Poison Ivy Removal.
Pulled by Hand.
No Herbicides. No Guesswork.
Your Poison IvyYour Poison Ivy
I read every submission & respond within 24 hours (Apr. → Oct.)
WESTON NATIVEOWNER OPERATEDFULLY INSURED
§ 01 · The Process
How this works.
Send me photos of what you can see. I inspect the property, document the active poison ivy, price the real scope, remove it by hand, and come back to check the work.
I · SEND PHOTOS
Send the worst spots, your address, property size, and a short note about what you're seeing. I review the request myself.
II · THE POISON IVY SURVEY
I walk the property, identify and document the active zones, then send a custom map, photo record, and fixed-price proposal.
III · HAND-PULLED REMOVAL
If you approve the scope, I remove the poison ivy by hand — leaves, stems, vines, crowns, and roots — and haul the debris offsite.
IV · 30-DAY RETURN VISIT
The proposal includes a 30-day return visit. I inspect the covered work zones and pull covered regrowth at no additional charge.
§ 02 · Pricing
Survey, Then Removal
How Much Does Poison Ivy Removal Cost?
Every project starts with the Poison Ivy Survey. I map and document the active zones, then turn that record into a fixed-price removal proposal. If you move forward, the survey fee is deducted from your final removal bill.
PHASE 1
Poison Ivy Survey
A paid on-site assessment where I identify the outbreak, map all active zones, & scope removal & variables.
If you sign the proposal within 7 days, the survey fee is credited in full against your final removal bill. If you decide not to proceed, the survey fee is non-refundable — it covers the on-site visit, the property assessment, the custom survey map, and the custom-priced removal proposal, all of which are delivered to you regardless of whether you engage removal work.
PHASE 2
REMOVAL
The removal price is calculated post-survey and quoted as a fixed price. Work begins in the agreed-upon zones with full extraction, followed by a 30-day return visit.
*For massive root systems, steep terrain, dense hardscape integration, heavy embedded growth, or larger estates.
Pricing & Scoping Variables
Footprint & density — The total area and biomass of the active growth.
Root maturity — Established crowns, woody vines, and runners require deeper extraction.
Terrain & access — Stonework, slopes, fencing, tight beds, and canopy vines slow the work.
Embedded growth — Poison ivy tangled into hedges, ornamentals, fences, or groundcover takes longer to remove safely.
Preparatory clearing — Underbrush I must cut through simply to reach the active zones.
Zone count — Separate outbreaks across the property increase setup, documentation, and extraction time.
Included As Standard IN EVERY PROJECT
Fixed-price scope — The proposal is scoped to the active zones I identify and document during the survey.
Herbicide-free extraction — Manual pulling, bagging, and legal off-site disposal.
Asset protection — I work around the existing landscape instead of spraying through it.
Visual documentation — Before-and-after photography of the covered work zones.
Debris removal — Poison ivy debris is bagged and hauled offsite.
30-day return visit — I inspect the covered work zones and pull covered regrowth at no additional charge.
§ 03 · In Practice
Cedar Road: Before & After
A beautiful Weston property on Cedar Road, near the Weston Golf Club. Years of untreated growth had spread throughout the landscape: poison ivy across the property, mature vines climbing trees, and extensive growth running along the roadside. In total, the removal required more than a day and a half of work and nearly 600 cubic liters of poison ivy extraction. The before-and-after images below show the transformation.
Read More About My Removal Process in Weston, MA →
Before
After
Before
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
§ 04 · Field Footage
2025 Poison Ivy Removal Highlights
Three of my biggest projects from the 2025 season — capturing the true volume of poison ivy that comes off a single property.
Vid. 1
Vid. 2
Vid. 3
§ 05 · Testimonials
What clients say.
