POISON IVY HORTICULTURIST

They were great.  I chose them because they really were the only strict guys that specifically did the poison ivy.  They did it all by hand, it was not chemicals, or anything because I have a dog, so that was the best option.  It was really good.  They were awesome.  A guy came out, looked at everything, gave me a quote, came back, did it and it was exactly how much he had said.  He pointed out some other plants I should get rid of from my backyard that dogs are allergic to, so that was awesome.  He answered emails immediately from his phone even when he was not at the office.  He was super nice.

We recently purchased a house and were surprised to find out that we had a significant poison ivy problem.  We tried to find someone who could address it, but no one else was willing to even discuss the issue.  One of the landscapers wasn't even willing to cut the vines during the spring.







We found Umar through the internet and called he.  He came to our house to give us an estimate to remove the poison ivy from our partially wooded back yard and remove it from 4 trees.  He quoted $1300 to remove the ivy from about 2/3 of the area (~1/4 of an acre).  The ivy was spread throughout the area and plants were visible approximately every 2-3 feet (we had a flowering vine up a tree who dispatched seeds each year).   They came to do the job about 2 weeks later.  On the day of the job, Umar and 3 other workers came to our yard.  Umar tied up ribbons to designate where they were cleaning.  After about 7 hours, they had pulled 154 lbs of poison ivy out...strand by strand and cut down the vines from 4 trees to about 10 feet in height. 







I don't think that my husband and I would have ever gotten the job done.  While the price seemed a bit high, we couldn't find anyone else to help us so it made it worth it.  We will be asking Umar to come back this summer (2012) to clean out the plants that were missed or that sprouted after he was here.  His estimate for this job would be about half the price of the first, and it would help to address our problem.







In addition to helping us with our poison ivy problem, Umar gave us advice about how to handle our yard.  His 30+ years of experience as a horticulturalist for the Philadelphia Zoo make him a great resource, and he has a very friendly personality.







If you have a poison ivy problem, I give Umar my strongest recommendation. 

I can't say enough about this lovely and wise and gentle Umar Mycka.  He is a rare man of honor.  Talking to him is a joy.  In these days, one rarely meets such a man of integrity and one who makes you feel like you are back in another generation.  Oh how I wish there were more people do to business with such as Umar.















My lawn looks great, I feel like I absolutely got my money's worth and I know that the job was done correctly.  I have told everyone I know about Umar and his green thumb!  (He knows the name of every tree, flower, grass...)















Don't hesitate if you need to get rid of your poison ivy!!

Umar is EXTREMELY knowledgable about all sort of plants--he told us the names of everything we asked him! He is SO nice, and has a teacher's sensibility about him--he likes to share info with you, and I found it just so fascinating to be with him! He knows so much about plants. One day, he came over to scope out the poison ivy in our yard. There was a lot. Not a ridiculous amount, he said, but a lot. He gave me options for what we could do--remove all of it, remove some of it, etc. I chose to remove only the poison ivy near where we might go, and leave the rest for later. Some weeks later, he came with his assistant, who was also VERY nice. They went to twon on our poison ivy, and cleaned up our hedges, as well! I am now so happy that it's gone, and happy that I have someone as kind and caring as Umar taking care of it.

Our 1/2 acre yard had many spots where poison ivy was growing. Umar came and identified all the plants-many we did not even know about because he was so thorough. He recommended a treatment to kill all plants and eradicate the roots to prevent further problems. He and his helper spent most of a day treating the plants individually with an herbicide applied just to those plants(the least toxic solution)and returned three weeks later to pull any roots remaining.