Question
There is a plant in my shade garden that closely resembles pictures I see of poison ivy, it has three leaves with jagged edges and turns color in the fall.  And it SPREADS!!  However, it has barbs up the stems and the research I've done on PI never says anything about that.  What do you think?

Answer
Hi Amy
Well, I thought they were stinging nettles, or bull needles, but I looked that up, and what I thought were stinging nettles are not. My husband says bull needles, but I can't find that in searching.
My daughter had a slew of those things in the area of her land that had a lot of trees and shade. Every time I walked there, they would hook my legs and cut the dickens out of me. They were sort of as you describe. I don't remember if the leaves were in threes, but they were jagged, glossy, and changed color in the fall.
They are unpleasant and you probably want them gone.
If they are in among flowers or plants you want to keep, I would kill them like I kill the pecan trees that get seeded in among my climbing roses.
I buy WipeOut, put out by Green Light. I mix 1 part wipeOut to 2 or 3 parts water, throw some plastic over the plants I don't want it to kill, and paint it on most of the leaves with a paint brush. The WipeOut will be absorbed through the leaves, and will travel to the tap root and kill the plant. Then you can just pull it out.
I don't think it is poison ivy, beause of the barbs on the stems, but it could be a strain of it, so I would treat it like it shouldn't be touched.
I had some poison ivy in my back yard for a couple of years, and since I am not sensitive to it, I just pulled it out.It didn't have barbs, and the leaves weren't glossy.
My grandchildren are sensitive to it though, and that is how we were allerted to it's presence. Three of my grandchildren got a good dose of it. We think the dogs were in where the poison ivy was, got it on their fur and the kids petted the dogs and got the oil on them from that.
WipeOut is best because it kills any broad leaf plants it gets on. You just have to get it on some of the leaves to get it to the tap root and kill out the whole plant. As soon as it dries so it wouldn't drip on my rose bushes, I removed the plastic. The plant is usually dead in a couple of days. It will look sick within a few hours. Some stubborn weeds need a second treatment.
Charlotte