Poison ivy & tick management

Hi everyone! Total newbie here and I'm looking for suggestions on how to manage poison ivy and ticks on our property.

As far as the poison ivy goes -- I would just leave it be but my husband is horribly allergic, and any time he goes out to do yard work he breaks out in a nasty rash that takes weeks to clear. We both love being outdoors and would like to be able to enjoy our yard without being in complete misery.
Are there any plants I could use that would outcompete poison ivy? Or is the only way we have a chance pulling it out by hand? I've seen it suggested to use goats or sheep to graze, but the main problem areas are growing up our trees.

Other issue is ticks. We've been here 3 years and never had a problem with ticks. But this year, every time I walk outside they start crawling up me. The only thing I've done different this year was start a hugel bed and use leaves from our shade trees as mulch in the garden, I'm wondering if when I distributed the leaves all across the property I ended up distributing the ticks as well.....? Ack. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

Also if climate is an important factor we're in North Alabama.

Goats are the best to use to get rid of poison ivy.

If you don't have goats or know someone that does you might try the strong 30% vinegar.

Here is a thread that might offer other suggestions:

https://permies.com/t/16419/Poison-Ivy-Eyes-Permaculture

I agree with goats as a good option.  But I also need to ask the obvious … are you sure it is poison Ivy?  When I bought my property I was told by the realtor, owner, and neighbor that it was covered with poison Ivy .  I checked.  It looked like Virginia Creeper to me. Over 25 years later I have yet to get a poison Ivy rash.

Oh yes, Welcome to Permies!!

if her husband’s very sensitive and gets ivy’d a lot, i assume they know enough to i.d. it. if it’s so bad that he gets got every time he’s working outside, it may be time to hire someone - either to manually knock it back to more sustainable level or to go with a goat-based option. in my experience, in those places where poison ivy is really doing well, it’s hard to get anything else to compete with it. pulling out all the roots or repeated grazing are the standard options.

We have three small goats and they knocked out our poison ivy patch in one season.  The best thing for ticks is guineas, however, I have had pretty good control with chickens.

Poison ivy is easy to confuse with boxelder saplings; not sure how anyone would mistake it for Virginia Creeper. (Virginia Creeper always has clusters of 5 leaves; poison ivy always has clusters of 3.)

The way I control poison ivy is a 2-fold approach:

First, I cover my arms and legs and wear good rubber gloves or put plastic grocery bags over my hands, or both (you can use rubber bands to get a grocery bag to stay up past your elbows), and I go out with a garbage bag in one hand, and I pull up the poison ivy by the roots and place the entire plant in the garbage bag. I am relentless, and I pull up every bit of it I can find. It all goes in the bag. Then, without taking my gloves/bags off, that bag is tied shut and put in the trash. Then bags and gloves are taken off carefully and also disposed of.

Second, any poison ivy that comes back I spray with poison ivy killer.

We have problems with both poison ivy and ticks. Similar situation, I don't react to poison ivy, partner has a severe reaction.

This year, after a hurricane, we have much more poison ivy everywhere. It likes disturbed ground as others have mentioned. I have considered hiring some goats. If it were my own goats, it would be too risky to get the urushiol on their coats. I can dig the ivy out by hand carefully as I am immune (for now). I glove up and then scrub down.

Most of our property is wooded. We leave the P.I. alone in those areas. If it's getting too close to our fence or actual garden or orchard, I try to get rid of it. After multiple rounds of steroids for my partner, I did resort to bonide poison ivy killer in a challenging area that I can't get to, but not near food plants. I hand pull there. I did try vinegar with so-so effect.

As far as ticks, also seeing more than prior years. We spray our shoes with permethrin in spring, wear light colored clothing when possible, always wear a hat, tick check after being outside, shower asap. We don't let the grass get super wild prior to scything/using a reel mower. I hear guinea fowl can be helpful. It also helps to have a hamper with a lid and a tick removal tool.

To summarize, we haven't had great success with either, but we are still learning. Basically, we let some areas become more wild and we take more precautions there.

In your wilder areas where it is let to grow, keep an eye for really big vines going up trees. Not only is a parasite on the tree, but those big vines are generally the mother plants of new ones.  Birds will spread the seeds from the berries into your more maintained areas.

Sorry it took me a bit to respond! Thank you all for your suggestions -- we will look into all of these!

Unfortunately we are certain it's poison ivy, I wish we had a ton of Virginia creeper instead! I wouldn't worry so much about getting rid of it, but my husbands allergy is so awful. My neighbor has a goat so maybe we can borrow him for a few days!