the itchy & scratchy garden show
September 26, 2009 1:06 AM   Subscribe

Poison oak within garden yard mulch (scratch) How long will it be toxic (scratch) Any way to make it less?

A worker unknowingly spread a mulch containing poison oak (or poison ivy, sumac, we're not sure) throughout our garden. So anytime we are working the soil in the garden, we get allergic reactions. We wear gloves, but it still ends up giving us itchy patches on arms, etc. Apart from wearing a biohazard suit, can anything be done to let us enjoy our yard again? How long does urushiol take to neutralize?
posted by artdrectr to Home & Garden (9 answers total)
 
Best answer: The Wilderness and Environmental Medicine journal has this to say about urushiol, the irritating ingredient in poison ivy/oak:
The oil is found in the stems, roots, leaves, and skin of the fruits of these plants. It is nonvolatile and dries quickly on fomites, where it retains its antigenic potential in the dry state indefinitely (longevity is increased in dry climates and decreased in warm, moist climates).
posted by embrangled at 4:04 AM on September 26, 2009


IIRC the oil will be present and capable of causing a reaction for a couple years or more. Sorry. Various companies have tried to develop products that can be sprayed or rubbed on skin to block the oil; you might try looking up those. Also, after exposure you have more time than you might think to wash the oil off. Starting with cold water is best, then adding soap and warmer water.

If you get the rash, a technique I read in a dermatology journal and confirmed with my own itchy skin is to rinse it in the hottest water that isn't actually painful (shower or faucet) without soap. Then pat it try with a towel. Don't rub. I found it itched unbearably when actually being rinsed. But afterwards I got hours of relief.

Good luck!
posted by wjm at 4:19 AM on September 26, 2009


Best answer: It's pretty common to have poison oak/ivy/sumac in mulch that comes from municipal supplies --- people put all of their yard waste out for the city to pick up & shred, & the oil is very durable, fresh or dried. Sorry artdrectr but you are going to be stuck with it for a long time unless you want to gather it all up and replace it.

wjn's advice about relieving the itch is spot on. Run the hottest water you can stand over it for as long as you can stand it, and your body will send all the histamine it's got to the area. It will itch insanely while you do it, but once you've finished you will be itch-free for hours and hours, and you won't wake up in the middle of the night scratching the rash & making it worse.
posted by headnsouth at 6:22 AM on September 26, 2009


Best answer: My mother's very sensitive to that, so when she's out working she wears a lightweight long sleeve top tucked into gloves and a handkerchief around her neck. As soon as she leaves the garden she strips down and hops in a hot shower. It seems to work really well for her.
posted by caveat at 6:47 AM on September 26, 2009


Could you bury the mulch in more mulch? This will keep it moist and make it rot faster, and you'll be less exposed to the toxic mulch.
posted by musofire at 7:10 AM on September 26, 2009


Try "fels naptha soap"

This has worked for generations in our family, and everyone I have recommended it to.

It's a soap that we keep in the house all the time for that reason, however my wife uses it for other items in the laundry.

Google - fels naptha soap poison ivy

Please let me know if this works for you.

What ever do not burn the plant or the mulch - can be deadly for a small percentage of the popluation.
posted by ok at 7:39 AM on September 26, 2009


Seconding "do not burn the plant or the mulch." I once got a terrible, itchy rash and inflammation over much of my body AND inside my throat and nose from burning poison ivy.

For the rash, try applying any clay facial masque. I like Queen Helene Clay Masque best. It will soothe the itch and dry the rash without irritating it. Keep the masque on until it's really dry and then shower or bathe--it will dissolve in the water and you won't have to rub at the inflamed skin.

Remember, too that dogs and cats can get the oil on their fur and transfer it, including onto your clothes or skin. If you think of it as a substance that can contaminate whatever it touches, you won't be wrong. Think about at least covering it with more mulch.
posted by Jenna Brown at 10:14 AM on September 26, 2009


Best answer: Yep, I have a ton of firsthand knowledge regarding poison oak/ivy/sumac. The big thing I will tell you here is to be careful with anything that comes into contact with the oils: specifically gloves and tools, since if you touch those things or they're carried inside without being washed, then it will just spread the material.

As far as what to do, if I had a disaster like that in my yard and it wasn't too extensive, I would be thinking about putting down a sheet of plastic, just to be absolutely sure that no poison oak/ivy/sumac plants begin growing (if that happens, you will really be up the creek since they establish runners all over the place) and then put down a 3 to 6 inch layer of topsoil above that and do your gardening or turf on top of that. After a few years pass, the plastic should break down and the urushiol should be mostly flushed down deeper into the soil by rains. That's really what I'd do rather than let the contractor dick around with inventing a fix, so you could insist on doing that or suing for the incurred cost of making everything right.

As far as what to do if you're already itching and you want it to stop, the only thing I've seen that works is Zanfel ($35 at a drugstore) which actually separates the urushiol molecules from the skin. It gets rid of mild exposure, but it's hit or miss with severe exposure. I've tried a lot of other remedies and they don't really work. I hate spending the money on Zanfel but I always keep a tube of it around. There's a lot of anecdotal reports about urushiol getting into the bloodstream from heavy scratching and causing more problems, so it's really not something to mess around with.
posted by crapmatic at 12:12 PM on September 26, 2009


Response by poster: Thanks for all your replies. It looks like we'll be dealing with this for...some time.
Hopefully, this problem will lessen after the winter rains and some decomposition.
In the meantime, it will be gloves, long-sleeve shirts and a shower using an oil-dispersing soap like Fels (thanks ok) or even stronger like Dawn Hand Renewal.


Tip for gardeners: Be sure you ask where your mulch is coming from! I agree with headnsouth that this batch probably came from local municipal supplies (in order to economize). However, don't let it deter you from using a good local soil supplier. I'll give a shout out to a SF Bay Area supplier that is clean and miles better than store bought. Woulda, shoulda, coulda.
posted by artdrectr at 1:14 PM on September 26, 2009


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