lots of big dream projects out there….
I have the time now or will in about a month (not really what I wanted), so no excuses this year. Paintbrushes, trees, and gardens. Inertia is a major uphill battle, with a long way between the vision and the actual thing accomplished. And good intentions aren’t worth very much.
But there is a field of bittersweet and a hedgerow of dying ash that could be hickory. If I do something about it. First stop: more Tecnu for the sea of poison ivy and some more tick proof clothing. Second stop: a working bush hog. Third stop: Garlon and Glysophate.* Fourth step: convince my boyfriend that he really does want to cut more trees down and get his friends to remove them** Fifth step: start it all over.
*That is the approved ‘nuclear’ option… but at this point, aside from a few young hickories, there is nothing left down there that isn’t Oriental bittersweet, creeping briar, poison ivy, and goldenrod.
**That isn’t being a wimpy female, I know my limits with a chainsaw.
Acair Fearann 
I have a personal dislike for the use of any herbicide when it comes to eradication of unwanted plant life. When I was learning about these things from my uncle, for whom I worked summers on his nursery during high school, the solution I learned was to pull up the entire root system and let the sun destroy it in the open air (poison ivy, etc.) If your task were mine to undertake, I would avoid the use of any chemical solution. But that’s me. I realize the project might take an extra year. And by the way, my back is still killing me!
No problem, Robert! But when you are faced with 2,000 feet of hedgerow… on stone walls… with almost nothing in it except invasives… and one elderly man, one near 40 young lady, one middle aged man, little time, and lots of other projects…
In a lot of locations around the house, I will just pull poison ivy, that is by far the quickest way to deal with it. This, however is an acre and half field sadly neglected. The poison ivy could be brought under marginal control by mowing and extremely high applications of lime (which is not desirable, being essentially an organic and highly leachable herbicide in this location). However, Oriental bittersweet, once the root mat is established will actually respond to mowing by growing more vigorous roots. And the field is now sixty-seventy percent bittersweet because of that mistake. In fact the bittersweet is now choking out the poison ivy. Think Kudzu. The secondary issue, and why bare earth is the best option, is that it must be replaced within the growing season with a preferred cover crop to prevent weed seed growth and erosion. In this case probably a mixed native grass cover will be used. Or, you can start the process all over again, which is rather a Sisyphean waste of time, energy, and money. Invasive plants have tipping points in landscapes. Once past that point, one’s options are both limited and drastic. Better to be drastic once and re-establish a really healthy landscape than keep a few marginal survivors limping along.
I hope your back is better!
I applaud people who get in there and do the work, particularly when they have done their homework carefully and i know that this is the case in this case. I wish Anne and Scott all the best and urge them to be careful. As Jamie says it’s a big project. We don’t have a bull-dozer the only other real option; and I have to wonder if in the end that would be less selective and more environmentally harmful.
PS glad to know you are still alive.