“Krister did an excellent job of removing all of the poison ivy from our heavily wooded lot (so much poison ivy!) My daughter is highly allergic so it was important that the lot be cleared. We just had our one-year check up and [the property is completely clear].”— Kathy C., Weston, MA
“We've worked with Krister a few times now and have had such a positive experience. He did a great job removing poison ivy from areas of our yard we were worried about our family getting into. He also has provided education along the way so we can know what to look for. Would highly recommend!”— Nicole C., Weston, MA
“Weston Ivy League removed A LOT of poison ivy from our property. Great communication, on time, and thorough. I didn't even realize how much poison ivy we had on our property until it was removed.”— Meiko B., Weston, MA
“Krister provided a thorough consultation and carefully removed all the poison ivy by hand, down to the roots — the most effective and long-lasting approach. He used no chemicals and was incredibly mindful of our surrounding plants, including lilies of the valley growing right alongside the ivy.”— Alene C., Weston, MA
“Krister did an excellent job of removing all of the poison ivy from our heavily wooded lot (so much poison ivy!) My daughter is highly allergic so it was important that the lot be cleared. We just had our one-year check up and [the property is completely clear].”— Kathy C., Weston, MA
“We've worked with Krister a few times now and have had such a positive experience. He did a great job removing poison ivy from areas of our yard we were worried about our family getting into. He also has provided education along the way so we can know what to look for. Would highly recommend!”— Nicole C., Weston, MA
“Weston Ivy League removed A LOT of poison ivy from our property. Great communication, on time, and thorough. I didn't even realize how much poison ivy we had on our property until it was removed.”— Meiko B., Weston, MA
“Krister provided a thorough consultation and carefully removed all the poison ivy by hand, down to the roots — the most effective and long-lasting approach. He used no chemicals and was incredibly mindful of our surrounding plants, including lilies of the valley growing right alongside the ivy.”— Alene C., Weston, MA
§ 06 · The Operator
I'm your neighbor. I manage the job from start to finish.
I'm Krister Svensson — the Big Swede, WHS '05, dad of two boys, owner of Magnus, my yellow lab, and the person who shows up to do the work.
Weston Ivy League started in my own backyard. I found poison ivy creeping in and wanted it gone without spray. What I found instead was an industry that wasn't built for careful residential work: two-year waitlists, pricing that didn't make sense for a small job, and the default answer, "we'll come spray it." So I built the service I wanted as a homeowner.
This is a one-person, owner-operated business. No subcontractors. No seasonal crews. I handle the survey, the proposal, the pulling, the bagging, and the final walkthrough personally, so nothing gets handed off to a crew that doesn't know the property.
The default approach around here is a landscaper with a spray tank. I don't use herbicide because my work happens where people live: garden beds, stone walls, tree bases, dog paths, play areas, and fence lines.
I studied the botany, built a systematic extraction process, and introduced a non-toxic UV tracer dye so homeowners could see the plants hiding in their own yards.
It started with making my own property safe. It became Weston Ivy League.
I came to Weston from Sweden in 2002 and moved back in 2022 to raise my family in the town that raised me. Now I do this specialized, intensive work for my neighbors. I treat your property with the same standard I apply to my own.
I'm Krister Svensson — the Big Swede, WHS '05, dad of two boys, owner of Magnus, my yellow lab, and the person who shows up to do the work.
Weston Ivy League started in my own backyard. I found poison ivy creeping in and wanted it gone without spray. What I found instead was an industry that wasn't built for careful residential work: two-year waitlists, pricing that didn't make sense for a small job, and the default answer, "we'll come spray it." So I built the service I wanted as a homeowner.
This is a one-person, owner-operated business. No subcontractors. No seasonal crews. I handle the survey, the proposal, the pulling, the bagging, and the final walkthrough personally, so nothing gets handed off to a crew that doesn't know the property.
The default approach around here is a landscaper with a spray tank. I don't use herbicide because my work happens where people live: garden beds, stone walls, tree bases, dog paths, play areas, and fence lines.
I studied the botany, built a systematic extraction process, and introduced a non-toxic UV tracer dye so homeowners could see the plants hiding in their own yards.
It started with making my own property safe. It became Weston Ivy League.
