Getting rid of Blackberries

[CoastRange57]

Did someone say Goat Girl ??

 

[jbett98]

You know, as we are typing responses here, those blackberries are growing like crazy.

 

[The Heretic]

I initially went at mine with a trimmer. First a string trimmer. Then I put various different blades on it. Then I tried the pole trimmer. Not very effective and a LOT of work.

What did work was a flail mower. A brush cutter mower will be almost as effective. The dozer was the most effective.

This was against large patches, not intertwined with other plants/trees/etc.

Before dozer winter:

summer:


After dozer:



Last summer after mowing with the flail mower to keep it beat back:

 

[CoastRange57]

Any regrowth after the dozer is easily smoked with spraywhen it comes back up.

 

[The Heretic]

Any regrowth after the dozer is easily smoked with spraywhen it comes back up.

More or less, yes

 

[70cyclone]

Looks like chemicals are abou the best, and most convenient way to go.


Side note, but somewhat related - I have an older Craftsman chainsaw and a Ryobi string trimmer - neither ow which is currently running. I think both need a good cleaning and tune up. Just curious if anyone knows someone in the area of Oregon City, Gladstone, West Linn that maybe does small engine stuff like this without costing a ton? If the cost is too high, I'll probably just replace them at some point. I'd even be interested if someone knows a young person that is working on these skills and could use some projects for practice.

Any thoughts?

proper cleaning and fuel line replacement works wonders on those things...and a new plug.
the gas station in redland has premium non-ethanol fuel at the pump. or you can just pay the money for the trufuel stuff from home depot etc, works great and stores well.

 

[Joe13]

Just finished another 1/4 of my mess of a yard earlier today.

4 cycle craftsman trimmer with industrial string and it decimated the berries, 4 foot tall grass, weeds (not weed), ivy etc.
<parents tool as I'm not a huge fan of craftsman tools unless it's wrenches and screwdrivers, BUT it has a drill bit attachment that lets you crank the motor over with a drill - very handy for getting it running for the first time in over a year>

Never even had to put the brush cutting blade on it.



If I ever get on top of my stuff And you haven't got it going at your place I'll toss it in the car and come chuck bits of vegetation everywhere for ya. I'm not raking though.

 

[The Heretic]

Just finished another 1/4 of my mess of a yard earlier today.

4 cycle craftsman trimmer with industrial string and it decimated the berries, 4 foot tall grass, weeds (not weed), ivy etc.
<parents tool as I'm not a huge fan of craftsman tools unless it's wrenches and screwdrivers, BUT it has a drill bit attachment that lets you crank the motor over with a drill - very handy for getting it running for the first time in over a year>

Never even had to put the brush cutting blade on it.



If I ever get on top of my stuff And you haven't got it going at your place I'll toss it in the car and come chuck bits of vegetation everywhere for ya. I'm not raking though.

What I had was not new growth, but blackberries that grew for over a decade.

I could get at it with the trimmer, but it took for ever and it wasn't very good at it.

What took me days of work was over in 30 minutes with the dozer. I went after other patches with the flail mower and took them down with it too, just took a bit longer and was harder.

 

[70cyclone]

I just wish I had enough land to have a blackberry problem lol.

 

[The Heretic]

I just wish I had enough land to have a blackberry problem lol.

It doesn't take much - they grow almost anywhere

Sometimes they are a good thing. Beside providing fruit (if they get enough sun), they can provide a bit of a security barrier. Everyday I drive past a bit of land my family used to farm - an orchard along a road. The current owners have created a barrier from the road to prevent people from seeing much of the orchard much less going in and picking the fruit. The barrier consists of wild blackberries brambles that have grown over limbs and such that they stacked there from pruning the trees every year. The limbs compress down under their own weight and that of the brambles, but are pretty high and dense - about 10 feet high now. I saw recently where a car hit the barrier (it is on an S-curve) and didn't put much of a dent in it - just uncovered the underlying branches.

If a person puts a substantial barrier under the brambles, and then lets the brambles grow over it, that can keep vehicles out, and people - nobody likes walking through those brambles.

One suggestion I have is posts with a cable strung between them:



Even if they manage to break one or two posts by striking them, the rest of the posts generally hold them from going further.

 

[Joe13]

What I had was not new growth, but blackberries that grew for over a decade.

