Whats the best way to get rid of blackberry bushes?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(saechaka @ Jul 2 2007, 12:29 PM) [snapback]471578[/snapback]</div>

after they have eaten the shrubs, eat the goats. Or, take them to a livestock auction

 

try clorax out of a spray bottle. Worked for a poison ivy plant in our overgrown/neglected yard.

Spray about twice a day for a week, then remove the dead/dying. Once pulled up, keep track of the root hole(s) and pour a few drinks of clorax onto them.

Still bad for the earth and such, but slighlty better than Roundup poisons.

 

Jam? Cobbler?

I have some good recipes.

 

Rent goats from someone.
Seriously, there are people with goats that will bring them over, clean out your weeds, and then take the goats back home again.

Good luck!

 

Blackberry bushes send out runners. All I can suggest is to wait until spring and dig up all shoots and as much root as possible. Keep doing that until they just don't come up anymore.

I had Oxalis in all of my planters when I moved into my house. My mother said I'd never get rid of the stuff unless I poisoned it.

Instead I'd dig it up.

I did it every week for a long time. Evenutally it was once a month. Now my beds are Oxalis free.

While I'm sure you are not looking forward to digging up Blackberry shoots and runners, that is one sure way. Even with RoundUp they will come back so you'll need to keep spraying. And the goats will be coming back for munchies periodically too.

 

Use Roundup on the leaves after they sprout. It will take out the plant, roots and all, without having to spray it all over your yard.

Tom

 

Blackberries are so last year. Try growing iPhones instead!

 

I'd welcome them in, make some jam, and sell it to the neighbors

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusmaybe @ Jul 2 2007, 02:39 PM) [snapback]471630[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(eagle33199 @ Jul 2 2007, 04:19 PM) [snapback]471734[/snapback]</div>

I'm with these 2. Find a way to train them so they don't go completely nuts and enjoy the fruit. I suggest Eton Mess (traditionally strawberries-but any berry will do, broken meringues, whipped cream).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(saechaka @ Jul 2 2007, 01:29 PM) [snapback]471578[/snapback]</div>

They sell "Blackberry and Brush Killer" at garden centers. Works great. To kill blackberrys that are growing out of a hedge or other plants you don't want to kill at the same time, you simply cut the end off of one of the stalks and dip it into the herbicide.

 

I'm restoring land with a ton of buckthorn, garlic mustard and multi rosa flora. So I'm here to tell you that sometimes the only way to rid yourself of an aggressive, invasive plant is to kill it with an herbicide. And, it may take more than one application of the herbicide to knock it back on it's heels well enough.

On the other hand, blackberry is native and I think it's a butterfly host plant. It also produces berries that wildlife relish and it provides a nice nesting habitat for birds and rabbits. I've never experienced the growth of this plant to know if I'd want to kill it, however. If you're truly having a bad time with it, cut it to a stump and just herbicide the tips of the cut stump with round up. This way, you'll use a lot less chemical to treat the plant. If it's anything like multi rosa flora, the thorns will hook into your skin with tenacity, so wear long thick sleeves, pants and gloves. Goggles ain't a bad idea either. Check back every week or so to apply a new application as if it's truly aggressive, you'll have to reapply again.

For an all natural solution, vinegar can act as an herbicide due to the acidity. But, this will surely require multiple applications as it isn't as effective.

From all I know, roundup (though manufactured by Monsanto - icky), goes inert before it hits the ground. If you're applying by any water source, tell me and I'll find out from the conservation district here what a safe herbicide is around water. Roundup is said to negatively affect the development of aquatic life.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(saechaka @ Jul 2 2007, 10:29 AM) [snapback]471578[/snapback]</div>

Well, I don't know what part of the country you live in, but blackberries are a weed here in Washington state too. I have heard the Crossbow works better than round up. I have given up on killing mine and just keep them in a nice hedge shape.

The funny think is, before my dad passed away, I visited him in California, and over dinner he said. "I am just having a terrible time getting my blackberries to grow!" I said "Dad, those are a weed up in Washington!". One man's junk is another man's treasure.

 

We've got goats, sheep and cattle -- and we still have blackberry.

I've used escort, roundup, and I know other farmers that use incredibly toxic cocktails of herbicides -- we all still have blackberry. Even if you got rid of every vesitge of blackberry on your property, the birds would bring it back, underneath wherever they like to sit.

I think you can just look forward to an annual brush cutting of blackberry around your place, usually along the fencelines, hack it back (watch those thorns), and add it to your other landscape cuttings.

 

Oh, and what about fire? Have you tried annual Spring or Fall burns? This'll knock woody most brush back so that it's not as voluminous. You'd just have new growth shoots each Spring subsequent the burns. It's done wonders for controlling our buckthorn.


*EDIT* Don't prescribe fire. I just googled this method and you'd have even more of a problem as Rubus will fill in any area devoid of vegetation with it's shoots. This link references woodland restoration from Rubus. Don't know the characteristics of your site but here's the link. Evidently, you'd best prepare for long term management as you've truly a problem on your hands..........

http://www.ipaw.org/faq/FAQ8.htm

So sorry for you.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SSimon @ Jul 2 2007, 01:39 PM) [snapback]471748[/snapback]</div>

I don't know about you, but where I live we're dealing with the invasive European ("Himalayan") blackberry. My favorite part in the Cal-IPC description is the line about "impenetrable nature of blackberry thickets". If unchecked, I have seen Himalayan Blackberry grow into impenetrable seas of brambles, 10 to 15 feet high and encompassing all of the available open space. Fire will not eliminate it - it can grow back from root runners faster than native vegetation (with the possible exception of poison oak). While I'm all for organic methods of weed control, be aware that goats will eat nearly any other, native plant first, prior to tackling the tough, thorny, unpleasant tasting blackberry. In the long run, if you really want to eliminate it without using herbicides, I think you are going to be forced to tackle it with a combination of high weed mowing (including removing all of the cut down foliage) followed by repeatedly digging out anything that re-sprouts. It will probably take 3 or 4 major assaults, over a period of several years to remove it entirely.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Mad Hatter @ Jul 2 2007, 05:11 PM) [snapback]471830[/snapback]</div>

No, I've no experience w/ this and please don't wish it upon me. I'm dealing with a seemingly similar invasive, which is multiflora rose. And, I've nearly spliced off some fingers and lost and eye. Truly nasty by any definition. Multi rosa not only sends out shoots but arches it's nasty tips to the ground where it will set roots only to send out more shoots which will results in more roots and shoots, and so on and so on. Don't know if invasive Rubus does this, but it's not a welcome feature by me.

I googled your invasive and it seems that yours comes with the added bonus of hybridizing with other Rubus. Niiiiiiice. Even nicer that we continue to introduce plants into our lands only to add additional invasives to the list in the near future.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(saechaka @ Jul 2 2007, 04:37 PM) [snapback]471747[/snapback]</div>

Let us know how you are going to keep the goats contained.

I tried using horses recently to cut the grass. They do a great job -- but then they got loose and ran around the neighborhood. (They don't eat blackberries, though.)

 

Have you tried rabbits? I know they like roses. :mellow: