the plant. But to avoid
touching it you've got to know what it looks like. It has three leaves so a helpful saying that's
easy to teach the kids, "leaves of three let it
be," said Cordell. If you take a
closer look the vines are also a little different.
Cordell said it
"has the area rootlets, looks like it has a beard."
But just stay away if you see three leaves
because it spreads easily. One example
Cordell said, "older
brother and sister are out playing and they get it on their jeans, their tennis
shoes. They come in put it in the
laundry, mom picks it up so the oil goes from the plant to the jeans to mom's
hand and she picks up the baby who never left the house and the baby has poison
ivy."
So to protect your family there's a
few ways to get rid of it. "There are several products you can spray on it
chemicals that will kill it," said Cordell. You can also pull it like a week but, "put a plastic bag over your hand and pull it and bag
it up and just dispose of it in the bag," said Cordell.
Cordell also warns people not to
burn poison ivy because it can be very dangerous if the smoke from it gets into
your lungs.
Of course the most common reaction
you'll get is that itchy rash on your skin.
Dr. Ken Elek said your skin can start getting red and itchy within a few
hours of contact. It can be treated with
Cortizone type creams. If it's really
bad or gets on your face Dr. Elek said, "then
contact your doctor because you may need to be on some steroid pills and
sometimes a shot to get that reaction to calm down."
Doctor Elek said within 24 hours of
taking steroids, the rash should start clearing up. But it will take about five to seven days for
everything to go away.