I could get at it with the trimmer, but it took for ever and it wasn't very good at it.

What took me days of work was over in 30 minutes with the dozer. I went after other patches with the flail mower and took them down with it too, just took a bit longer and was harder.

If I let my berries go for a decade not only would my house be engulfed but my neighbors on three sides of me as well

 

[Bon Sauvage]

I didn't realize that an Android phone could cause this sort of problem.

Who knew?

 

[Joe13]

I didn't realize that an Android phone could cause this sort of problem.

Who knew?

Windows OS.

Enough said...

 

[70cyclone]

It doesn't take much - they grow almost anywhere

Sometimes they are a good thing. Beside providing fruit (if they get enough sun), they can provide a bit of a security barrier. Everyday I drive past a bit of land my family used to farm - an orchard along a road. The current owners have created a barrier from the road to prevent people from seeing much of the orchard much less going in and picking the fruit. The barrier consists of wild blackberries brambles that have grown over limbs and such that they stacked there from pruning the trees every year. The limbs compress down under their own weight and that of the brambles, but are pretty high and dense - about 10 feet high now. I saw recently where a car hit the barrier (it is on an S-curve) and didn't put much of a dent in it - just uncovered the underlying branches.

If a person puts a substantial barrier under the brambles, and then lets the brambles grow over it, that can keep vehicles out, and people - nobody likes walking through those brambles.

One suggestion I have is posts with a cable strung between them:

View attachment 296718

Even if they manage to break one or two posts by striking them, the rest of the posts generally hold them from going further.

Oh I have them...just doesn't take that much effort to keep them at bay...and I'm not doing my neighbors work for them...

 

[The Heretic]

If I let my berries go for a decade not only would my house be engulfed but my neighbors on three sides of me as well

The brambles were getting up onto the deck when I bought the house. Had I let them go they would have taken over that corner of the house and the deck.

When I lived in the Seattle area, I rented a duplex where the brambles had been let go by the landlord and they were starting to take over the house. I would cut them back enough to walk around the house. When I was laid off, I used them as something to take out my frustration on at not being able to get a job, and I manually cut them back with a brush hook and dug up the roots. Took me two years, but I beat them back about 30 feet and planted a lawn there.

Every summer they had to be beaten back some more.

 

[PaulB47]

Keeping them cut back won't kill them, just keeps them cut back - they will keep returning.

But weaker every time. If you don't let them get big, and keep mowing them, they WILL die. They have only so much stored food in their roots.

I'm not crazy about herbicides. Bad for kids and animals...

We had one bush that was so big, we found a 1950's Jaguar sedan in the middle of it when we finally chopped through it. We killed that one without herbicides. Mostly, anyway...

One thing I like to do is just snip off 4" pieces when you start, and leave the pieces where they lay. They will rot down in winter. Easier than wrestling with poky canes...

 

[bobdog308]

Get a goat. Duh.

 

[Joe13]

Get a goat. Duh.

They will only eat the leaves they can reach - they aren't a garbage disposal

 

[PaulB47]

Hawthorne is the easiest to remove but the most evil of the three, because the deep puncture wounds of the thorns can get nasty infections.

Wait until you run into Russian olive...

Funny thing, in Wyoming the government promoted it as a hardy tree that would take harsh Wyoming conditions. Even gave away seedlings for years. Now they have designated it as a pest plant, that is impossible to eradicate. Typical government bubblegum-up...

 

[The Heretic]

I have a staghorn sumac tree that is trying to spread - if I left it alone it would probably take over the driveway island, but it is easy to pull up the shoots that it sends out. I could see how this would be invasive if left alone (it is considered invasive).

But the Himalayan blackberry is the worst I have seen in the PNW. It is very widespread because birds and animals eat the berries and spread the seeds everywhere. It spreads by its nature and protects itself with its thorns. Some other plants in the PNW spread as much (e.g., morning glory, etc.) and are quite invasive, but I don't think they are as widespread as they don't seem to produce fruit that animals and birds spread. About the only thing that I have seen that is like the blackberry in being widespread is scotch-broom (it spreads by the wind) and it is comparatively easy to cut down and pull up, but it is a huge fire danger and we have it all over up here due to recent logging. Mostly it grows in open areas, usually with recently disturbed soils.