How can I get rid of poison ivy growing up thru some bushes?
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I can't get to the roots, so is there anything I could apply to the leaves? I get a bad rash every year just trimming the leaves that grow out past the top of the other bushes.
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Use a natural spray. Dissolve one cup salt in a gallon of water and add a tablespoon of dish soap to create a solution that can be sprayed on poison ivy.
Whatever you use
Whatever you use, unless you don't care about losing your bushes, don't allow the treatment to get on the roots of nearby plants. I usually recommend boiling water on lower stems/roots, but with plants coming up through bushes, you must be careful. Salt will stop growth/kill plants around which it is applied, so be careful. Dress carefully, protecting your arms, taping the sleeves to the gloves, followed immediately with cleansing with Fels Naptha bar soap.
mix some Roundup in a pail. Put on long rubber gloves, then put cotton work gloves over them (cheap ones so you can just pitch when you're done) Dip your cloth gloves into the Roundup and then wipe the poison ivy leaves and stems., particularly near the roots. Be cautious so as to not drip too much on your bushes. whe you are done, carefully remove both sets of gloves into a plastic bag. Wash your arms and hands well in case you accidentally got touched by a leaf. Wait until the vines are all dried up and dead before pulling them out (again, gloves!! Even dead poison ivy can get you!)
it may take more than one treatment to get it all, but it will work.
When I have weeds in a delicate situation and cannot pull them I use a small paintbrush to apply Roundup or 2-4-D to the weed leaves.
Put on long gloves and dip a sponge paint brush in Round Up, put at base of the poison ivy plant.