Has anyone tried modelling ivy?
Both the stuff that sticks like crazy and grows up everything and the stuff that tumbles down from branches, bridges etc.
Not having had the pleasure of meeting it… what is “poison ivy”? Is it a real ivy that is nasty or some other kind of plant? How do the vegetation control people get rid of it without getting a nasty rash?
TIA [8D]
I’ve modeled climbing ivy before, there’s really nothing to it. I just put down a very thin line of white glue then sprinkle it with fine medium or dark green WS ground foam. For ivy hanging from a tree or building, put glue on a piece of green thread and sprinkle with the WS foam. I got the idea when my niece, at the age of 5, was sprinkling glitter on a piece of string.
Here’s a web site that will show you what poison ivy looks like.
Poison ivy, oak and sumac information center.
I’ve seen Ivy modeled on buildings by painting glue on the side in a branching pattern and then blowing fine ground foam on it , you then vac up what does’nt stick to the glue, for vines you could dip fine thread in thinned glue and coat with ground foam.
hope this helps
bill
Dave, Here where I live on a creek, there is ton after ton of posion ivey. It is really a pretty plant, in the fall (a few more weeks) the leaves turn a dark red, it will climb up trees and along he creek banks. At the right timo of the year the tree trunks and the creek banks are almost all red. It is still dark here, when it turns daylight I will take a few pics for you. Lucky posin ivey does not affect me at all, but my brother can catch it by being down wind of the stuff. Will post some pics later. Mike
Sounds a bit like me. I can sleep in the stuff and it won’t bother me. My father gets itchy just being close to it.
Well it is daylight and here are some pics of some real life posin ivy.
This is your basic posin ivy, as you can see it is turning red already
Here you can see how it will completly take over a creek bank. A lot of the leaves are starting to fall off
Here is a shot of a different place. All the green leaves on the opposite bank are poison ivy. In the dead of summer you cannot even see the creek banks for the posion ivy
Here is a close up. Posion Ivy always grows 3 leaves to a stem as you see here. Be sure when modeling posion ivy you keep this in minn. LOL
Here you can see how it attaches itself to a tree. The posion ivy here is very thin, I have seen it completly cover a tree trunk.
Just for the record, Round Up will kill posion ivey very well. I hope I didn’t bore you to much. Mike
Well one way that ive done ivy is to paint on white glus where you want the ivy to grow, then geet a tea bag. Cut the tea bag open sprinkel the tea leaves onto the glue allow to dry. After dry paint to suit. Looks hellagood on houses and buildings .
J.W…pirate for hire
I used the same method except I used rubber cement instead of white glue, that way if I didn’t like it I could just peel it up and start fresh.
To answer Dave’s question about getting rid of poison ivy, or poison oak, one way is pigs. A pig can and will eat poison ivy and poison oak. They will even eat the roots. Of course, you can’t do this if you don’t live on a farm where you’re allowed to raise pigs.
Having had to deal with it in the past, I can speak from experience. You can KILL poison ivy, but you CAN’T kill the chemical that causes the rash and blisters!
Round Up, and other systemic vegetation killers, will work on poison ivy, poison oak and poison sumac. Several treatments may be necessary. The caution comes after the plant is dead. The entire plant, leaves, stems, trunks and roots, all contain urishiol (spelling?), which is what causes the rash and itching. After the plant dies, the chemical is still in the plant and is still just as powerful as when the plant was alive. Removal of the dead plant must be done as carefully as if the plant were alive! DO NOT BURN THE PLANT! The smoke and fumes from burning contain airborn urishiol. If you think having a rash on your skin is painful, imagine the same rash INSIDE you lungs!!! If you have to handle any of the poisonous plants, carefully cover every exposed part of you body. Wearing a dust mask is imperative! Seal the plant in strong plastic garbage bags for disposal or bury the remains for composting. (Avoid the burial site for at least a year!)
To those of you who THINK you are not susceptable to poison ivy, be careful! That can change! As a kid, I was virtually immune from poison ivy. Never had any trouble until my middle years (30’s or so). THEN I developed a sensitivity!
Be paranoid about any poisonous plant. Stay away from it if possible. Otherwise, handle with extreme caution!
I hope this helps prevent someone from having a serious reaction to an exposure. It is no fun! Besides, it can take valuable time away from model railroading!
Darrell, feeling itchy, and quiet…for now
Isn’t it ironic that the only animal species on earth that is effected by these plants is humans?
Great answers! [8D] Nothing boring.
I guess that you don’t use a strimmer or a flail on it [%-)]
Here’s a link to a web site with information about poison ivy, oak, and sumac.
Anyone know where you can get clandestine pigs?
I’ll bite. Woodland Scenics?
A few strands of Woodland Scenics Polly Fiber streached out, spray on a little scenic cement or your substitute and sprinkle on fine foliage. It can be nice and green in the summer or almost maroon in the fall. Clipped lots of it off a castle I used to be the caretaker for.
I have a friend, a fellow runner, who had to attend an urgent need while out on a run several years back when he lived in Ottawa. Later that day, while jetting over the Atlantic to Paris, he began to get very uncomfortable where the Sun don’t shine.
The rest of the story is best shared over a beer.