How to clear poison ivy and deep roots without digging up the whole yard
Clearing an overgrown area filled with deep-rooted poison ivy is physically exhausting and dangerous for people with severe allergies. The deep roots and large patches make it hard to remove by hand or shovel without spending hours digging up hundreds of square feet.
What the numbers show
Counted from the threads quoted below. How we count
- The most recent one is from October 2026.
- This comes up 29.9× more often in r/Landscaping than across the site as a whole.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Spraying the area, layering with fabric, and covering with decorative rock.Did this help you?
- 2spraying with glyphosateDid this help you?
- 3digging them out with a shovelDid this help you?
- 4laying clear plastic over the area to solarize over fall and winterDid this help you?
- 5covering the area with wood chipsDid this help you?
- 6laying pavers directly on top of leveled dirt and planting moss or clover in betweenDid this help you?
- 7reach out to a professional or a YouTube creator who handles neglected yardsDid this help you?
- 8hire professionals with heavy duty equipment and a haulerDid this help you?
- 9rent a heavy duty mower or a brush hog and a chainsawDid this help you?
- 10spray the vines first with something systemic and give it a week to die backDid this help you?
- 11use goatsDid this help you?
- 12use scissors and a strong handDid this help you?
- 13Using goats with a temporary fence to eat the vegetation downDid this help you?
- 14wearing long sleeves, long pants, and glovesDid this help you?
- 15putting it in plastic bags inside out and turning the bags around itDid this help you?
- 16changing out gloves and washing in betweenDid this help you?
- 17using a prescription steroid cream for rashesDid this help you?
- 18applying triclopyr to kill the ivy before returningDid this help you?
- 19washing up with tecnu soap after servicing the yardDid this help you?
- 20Hiring a professional yard service or landscaper to cut and clean up the yardDid this help you?
- 21Using a strong string trimmer (weed eater) instead of renting a heavy-duty brush mowerDid this help you?
- 22Renting a walk-behind brush mower along with a trailer and a towing vehicleDid this help you?
- 23Using hedge trimmers, hand pruners, and protective leather glovesDid this help you?
- 24Applying specific herbicides to freshly cut canesDid this help you?
- 25Using goats to graze and clear the overgrowthDid this help you?
- 26Leaving tarps down over the winterDid this help you?
- 27Sowing grass and keeping mowing weedsDid this help you?
- 28Pulling up garlic mustard and using herbicidesDid this help you?
- 29Laying down cardboard for the summerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“There was a garden buried under all this thick bramble.”source ↗
“I've serviced this same woman for three weeks and the day after I pull weeds for her I get poison ivy on either my hands or arms.”source ↗
“The biggest annoyance with this is that they take a week to go away on my skin so that by the time I service her house again I get fresh rashes.”source ↗
“At this point, I just want to get the yard to a point where I can put down some grass since there is significant tree cover.”source ↗
“When we bought our house it had no yard, only huge blackberry thickets. Wearing elbow length leather gloves, I used a hedge trimmer on a 5’ extension to cut most of it out followed by hand pruners to cut the thick canes at ground level.”source ↗
“I’m working with a neighbor to make their backyard useable after years of neglect from a prior resident.”source ↗
“Today we pulled up tons of various vegetation that’s taken over onto of old landscape fabric and stacked a punch of paver stones.”source ↗
“It’s very overgrown and has a ton of poison ivy. I’m allergic to it as is my youngest. I want to be able to make this space look nice but I’m having a hard time coming up with ideas.”source ↗
“You aren't going to kill some of the plants you mention with a few months of tarping. Seeds will not be killed either.”source ↗
“I’ve never laid pavers and were trying to keep costs down to reuse what I dug up.”source ↗
“I covered them back in August when everything was still growing. Do you think I should take the tarps off and then sow grass in the Spring?”source ↗
“Is there an easy way to nuke close to my fence line? Tired of the bushes growing through the fence every summer.”source ↗
“Secondly, I went out today as it all looks to be dead (per the brown picture) but when trying to remove it, it feels very much alive and dug in very deep.”source ↗
“The roots are very deep and I was struggling to get the clumps out. I can dig them out with a shovel I suppose but it’s probably about 2-300 square feet so id rather not if I can avoid it.”source ↗
“Thick tall grass and lots of vines and weeds.”source ↗
“I'm at a point where I can do something about the state of the 3/4 acre around our house and I want to turn the gardens into areas for ornamental grasses and bushes, which I DO know how to maintain.”source ↗
“what do I need to know before doing this and especially, how do I get it to my house?”source ↗
“Thanks for advice as this is a new challenge for me.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 112How to get rid of creeping weeds without breaking roots
- 4How to clear stiltgrass from a large wooded area
- 13How to clear thick grass overgrowing a paved driveway
- 13How to kill invasive vines without killing the trees?
- 7How to safely remove an overgrown plant near the house
- 3How to clear fence line weeds without destroying the trimmer