weed plant that has caused some frustration around the yard

too late for a photo but around the garden here in Illinois 5B zone this particular plant has  a smooth but sticky very tiny sharp cutting but not thorny body and leafs if you just touch it much like poison ivy it will cause a painful welt maybe oil or just due to the tiny cuts (not visible but you can feel it) just scraping against it so the body and leaves have a sharp edge not sure if this enough info any ideas More importantly how do i get rid of this plants as it grows in abundance around the yard in the area I  want to plant my honeyberries plants eventually  have to wear long sleeve and gloves and then if any of the oil sap get on you well painful reaction. Keep forgetting about this plant until i touch, so advance planning is needed thanks in advance for any help

My only suggestion would be to do a search on poison ivy/oak and follow those instructions. Doesn't sound like a fun garden project at all. I hope someone from your neck of the woods will have some words of wisdom for you.

recoush, you don't mention how big this plant is, but it sounds a lot like Stinging Nettle. Don't know if it still is, but when we lived in Southern Illinois years ago, Stinging Nettle was on the Illinois Noxious Weed list.  It is very difficult to get rid of since it spreads both by seed and by rhizome. Direct application by wicking of Roundup is about the only way to kill the roots of it.

Does the weed look like this Stinging Nettle?

That does sound like stinging nettle... Too bad. It's actually got some medicinal properties & is very healthy for you.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/stinging-nettle#section8

I was thinking Virginia Creeper as some have a reaction to it much the same as poison ivy. Stinging Nettles is right up there as an accumulator with Comfrey here and I use it in my weed tea which is more a diluted leachate than a brewed tea. My fingers do tingle for about 24 hours if I handle Stinging Nettles incorrectly or without gloves A link to Virginia Creeper.

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=paqu2

Well I went out and looked at the dead cuttings in my trailer so many i just cut and stacked in my trailer unfortunately they are very Dead  and not much remains I remember them being a log steam (fuzzy) little sharp  leaves and stems.

Ddont remember runners but their are many and i dont remember any kind of berries so Nettles is a maybe over the Creeper as they are tall.

Will try and look and see if i can find any leafs to compare to the photo (Thank you fro the photo)   we also have an abundance of a a Chinese maple? another weedy tree with very sharp thorns almost impossible to kill my neighbors let one grow on their property and it is now 50 feet tall and the roots are traveling shallow and bulging my fence leaves are everywhere now Killing the sun oer my garden COMED would not cut it down even after it started encapsulating the power lines.

For sure stinging nettle.  Very common.  Immediate reaction (from one who knows!).

Hopefully i can a photo of the Dead plant stem and laves, kept forgetting this nasty plant until i start poking around then it a Oh yeah :>) So I accept any help in identifying it. from the sounds of it i may have to get a paint brush and apply a strong selective herbicide.  This old house showed them doing that for a crabgrass or something that had runners painting the grass to keep it from getting on and killing the good grass of course they also trenched and put in metal edging which is not a bad idea guessing only need less then 80 feet to edge the one draw back is my Raised bed 32" up is just in front of the nasty weeds not much room to work thanks for the advice so far

I will change my vote and agree with Ohio Gardener and Scorpio Rising. It is good to remember that others can get a very different reaction to a plant than you do. Yes, Virginia Creeper is a low growing vine and needs support to grow up.

I do use a glyphosate off label (Round-Up) version if it is not near my food area.  Nettles really only occupy space and hurts you, not plants.  I also know they can be dug up fron the roots and no issues with sensitization.

This ts A good to know these weeds are tall and they do multiply like rabbits

recoush, I allow a fair size patch to grow here because of its medicinal benefits. Do I use it no but it is like having aspirin in the medicine cabinet, I feel better somehow just knowing I have it. With herbalism as a beginning student I preach extreme caution but many pharmaceuticals/prescriptions come from botanicals. Still best to learn how as an individual you react to a plant. Plants are either good or bad only from the gardener that is doing the  growing perspective, they all belong to nature and fit in somewhere in the big picture. Here is a link to some of its benefits and cautions.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/stinging-nettle

This guy is passionate about Stinging Nettle...

OhioGardener wrote:This guy is passionate about Stinging Nettle...

Speaking about passionate, I first learned about the virtues of stinging nettle from Euell Gibbon's book, "Stalking the Healthful Herbs." Anyone else remember him?

Interestingly, I've never actually encountered stinging nettle.

Today I received a package of European Nettle seeds. some sort of mix up reminds me of the movie the gods must be crazy

recoush wrote:Today I received a package of European Nettle seeds. some sort of mix up reminds me of the movie the gods must be crazy

How weird is that? Free seeds for an invasive plant, what could go wrong with that?  

An interesting statement from the Invasive.org site on this plant: "Due to its popularity in some circles as an edible plant, it may be purchased and cultivated. If grown, ensure that it does not spread beyond the planted site by removing flowers and fruits and killing back if it does begin to beyond the intended area."

https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/urdi.htm

OhioGardener, nothing much surprises me anymore. We as gardeners have some blame when it comes to some invasives but what really surprises me is that many invasives were brought in to combat erosion which must have been a big problem at one time, at least that is the story I get here in Ct. I image a small state such as Ct has to worry about erosion especially after being clear cut twice.

Thanks for the link and now I know in the spring I will have to try and identify which of three species of stinging nettles I have. One would think we would have a national policy on invasive plants but that is not the case and best to check one's own state regulations. Here there is a list of plants you can not cultivate and can be fined per plant although I have never seen or heard of such an event happening but after reading about NY policemen arresting a tomato grower and confiscating his plants from a rooftop, anything is possible.

markqz wrote:. . .Speaking about passionate, I first learned about the virtues of stinging nettle from Euell Gibbon's book, "Stalking the Healthful Herbs." Anyone else remember him?

Grape Nuts Cereal!

Sounds like stinging nettle

In recent years some of these weeds have shown up in our area in northern VA. Hopefully it isn't this, but here's an article about Giant Hogweed: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/giant-hogweed-plant-causes-blindness-third-degree-burns-discovered-in-virginia-other-states/

Keep hitting the weeds with a weed wacker & or lawn mower if they are nettles  you'll have full control of them and grasses will grow through .

 If you feel fit .. 
Nettle roots form mats up to about four inches deep . You can use a line and spade to cut them up in foot wide strips and then using the spade  start severing everything below the four inch level ,  then roll the nettles & roots up .  Stack them in yard square piles by a yard high , cover with black plastic weighted down & leave them for a year to let them rot down .  
Fork through the composted roots remove any new yellowish looking roots  and spread the  rest on the gardens or  add it to beds once you've proved it is free from nettles by spreading it 3 inches deep on a plastic sheet laid on some concrete & watering it every other day for 14 days .   Baby nettles less than an inch tall rarely sting me   it's the two inch tall ones that are the sneaky little  *****d's .

 If you can grow nettles on land , you can grow a tremendous range of crops as the ground is almost the perfect pH & nutrient content for most veg .

LoriFehr12 wrote:In recent years some of these weeds have shown up in our area in northern VA. Hopefully it isn't this, but here's an article about Giant Hogweed: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/giant-hogweed-plant-causes-blindness-third-degree-burns-discovered-in-virginia-other-states/

Oh, yes, Lori, I've heard about this horrible stuff...