Summer Dangers – Summer Solutions

For many people these long, hot days of summer are the best days of the year, long, lazy days in the backyard, at the lake or “down the shore”. Unfortunately, summer also brings some real dangers: Sun burn, poison ivy, and ticks that can ruin days, weeks and even months of your summer. We can’t eliminate all of those dangers but we do have solutions for some of them.

Poison Ivy

If you’re allergic to poison ivy (and 89% of all people are) then you know the misery of the itching, swelling, and blistering that goes along with a poison ivy attack. Poison ivy is a vicious weed that grows all over our area. Poison Ivy contains Urushiol oil in its stems and on its leaves. The Urushiol is what causes the allergic reaction. Once that oil gets on your skin it usually takes 24 hours for the bumps and itching to start. Poison ivy is not contagious once the rash breaks out, but if you have the oil on your hands and touch someone else, or if your pet has the oil on her fur and you touch your pet, the infection will spread. The oil is so potent that even if you get it on your shoes, clothes, or garden tools, it can infect you for up to five years when you touch those tools, clothes, or shoes again.

The best way to protect yourself from poison ivy is to know how to identify it and if it is growing on your property, have it removed. Spraying an herbicide will stop it from growing but the Urushiol will remain active in the “dead” stems and leaves for years, leaving you prone to infection. “Weed Whacking” will only chop it up and shoot the oil all over your lawn, shoes, and legs. The safest way to solve the problem is to have a professional come in and remove it.

Fortunately, in this area, Poison Ivy Gone (PoisonIvyGone.com – (973)-506-8675 / (888)- NOIVY-NOW) is a national leader in poison ivy removal. Based in Oakland, NJ, Poison Ivy Gone serves our area and removes poison ivy by hand, digging it out beneath ground level. They will come to your property, identify the poison ivy, and try to determine where it’s coming from. Then they’ll explain the best way to remove it, and how to prevent it from coming back. Because poison ivy is a weed that drops seeds frequently during the year, they also offer maintenance plans to come and remove any new growth that might occur after the initial removal.