I came to Weston from Sweden in 2002 and moved back in 2022 to raise my family in the town that raised me. Now I do this specialized, intensive work for my neighbors. I treat your property with the same standard I apply to my own.
§ 07 · A Public Note
Never burn it. Don't mow it. Don't trust the spray.
Three mistakes I see every season. Each one turns a manageable problem into a worse one — for you, your family, your pets, and the property itself.
— Krister, Weston Ivy League
01
Never Burn It
Burning poison ivy is the single mistake that can put you in a hospital. Heat aerosolizes urushiol into smoke that carries the oil into your lungs, eyes, and airways. Inhaled urushiol can cause severe respiratory reactions, airway swelling, and hospitalizations measured in days, not hours. Firefighters and landscapers are often the ones injured this way — the people who should be the hardest to surprise. If you take nothing else from this page: never burn poison ivy. Not in a brush pile. Not in a fire pit. Not ever.
02
Don't Mow It
Mowing or trimming poison ivy doesn't remove the problem. It spreads it.
A mower can smear urushiol across the deck, your shoes, gloves, mulch, soil, woodpile, patio furniture, and anything else close by. A string trimmer is worse: at thousands of RPM, it turns the plant oil into a fine spray that lands on your face, forearms, sunglasses, clothes, and the dog standing nearby.
The cut patch may look cleaner for a few weeks. But the roots are still alive. Poison ivy is perennial, so it grows back — and now the oil has been carried onto your tools, into the shed, and across the property.
03
Don't Trust The Spray
Herbicide works. It also has real costs. Glyphosate and triclopyr will kill poison ivy when selected and applied correctly. That's true. What they don't do is remove urushiol. Killed is not cleared. Dead vines can stay rash-capable for years, still clinging to the stone wall, fence line, or tree base where your child, dog, or gardener eventually brushes against them.
Spray also doesn't discriminate. Anything green within drift range — the hostas, the rhododendron, the ornamental you spent three hundred dollars on — takes damage. And if you have a dog like my lab Magnus, who eats every bush he walks past, you have a different problem: animals don't read the label.
If you're willing to accept those trade-offs, herbicide is a legitimate option. If you want the plant gone, not just dead — and the rest of your yard intact — you want it pulled.
§ 08 · Why I Built This
The proposal I received as a homeowner.
Click to enlarge
The proposal I received as a homeowner.
In 2022, I tried to hire a professional to remove poison ivy from my property. This is the actual proposal I got back:
The Quote: $450 for three tiny spots (which I later manually pulled myself in 15 minutes).
The Timeline: 2 full years on a waitlist to just start the work, and 1 year to finish it. Using this math, my request for poison ivy removal would have been completed in September 2025.
The Upsell: A verbal quote of $2,500 to clear the whole property, with zero documentation on where the ivy actually was.
Poison ivy is a serious issue in our area, and homeowners can't afford to wait a year for a contractor who won't even walk the property with them. I built Weston Ivy League to be the exact opposite. I provide meticulous, fiscally responsible mapping—targeting only the areas that actually pose a threat to your family—and our comprehensive eight-page agreements ensure you get exactly the safe, chemical-free removal you paid for.
Click to enlarge
The Document That Started It All
In 2022, I tried to hire a professional to remove poison ivy from my property. This is the actual proposal I got back:
The Quote: $450 for three tiny spots (which I later manually pulled myself in 15 minutes).
The Timeline: 2 full years on a waitlist to just start the work, and 1 year to finish it. Using this math, my request for poison ivy removal would have been completed in September 2025.
The Upsell: A verbal quote of $2,500 to clear the whole property, with zero documentation on where the ivy actually was.
Poison ivy is a serious issue in our area, and homeowners can't afford to wait a year for a contractor who won't even walk the property with them. I built Weston Ivy League to be the exact opposite. I provide meticulous, fiscally responsible mapping—targeting only the areas that actually pose a threat to your family—and our comprehensive eight-page agreements ensure you get exactly the safe, chemical-free removal you paid for.
