Poison Ivy Removal.
Pulled by Hand.
No Herbicides. No Guesswork.
Season Notice
The 2026 Calendar Is Closed
This season's schedule is fully committed, and I am not taking on new surveys or removals for the remainder of the year. The calendar reopens in spring 2027.
WESTON NATIVEOWNER OPERATEDFULLY INSURED
The Work
Before & After.
Most crews spray it and call it dead. I pull it out of the ground, root and all, so it's actually gone. Every job here is in Weston.
The ivy had buried this stone wall. Every root pulled out by hand, no herbicide.
A whole roadside slope, cleared by hand.
A poison ivy vine, pulled off the trunk. The brown stripe is where it lived.
Cleared back to bare ground.
The wall reappears.
The wall, back in view.
The tree line, minus the ivy.
Imagine the worst section of your yard. Then picture it gone.
§ 01 · The Process
How this works.
Send me photos of what you can see. I inspect the property, document the active poison ivy, scope the real work, 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.
Season Notice
The 2026 Calendar Is Closed
This season's schedule is fully committed, and I am not taking on new surveys or removals for the remainder of the year. The calendar reopens in spring 2027.
§ 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
The reviews are in.
“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
Send me the worst spot. I'll take it from there.
“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
Send me the worst spot. I'll take it from there.
§ 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, vague scopes, 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, vague scopes, 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: A quote 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 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. My written agreements spell out exactly what will be removed and where, so you get exactly the safe, herbicide-free removal you agreed to.
I built this to be the opposite of that proposal.
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: A quote 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 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. My written agreements spell out exactly what will be removed and where, so you get exactly the safe, herbicide-free removal you agreed to.
I built this to be the opposite of that proposal.
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 · Reference Desk
Common questions.
Q.
Do you serve towns outside Weston?
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Do you serve towns outside Weston?
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.