Abandoned property completely engulfed in invasive vines now taking over my property

I worked so hard last summer (to no avail)to control the similac, poison ivy, and the virginia creeper that has bordered the left and right perimeter of my property. My property line on the left and right are divided by 1) a line of Camilla trees on my property, and now 2) a tangle of virginia creeper, similac, and poison ivy.

This problem originates from the property behind mine that is abandoned (but also belongs to my landlords). Its bad. Its a several feet deep jungle of vines. In some places the vines are deeper than I am tall. In one spot there's basically a thick wall of vines thats taller than the house beside it. The wall has formed between a partial fence and the trees.

Hard to believe that 2 years ago the guy who was living there at the time, had the yard maybe 80% cleared of vines. He worked so hard, but of course the problem wasnt as big as it is now. Its insane to me how quickly this problem has progressed.

Would appreciate any thoughts tips or advise!

Note: goats are not an option, sadly there are no goat rental services where I live and I could not find any locals willing to rent their goats. The closest gost rental service is several hours away.

How abandoned is "abandoned"?

Is the fenceline secure?

Goats would love to eat those. Either on your side, to defend your fence line, or "accidentally" on the other side of boundary?

I've wanted to eat Smilax shoots for quite a while, but haven't run across them yet.  Do they taste as good as people say?
Eat the Weeds - Smilax

Personally, what I would do with that extensive mass of unwanted growth is to go in and tear it out. I've done it myself with Himilayan blackberry and poison oak. You'd need to do it when the soil is damp enough that at least some of the roots will come out with pulling. Dress head to toe in two layers of protective clothing, wear a hat that won't come off, protective eyeglasses again that won't come off and good gloves. Bring in your pruning shears, lopers and whatever else you have that would cut it well and a heavy duty pliers with a big head for pulling roots and large vines.  Then systematically, section by section, cut down and pull everything out, including roots. Lots of times, I cut thorny plants or poison oak in small sections, like 1 to 3 feet long, starting with those that are above my head (!) to avoid coming into too much contact with them. I'd suggest the plants all go in the trash. Poison ivy can't be usefully composted, and I'm not sure but some of them may reroot if left lying on the ground. And, needless to say, do not touch your face or any other part of your skin while your doing this.

When if comes to cleaning up, this seems to work for me: Wash your hands with Dawn. Take off your clothes very carefully without touching your skin at all, put them in the washer with a good amount of laundry detergent and wash them on the longest wash possible in COLD water.  Wash your hands with Dawn. Go to the shower and soap your entire body down with Dawn. Leave it on for a while. Then rinse off the Dawn without rubbing in COLD water. Once you've done all of that, you can take a real shower. Your tools will also need to be washed, then rubbed with alcohol and a cloth to make sure the rest of the poison ivy oils are off of them, and then they need to be oiled.

Sounds like quite a process, I'm sure, but oh! the satisfaction you will get will be immense. And if you don't get any reactions to the poison ivy, your revenge will be even sweeter. The first year we lived in this house, I spent the winter cutting down Himalayan blackberry. At that time, I did not know that poison oak was it's friend and grew right in it. I had poison oak the entire winter. Since then, I've learned a lot about poison oak and have tried a number of methods of protecting myself against it. The Dawn and cold water treatment really seems to work for me.

Once you've done the first mass killing, you'll need to watch carefully to see what pops up, and eradicate that ASAP.

Good luck!!!

Try vinegar

These grow all over my property, I use a weed sprayer with white vinegar. It will take multiple applications and works best on non woody stem plants.

I can definitely feel your pain.  There are many "edge" areas on my property that are very thick with Japanese honeysuckle, poison ivy, and the dreaded greenbrier.  I'm with Jen Swanson - good old fashioned elbow grease is the way to eradicate these thick viney areas.  I bought a blade for my Stihl string trimmer and that has been very helpful in cutting the vines at the base.  Make sure you cut the vines a second time as high as you can reach so that any future vines don't have an easy path to wrap itself around the old vines and start growing again.  Unfortunately this is not the end of your work.  You will need to come back to the area intermittently and do some maintenance work.  If you keep up with it, over time it will keep getting easier and easier.  

Greg Martin wrote:I've wanted to eat Smilax shoots for quite a while, but haven't run across them yet.  Do they taste as good as people say?
Eat the Weeds - Smilax

i like them. they’re a slightly sour and prolific shoot producer. they turn to mush when overcooked, so lighter cooking option preferred.

I would use my scythe and mow them all down, and then cover with black rubber roofing material or clear plastic for as long as it took to kill them.

Trace Oswald wrote:I would use my scythe and mow them all down, and then cover with black rubber roofing material or clear plastic for as long as it took to kill them.

Trace, I tried using clear plastic in the past to solarize certain areas in order to prepare new garden beds, but it always seems that the low spots get filled up with rain water and then I'm concerned that these areas will be a mosquito hatching factory.  How do you deal with this issue?

Body parts that come into contact with poison oak or ivy can be washed off with any product that will easily remove saps or oils. Alcohol or even gasoline will work much better than any soap. I've used gasoline if that's all that I have at the time I come into contact with these plants. But I'd have a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol available before I started this job.

If I know that I contacted the plant I'd want to wash that body part off immediately. But be careful where you use it, don't get this stuff in your eyes.

Joshua LeDuc wrote: it always seems that the low spots get filled up with rain water and then I'm concerned that these areas will be a mosquito hatching factory.  How do you deal with this issue?

I use black plastic, not clear. Clear always seems to become a giant greenhouse. But I end up just manually dumping the plastic every few days.
I have, in the past, put things under the plastic to give it a bit of slope in areas, to make it easier to dump it (think mountains and valleys) but plants under the high parts don't die as well as the ones under the low parts. So I do it the hard way, and dump it manually.

John Indaburgh wrote:Body parts that come into contact with poison oak or ivy can be washed off with any product that will easily remove saps or oils. Alcohol or even gasoline will work much better than any soap. I've used gasoline if that's all that I have at the time I come into contact with these plants. But I'd have a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol available before I started this job.

If I know that I contacted the plant I'd want to wash that body part off immediately. But be careful where you use it, don't get this stuff in your eyes.

the oil can be abraded off too, i’ve scrubbed areas i know touched poison ivy with mud (soil sucks up oils too) when in the field without other ways to wash. works every time!

greg mosser wrote:

John Indaburgh wrote:Body parts that come into contact with poison oak or ivy can be washed off with any product that will easily remove saps or oils. Alcohol or even gasoline will work much better than any soap. I've used gasoline if that's all that I have at the time I come into contact with these plants. But I'd have a bottle of Isopropyl Alcohol available before I started this job.

If I know that I contacted the plant I'd want to wash that body part off immediately. But be careful where you use it, don't get this stuff in your eyes.

the oil can be abraded off too, i’ve scrubbed areas i know touched poison ivy with mud (soil sucks up oils too) when in the field without other ways to wash. works every time!

I don't have the time to find a link at the moment, but I saw a great video on how to properly wash up after poison ivy contact. It boils down to the same effort as it would take to wash axle grease off your skin. A half-hearted "washing" won't do it, a rinsing won't either, only a real good scrubbing with soap or detergent. A really good wiping with a DRY towel actually performed better than the half measures!

Like Pearl said, I just dump the water off once in awhile.  I like using black rubber roofing material the best.  It's thick, heavy, and free anywhere some commercial building is getting a new roof.

Trace Oswald wrote:Like Pearl said, I just dump the water off once in awhile.

A broom works too, I usually fail to have one with me when I want the water off though :D