Be On The Lookout For Another Hazard In the Woods NYers

[Izzy]

As if ticks aren't enough to worry about we've got another nasty to keep us vigilant in the woods.... Giant Hog Weed. Im not sure if any of you are familiar with Giant Hog Weed but its spreading through my area in a hurry. The 1st time I saw it was about 5 years ago and my son was posing for a pic with it. By the grace of God he didn't touch it during the photo.

   From the pics of the rashes Ive seen, it looks like a 2nd degree burn wherever a person is affected. It looks kind of like a big celery stalk only not as dense and with a white Queen Annes Lace looking flower on the ends of it.

     

[Sean B]

Thanks for the heads up Izzy!!

[Skipmaster1]

It's Nasty stuff for sure! The worst is if you hit it with a weed whacker!

[Izzy]

A couple examples of burns from Hog Weed.  


Guess this poor gal though it was edible.

[Sean B]

[Hot Hap]

I think I would carry a spray bottle of Round-up with me!

Hap

[pdk25]

Got alot of it my way.  Down here we call it bull nettles.  Small and larger spike.  Both are prickly, but the larger ones actually inject histamine into you, and go right through jeans.  Ask me how I know, lol.

[nineworlds9]

Holy crap!  And I thought regular nettles were bad LoL

[Amberjack]

I can attest to that izzy.  

That stuff produces painful chemical burns.

Poison Ivy is nothing compared.

AJ

Never heard of hog weed, but I know the bull nettle, and it is some nasty stuff!

Bisch

[Danny Rowan]

Pat,

Growing up in Texas I know what Bull nettle is and it is a totally different plant, stalk  and leaves are different, and the plant actually stings you. Painful but does not produce chemical burns. Trust me I sat on some as a kid, did not get burns but it hurt like heck.

[ronp]

Yikes!  Thanks for the heads up, Buddy.  I'll keep an eye out for the stuff.

[pdk25]

I will take your word for it, Danny. I was curious, and google said it was the same thing.  Can't believe everything you read.

That is NOT bull nettle!

Hogweed:   http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

Bull Nettle:   http://www.foragingtexas.com/2008/07/bull-nettle.html

Bisch

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Those things are nasty.  The burns you get are real!!!

[Whitetail Addict]

I know it well. I got into a bunch of it a couple years ago, and I'm in no hurry to do it again. I had blisters all over my hands and arms.   :eek:   Nasty stuff!

Thanks Izzy.

Bob

[Steve Jr]

That looks horrible!!! I don't want any part of that stuff. Thanks for sharing this, I have never heard of it before.

Steve

[Sam McMichael]

That is a nasty weed. I have never heard of it before and hope to never run into it!

[pdk25]

Thanks Bisch ad Danny.  Don't mind being wrong at all.  Sorry to put out wrong information.  

I went back and looked at my google search using giant hogweed and bull nettles, and one of the forums said that they call it bull nettles in Texas. Had I taken the time to open it up, I would have seen that they were referring to stinging nettles.  I couldn't see the pics when I posted earlier.  Your are right.  Doesn't look like bull nettles.  At my place, they are smaller, have leaves that remind me a little of small watermelon leaves, and have yellow flowers.

Glad that I don't have of that hogweed here.  Looks like some truly nasty stuff.

[Killdeer]

The Return of the Giant Hogweed
Song by Genesis


Turn and run, nothing can stop them
Around every river and canal their power is growing
Stamp them out, we must destroy them
They infiltrate each city with their thick dark warning odor

They are invincible
They seem immune to all our herbicidal battering

Long ago in the Russian hills
A Victorian explorer found
The regal Hogweed by a marsh
He captured it and brought it home

Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
He came home to London and made a present of the Hogweed
To the Royal Gardens at Kew

Waste no time, they are approaching
Hurry now, we must protect ourselves and find some shelter
Strike by night they are defenseless
They all need the sun to photo sensitize their venom

Still they're invincible
Still they're immune to all our herbicidal battering

Fashionable country gentlemen had some cultivated wild gardens
In which they innocently planted the giant Hogweed throughout the land

Botanical creature stirs, seeking revenge
Royal beast did not forget
Soon they escaped, spreading their seed preparing for an onslaught
Threatening the human race

Mighty Hogweed is avenged
Human bodies soon will know, anger
Kill them with your Hogweed hairs
Heracleun Mantegazzani.

And the beat goes on...
Killdeer