Poison Ivy in Alberta??

[OpenSights]

Is there any proven to grow here?

If so which parts of the province?

In a course where the instructor is saying it's all over. I don't believe so since I've never seen or heard of people getting caught up in it.

[Drewski Canuck]

You're welcome to come to Calling Lake this spring and run naked along the shore of you want to prove its presence

Or you could take my word for it

Drewski

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

You're welcome to come to Calling Lake this spring and run naked along the shore of you want to prove its presence

Or you could take my word for it

Drewski

One of those Northern things ? Don't think I've ever seen any either and not for want of looking.

Grizz

[AndrewM]

Originally Posted by Grizzly Adams

One of those Northern things ? Don't think I've ever seen any either and not for want of looking.

Grizz

Definitely some around the Provost/Chauvin area. Leaves of three, leave it be!

[rjlester]

Not poison ivy, but we call it stinging nettle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_dioica

This stuff is everywhere, I've been stung by it many times.

[HunterDave]

I agree with your instructor.

More concerning to me is Giant Hogweed. That stuff is just plain scary and many people don't even know about it.

[josey]

Originally Posted by rjlester

Not poison ivy, but we call it stinging nettle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urtica_dioica

This stuff is everywhere, I've been stung by it many times.

Very tasty and a good medicinal plant. Even stinging you it increases circulation. But yeah painful.

[Okotok]

Originally Posted by josey

Very tasty and a good medicinal plant. Even stinging you it increases circulation. But yeah painful.

Doesn't last too long, mildly irritating at least to me. Tastes great when young and steamed.

[raised by wolves]

I have yet to see actual poison ivy anywhere in Alberta but it is supposedly present.

In my own experience, while out in the bush, any of my buddies or colleagues that have suddenly become itchy and complained of walking through poison ivy, have actually found a nettle of one species or another. Even when I show them the nettles they have walked through, most of them stare in disbelief and go on about poison ivy as they have never heard of stinging nettles.

[calgarychef]

Young nettles are yummy, some cream, some nettles some pasta to put it over...

[Fish along]

Originally Posted by josey

Very tasty and a good medicinal plant. Even stinging you it increases circulation. But yeah painful.

I agree this is a weed ,but a great plant edible and medicinal, and yes you don't want to fall into a bunch of these wearing boxer shorts lol

[Fish along]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I agree with your instructor.

More concerning to me is Giant Hogweed. That stuff is just plain scary and many people don't even know about it.

They say this stuff can cause blindness.scary,and it's spreading fast.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

I agree with your instructor.

More concerning to me is Giant Hogweed. That stuff is just plain scary and many people don't even know about it.

Another one of those things we don't have yet, has a passing resemblance to cow parsnip, that some people have a reaction to.

Grizz

[Bushmaster]

Back in the day...growing up... at Dilberry Lake, there was lots of poison ivy.

[calgarychef]

Originally Posted by Bushmaster

Back in the day...growing up... at Dilberry Lake, there was lots of poison ivy.

How tall was it?

[Bushmaster]

I don't remember it as being very tall....maybe a foot or so.

[Ken H]

The weed they are likely talking about is stinging nettle.

[huntsolo1]

Yeah, poison ivy sucks! Used to get it every summer in Ontario growing up...not much out here, if any (some guys say there is, so be it), but what we really need to worry about is Wild Parsnip! Now that stuff is nasty, makes poison ivy look like a puppy's nip...can make you go blind if you get it bad enough, and can also become systemic...you get it every year with the proper environmental conditions (ask me how I know...yeesh). Its all over Ontario now and spreading...look it up and stay clear!

[HunterDave]

Originally Posted by huntsolo1

Yeah, poison ivy sucks! Used to get it every summer in Ontario growing up...not much out here, if any (some guys say there is, so be it), but what we really need to worry about is Wild Parsnip! Now that stuff is nasty, makes poison ivy look like a puppy's nip...can make you go blind if you get it bad enough, and can also become systemic...you get it every year with the proper environmental conditions (ask me how I know...yeesh). Its all over Ontario now and spreading...look it up and stay clear!

This is the stuff that I was talking about. From what I know about it is that it’s reactivated by the sun so after you get it it comes back to haunt you. It’s probably the cow parsnip that i’ve Seen here and not the giant hogweed (as was mentioned) but it’s still nasty stuff. Poison ivy I’ve had a lot when I was a kid but nothing too bad. Just a few blisters that were merely an inconvenience.

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by OpenSights

Is there any proven to grow here?

If so which parts of the province?

In a course where the instructor is saying it's all over. I don't believe so since I've never seen or heard of people getting caught up in it.

Not now...wait until spring....

[Imagehunter]

Interesting that some mentioned the stinging nettle, I haven't seen those yet. Had many unpleasant encounters with them as a kid in Europe but lots of people make tea of them. My grandma drank it when her arthritis was bad, my mom for
detoxication like eating asparagus.
Can you find it all over the province?

[Okotok]

Originally Posted by Imagehunter

Interesting that some mentioned the stinging nettle, I haven't seen those yet. Had many unpleasant encounters with them as a kid in Europe but lots of people make tea of them. My grandma drank it when her arthritis was bad, my mom for
detoxication like eating asparagus.
Can you find it all over the province?

Very common. I've seen it, eaten it and been stung by it from Northern to Southern Alberta.

[Imagehunter]

Thanks, will have to pay more attention I guess. The only bad encounters I've had here were with thistles, guess I'll have to learn how poison ivy looks too.

[Oldan Grumpi]

I’ve honestly never run across poison ivy in Alberta, but stinging nettle is everywhere around sloughs and beaver dams. It likes damp soil and shaded areas, and grows about waist high with fuzzy leaves and long narrow seed tassels as it matures. I’m sure Google will have plenty of pictures.

The worst I’ve ever had was when, as a kid in about grade three, a bunch of us hid in a patch of it while playing ‘hide and seek’ at noon hour. Made for a miserable afternoon in class with an unsympathetic old nun for a teacher. Calamine lotion is the traditional aid.

I was always under the impression that true poison ivy was a climbing vine; I’ve seen plenty of that stuff in the southern U.S.

[calgarychef]

In the UK the blackberries are everywhere and by god they’re delicious! Unfortunately the nettles live in the same spots, so it makes for unpleasant but worthwhile picking.

[NKP]

I’ve read of poison ivy being present around Lethbridge and along the Milk River, but I’m rarely down there to confirm. Elsewhere it’s probably stinging nettle. I’ve seen it pushin 6’ in the Lakeland area.
As for cows parsnip, pretty benign and can be used as a medicinal I believe. Common in ditches and moist forests, grows to a max of 5-6’, not the stupid soze that hog weed can supposedly attain.

[Klondike]

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-cana...oison-ivy.html

Poison ivy is a straggling or climbing woody vine that's well known for its ability to cause an itchy rash.

Poison ivy can be found in every province except Newfoundland. It grows on sandy, stony, or rocky shores, and sprouts in thickets, in clearings, and along the borders of woods and roadsides. This glossy perennial can spread by seed or by producing shoots from its extensive underground stems.

[AndrewM]

There are signs all around Dillberry lake warning about it.