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Fasteddie has another topic about the oak variety & I didn't want to hijack it, so..... My property is an abandoned farm that is totally overgrown with poison ivy. Not just ground cover, but up to 4" diameter vines growing 30' up the trees and occasionaly to adjacent trees. At times I have to look closely to make sure it isn't simply grapevines. This crap is nasty, but I have no way to avoid it. Thought I'd pass on some of these lessons, nothing scientific just things I've learnt the hard way. Itch, itch, scratch, scratch, .... It's basically the oil from the vines or leaves that cause the skin irritations. I've also gotten it from the pollen while ripping vines off the trees. After any suspected contact, you have (up to) a couple of hours to get it off the skin before it enters the pores. If I'm sure I've come in contact with it, I'll immediately wash hands or arms with a rag & gasoline. Afterwards, dispose of the rag!! When you have water available - wash skin area with a strong detergent (like Dawn) in cold water, repeatedly. Warm water opens the pores & forces the oils into the body. One of my favorite all time bloppers - swatting mosquitoes with my work gloves on! That's about it for the obvious skin contact! What everyone forgets is the not so obvious places or things that contact & hold the oils. Your pant legs & socks are prime candidates. Laundry needs to be done in a STRONG detergent in warm water, otherwise the oils are simply spread over the entire wash load AND the inside of the washing machine. Gives me nightmares, so I'm overly careful - don't wash your Fruit of the Looms or Tee shirts with the contaminated pants. Your boots/shoes and the laces are another place the oils easily collect. Not much you can do about that, other than wash hands after putting on or unlacing boots or any footwear. Sure, rubber boots. Last thing I want to put on when it's 80+ deg & bone dry. Now for the items I generally get my skin rashes from that most people don't think about. Any cutting tools, clippers, chainsaw chains. rakes, trimmers, mowers (and blades), pole saws, etc. Guy that sharpens my chainsaw chains routinely gets it off the customer's chains. Typically get 3-4 mild cases a year on my wrists from removing & putting on my work gloves. If I weren't so frugal, I'd change out gloves more frequently. Think everyone has heard the horror stories of burning the crap & what the smoke will do to your lungs, eyes and skin! Don't burn it, unless you light the fire and then retreat quickly a substantial distance upwind AND stay away from burn pile while there is still smoke.. Sure the oil from the plants/vines will eventually dry up and not be caustic. Haven't read anything about the time requirement... If I contaminate a new pair of leather work gloves, I set them aside and use the following year. The leather palmed, cloth gloves are a different story. Not sure how long before the oil trapped in the cloth takes to dry up..? It's a lot like the Dr. Seuss book where the characters are chasing a spot from place to place. Only for us it's the irritating oil! Oh yeah, if you think you dodged the bullet - wait! My outbreaks don't show up a couple of days. So you have a skin rash - the pink calamine works pretty good on milder cases. FYI - for whatever reason or difference in ingredients, the clear calamine doesn't work as well. The intent is to dry it up, so medicated lotions (anti-itch) aren't much help. Ok, I'll admit I've tried the $15 Tecnu products. At least for me they were a waste of money! More severe case? Prescription Prednisone (cortisone) works great, within a couple of days its' getting better!!! Usually every other (severe) outbreak my physician will call in a prescription for me. Even w/o drug co-pay, it's fairly cheap. You decide if it's worth the office visit, $$. Getting rid of it - a losing battle!!!!! Bought that $25/bottle brush killer that makes a few gallons of spray, works great. Problem is it's a vine with runners and it reemerges the following year. You'd probably have to plow, disc, disc, spray, re-disc, respray to have any chance of controlling it - if at all. Wish the deer liked the damned stuff like they do the corn fields...