what is best organic method for getting rid of a lot of Poison Ivy under a live oak canopy.

The best way is physical removal using all safety precautions!, the next is constantly spraying all ivy leaves with vinegar or perhaps menthol alcohol, try to avoid soaking the soil and never never burn poison ivy by fire.

My daughter bought a home in Connecticut that had been vacant for a while, and rented before that. No one had cared for the two-acre property for many years, beyond mowing a small patch of grass surrounding the house.

The house was seen and purchased in the deep of winter, and it wasn't until spring that she realized that the a whole section of trees was literally COVERED with the stuff.

She did some research, and the following winter, between snowfalls, took old carpeting that had been removed from the floors and covered as much of the ground as she could manage -- it really looked funny in the spring, all that dirty gold carpeting slowly emerging from the snow!

She covered herself in an old plastic raincoat, donned rubber gloves, put a plastic bag over her head (with the face part cut out), and began to saw through the stems about 6" off the ground.
She removed as much of the clinging stems as she could reach, pulling on the "vines" to get more of the stems out of the trees. At about the same time, she was having an old oil storage tank dug out of the ground, so the workmen had made a very large hole -- she dumped all the stems and debris in the hole.

The carpeting stayed on the ground through the spring and summer. Whenever she saw a new sprout of the stuff, she attacked it immediately. She wasn't 100% perfect in avoiding contact with the stuff, but minimized the problem by washing her hands and tools immediately with brown soap.

Now, six years later, she has a lovely garden and rarely a sign of poison ivy. She has converted over an acre of overgrown trash-woods to a lovely
woodsy garden with lots of shade loving plants under the huge old oaks.

Good luck!

My daughter bought a home in Connecticut that had been vacant for a while, and rented before that. No one had cared for the two-acre property for many years, beyond mowing a small patch of grass surrounding the house.

The house was seen and purchased in the deep of winter, and it wasn't until spring that she realized that the a whole section of trees was literally COVERED with the stuff.

She did some research, and the following winter, between snowfalls, took old carpeting that had been removed from the floors and covered as much of the ground as she could manage -- it really looked funny in the spring, all that dirty gold carpeting slowly emerging from the snow!

She covered herself in an old plastic raincoat, donned rubber gloves, put a plastic bag over her head (with the face part cut out), and began to saw through the stems about 6" off the ground.
She removed as much of the clinging stems as she could reach, pulling on the "vines" to get more of the stems out of the trees. At about the same time, she was having an old oil storage tank dug out of the ground, so the workmen had made a very large hole -- she dumped all the stems and debris in the hole.

The carpeting stayed on the ground through the spring and summer. Whenever she saw a new sprout of the stuff, she attacked it immediately. She wasn't 100% perfect in avoiding contact with the stuff, but minimized the problem by washing her hands and tools immediately with brown soap.

Now, six years later, she has a lovely garden and rarely a sign of poison ivy. She has converted over an acre of overgrown trash-woods to a lovely, woodsy garden with lots of shade loving plants under the huge old oaks.

Good luck!

I have used this approach for cat brier (Smilax), blackberry, muscadine and poison ivy.

Cut it to the ground and carefully remove the vine. During the growing season, patrol the area about once a week and cut any that try to re-sprout. Keep this up and you will starve out the roots. I cleared a 1/4 acre so overgrown with these plants that you couldn't see through it. It took one growing season for them all to go away and not return.

I got rid of binding weed (wild white morning glory) this way also. Tedious, but it eventually works. I read a good hint about digging out the poison ivy. It suggested wearing disposable plastic gloves with a paper lunch bag over your gloved hand, (so that your grip would be better & for extra protection) & to have another plastic bag at hand to put your vines in, plus your used gloves, for disposal. I am horribly sensitive to poison ivy (it is cumulative; you get more sensitive to it with each exposure) & must soon try & deal with it along the woods that edge my property.