Need help to solve a dispute

SS MAYFLOAT

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Where all does Poison Oak live? I have been told by many that it is only on the west coast. Then I've been told that it is all over the USA. I have seen poison ivy, and poison sumac, but I've never encountered poison oak in Ohio.

Next question: If you do not get either sumac or poision ivy, can you get poision oak?
 

rwise

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

its here in OK

I am not allergic to any of them
 

Ron G

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Its all over here?funny you should mention one of the workstudies here is ate up with it.
I one of the lucky ones so far none of them bother me either but one could attack can change all that.
 

heycods

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

I thought poison Oak and sumache were the same, we have poison oak and ivie here,
 

LadyFish

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

I've never come into contact with poison oak or sumac but I've seen people who have and they end up looking like a freak of nature. So much swelling...they almost look like they have elephantitus and it takes a long time to recover from it.
 

JB

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

I think poison oak is mainly a southern and western plague, SS.

Like heycods, I have poison oak and poison ivy. Back in NC when I was growing up we had poison oak and poison sumac, but not poison ivy.
 

QC

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Agree with LadyFish. Oldest boy got into some Poison Oak when he was around 12. It looked like a flesh eating virus. Very scary and spreads long after contact, took weeks to clear up with ointments and anitbiotics I believe, but no lasting scars.
 

fireman57

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

We have ivy and sumac here but no oak. I have always heard that poison oak isn't east of the Mississippi. Looks like that is not the case.
 

SS MAYFLOAT

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

fireman57,,, that is what I have always heard. Around here you will find some that swear that they got poison oak. PIvy is everywhere around here and most people does not have a clue what it looks like as well as sumac.

I got sumac when I was about 8 years old. Got it real bad, got over it and then got it again a couple of months later. After that, I never got it again. Maybe I learned what to look for at that age or my immune system just got stronger against it. The same with the ivy. Got it lots of times and now I handle it with bare hands. Yeah, risky I know, but I wash my hands and arms with acetone afterwards just to make sure I get the oils from it off my skin. Yes, it burns a bit on the skin, but it sure is better than a bad rash that will last.

I've google'd poision oak to see what it looks like. I have seen stuff similar, but not like what I saw in the pics around here.
 

rodbolt

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

and in kitty hawk we have poison ivy,poison sumac and poison oak as well as super skeeters from the salt swamps.
however only the skeeters seem to bother me. my sis can be near an area where poison ivy is being burned and break out.
I cant sight Id the oak or sumac and finally learned how to sight ID the poison-ivy so as not to have my friends walk through it. I understand it can be like bee or wasp stings in that you can get stung 100 times and the 101st can kill ya.
but so far the stuff does not bother me.
chiggers are another issue :):)
 

treedancer

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Plenty of poison ivy here in the Ozarks, had a lot of poison oak at Camp Pendleton Ca. when I was stationed there, found out the hard way, very allergic to any of it.:devil:
 

Kevin70

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Here in southeast GA. we have a plethora of all three. I once pulled a long vine out of a tree, and had to wrap it around my arm to get a grip on it. I woke up the next morning with a "spiral rash" all the way up my arm.
 

fireman57

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

SS what people around here call poison oak is really virginia creeper. It has five leaves and climbs the trees. People are just misidentifying it I think. Better safe than sorry. I have had poison ivy just a few times and it got me through a cut or opening on my arms or hands from clearing fencerows or cutting firewood.
 

ehenry

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

I can tell you all....Mississippi has all 3, i'm allegic to all three, and you're misserable when you get it. If you aren't careful you'll get it where you REALLY DONT want it. The oil from the plants is what gets you. It can be on some one else's clothes and you touch them and you get it. People like me can be around the smoke of a fire where the wood has the vines on it and break out from being in the smoke. THe smoke is really bad cause if you're allergic and breathe the smoke your esaphagus and lungs can become enflamed....take it from me... I know from experience.

Poison Oak and Ivy only have 3 leaves. Sumac has 9 or more pointed leaves...we have it but its not as common as Oak or Ivy.

Roundup will kill Sumac...it will knock the leaves off Oak and Ivy but not kill the plant because its a woody plant. It takes a brush killer to kill Poison Oak and Ivy.

LEAVES OF 3 LET IT BE ! !
 

LadyFish

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

"Leaves of 3 Let it Be......


.....and WHATEVER YOU DO.... NEVER, EVER confuse a poision ivy leaf for a maple leaf if you should happen to be in the woods with no TP.

:$
 

all thumbs

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

I work in the southern part of Wisconsin on tree farms. I have only come across poison ivy while clearing land for planting. I also have bad enviromental allergies for which I have been taking shots for years to build up my imune system. The list is long for what it covers but I thought poison ivy was one of them. At any rate I don't think I'll put it to a test....TP, never leave home with out itd:)
 

Ron G

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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Let me tell ya a story,when i was younger me and my dad and grandfather and little cousin went on a fishing trip to a small lake in the middle of a forest down in texarkania well anyway my little cousin had to use the bathroom he was probably 12 so we went to the bank and off he went,well if you aint guessed it yet ,yep he wiped with poison ivy:^Talking about feeling sorry for someone..well my grandfather was one of those that totally believed in home remendys so he took a greenwalnut and rubbed it all over my cousins private parts and surrounding areas,i thought i was going to die from laughing so hard,anyway it didnt help non and we had to carry him to the er talk about some laughing and explaning.so watch what ya wipe with.

Firemans right theres alot virginia creeper here too and they get mixed up.but i always thought it looked more like pot than poison ivyd:)
 

DTS1290

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Feb 20, 2006
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Re: Need help to solve a dispute

Only poison ivy and sumac in ohio. i hear the same things from so many people too that they dont get poison ivy only poison oak. only problem is that it doesnt grow here and the chemical in all three that causes irritation is the same and the same amount of the chemical is in all three.

when i was a kid for probably five years straight i had to go to the hospital to get a cortisone shot because i could manage to get 3/4 of my face covered in it along with 1/5 or the rest of my body. after that i spent a lot of time learning about the stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_ivy
 
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