A Grain of Salt
“Exposure to an amount of urushiol less than a grain of salt causes a rash in 80 to 90 percent of adults.”
— CDC
§ 09 · The Request
Tell me about your poison ivy.
No charge to submit. Send the details, the photos, and the worst spots first.
§ 10 · Reference Desk
Common questions.
Q.
Do you serve towns outside Weston?
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Do you serve towns outside Weston?
Yes — Weston is the primary service area, and I work throughout the surrounding towns: Wayland, Wellesley, Lincoln, Newton, Sudbury, Concord, and Lexington. Anything beyond those towns I review case by case — submit your property and I'll let you know whether it's a fit.
Q.
How do you remove poison ivy permanently?
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How do you remove poison ivy permanently?
Permanent removal isn't really possible — and it's worth understanding why.
Poison ivy is a native plant. In late spring it produces small yellow-green flowers that attract honeybees, native bees, wasps, and other pollinators. After pollination, the plant produces clusters of whitish berries that persist through winter, when most other food sources are gone. Dozens of bird species rely on those berries: woodpeckers, robins, bluebirds, warblers. The birds eat the berries, fly across the property line, and deposit the seeds in your yard.
That's the mechanism of regrowth. Even if I extract every root system on your property today, birds will reseed it. There's no chemical, no extraction method, and no service that changes this — anyone promising permanent removal is selling something they can't deliver.
What works is ongoing management. I extract the full root system by hand, which stops the plant from spreading aggressively the way it spreads when it's left alone. The 30-day follow-up catches anything I missed and any new regrowth. Annual or biannual check-ins handle the bird-dispersed seedlings the next year. That's how you keep poison ivy controlled without chemicals — not eliminated, but managed at a level where you and your family can use your yard safely.
Q.
Does vinegar or boiling water kill poison ivy?
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Does vinegar or boiling water kill poison ivy?
No. Both burn the leaves but leave the roots intact. The plant returns within weeks.
Q.
Is the work safe for pets and children?
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Is the work safe for pets and children?
Yes. My process is built for residential yards: no herbicides, no herbicide application, manual removal only. The UV tracer dye is non-toxic.
The bigger household risk is the plant itself: urushiol sticks to shoes, gloves, tools, and pet fur. Dogs don't need to get a rash to carry the oil through the mudroom.
Q.
Is poison ivy still dangerous when the leaves are gone?
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Is poison ivy still dangerous when the leaves are gone?
Yes. The leaves drop. The oil doesn't.
Stems, roots, and hairy vines can carry urushiol through winter. Leafless poison ivy is harder to identify, not safer.
Q.
How fast does this move from survey to finished work?
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How fast does this move from survey to finished work?
After the on-site survey, I send the proposal within 24–48 hours. Once the contract is signed and the deposit is paid, work usually begins within 7 days.
Q.
Do I need to be home for the Poison Ivy Survey?
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Do I need to be home for the Poison Ivy Survey?
No, but I prefer it. The survey is most useful when I walk the property with you and you can see the marked zones in real time. If you're comfortable with me walking the property alone, I can do that and send the map afterward.
Q.
Do I need to be home for the removal work?
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Do I need to be home for the removal work?
No. Most homeowners aren't present during removal. I send before/after photos when the job is done, and you have the map and proposal scope to verify what was cleared.
Q.
Is the survey fee refundable?
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Is the survey fee refundable?
The survey fee is paid in advance and is fully earned upon delivery of the custom survey map and removal proposal. It covers the on-site visit, the property walk-through, the professional assessment of every infestation zone, the custom survey map, and the custom-priced removal proposal — all real, time-intensive work that's performed and delivered before any removal decision is made. The fee is non-refundable, including if you decide not to proceed with removal. If you do proceed with removal work within the proposal's 7-day validity window, the survey fee is credited in full against your project balance. The survey map and any associated assessment notes remain yours to keep regardless of whether you engage removal work.