Poison Ivy, Baking Soda and Big Moths

 It's gardening season and I am outside in flip flops, weeding. If I am mowing or using the weed wacker, I'll be in leather clogs to protect my toes, but it's sweaty. Unfortunately I am allergic to a lot of green plants, poison ivy for one--my cat used to walk through it in New Jersey and then rub his tail on me, and I would welt up.

 So my habit of flip flop shoe wearing means that often I will blunder through something I am wildly allergic to, like Virginia Creeper. (Parthenocissus quinquefola). They actually sell Virginia Creeper in some garden stores, which is bananas. If your climate supports it, you will have it, for free. It loves total shade, terrible dirt, direct sun, strangling it's fellow plants, exploring your siding, and probably assassinating small animals when no one is looking. It grows really, really fast.

That is about six feet up, which the Creeper managed in about three days.

 If I brush against it, about a half an hour later I get this little tingling sensation that means I need to go inside, right now, get a paper towel, some Dawn detergent, and wash wherever I brushed against it (usually my shins and ankles). That gets rid of most of the sap. Then I make a thick paste of baking soda, and smear it all over like a cave woman getting ready for a party, all over the affected area. That neutralizes not only the urshinol oil of poison ivy, but whatetever it is that the Creeper has going on. The Dawn clears away the oil/sap to start with.

The Creeper does have a big upside--lots of good bugs love it. Firefly larva live under it, and Luna Moths and other Saturniid moths eat it. If you want to see the kind of gigantic moth we have here, there is a great blog post with photo here:

https://photoleraclaudinha.com/2014/09/25/saturniidae-beautiful-moths-dangerous-caterpillars/

And yes, keep your fingers off the caterpillars (that applies to all caterpillars, many have things you don't want to touch, and they get stressed if you poke them.)