Poison Ivy Goes Incognito In Winter—here's How To Spot It Without The Leaves

If you're allergic to Toxicodendron radicans, more commonly known as poison ivy, you might view wintertime as a welcome reprieve from this plant's itchy rash. Unfortunately, that's not quite the case. While poison ivy leaves fall off during the winter months, the plants' vines and roots still contain urushiol, the oily rash-causing substance. To avoid the unpleasant side effects that may come with brushing up against a poison ivy plant, it's important to know how to spot it during the winter months. Poison ivy will appear as a vine growing up trees or other structures with protruding roots that look like tiny hairs. Sometimes these roots will even attach to the ground. To help people recognize this troublesome plant even in winter, Environmental Scientist Haley Wood shared an easy-to-remember saying on TikTok: "A hairy vine, no friend of mine."

If your property is overrun with this poisonous plant, you might be wondering if winter is the best time to remove poison ivy plants from your yard. Unfortunately, it's not. The best time to get rid of poison ivy is typically late spring through early fall. In winter, it's best just to learn to identify the plant so that you can avoid it.

A close-up look at poison ivy vine will reveal that these little hairs are actually the poison ivy's roots. "The older the vine, the thicker and more hairy it's going to appear," says Haley Wood (via TikTok). The trunks of older poison ivy vines can even reach up to 6 inches in diameter. Even with no leaves, there are still risks of touching a poison ivy vine, since its oils remain potent in the winter, and burning this vine is still one of the dangerous mistakes to avoid when dealing with poison ivy in your yard.

There's another reason you might want to avoid pulling those vines from your trees. In fall and winter, poison ivy produces whitish berries, an important food source for wildlife. The relatively harmless Virginia creeper can also look similar to poison ivy, but has dark blue berries and thicker, flatter roots on both sides of the vine.

If you or anyone in your household is allergic to poison ivy, it can be helpful to walk around your property and look for these hairy vines so that you know which areas to avoid. If you're doing winter yardwork near possibly infested sites, always wear gloves and protective clothing so that your skin doesn't come into contact with the vines. When warmer months roll around, you can try one of the best ways to kill and remove poison ivy from your yard, permanently eliminating it.