The vineyard has been plagued by poison oak in a few spots. During the winter, when the ground was soft, I dug up as much of it as I could manage - messy, risky work. Ridding a vineyard of poison oak, especially if you don’t use chemicals, is a war of attrition. You need to keep cutting and digging until you exhaust the extensive network of roots. Where I had dug during the winter, the first shoots are starting to appear and I’m taking them back to ground level. I figure if I do this a few dozen more times, I might be able to get rid of it. Unfortunately, the few spots that I missed this winter have come back strong. I use a sharp weeding tool to attack the poison oak. Invariably, I get some on my arms or legs, and the only thing I’ve found that helps is a risky combination of topical and oral Benadryl.
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