Blackberries.

[EVILDOCTOR235]

what do any of you use to control blackberry bushes ? I prefer not to use over the counter chemicals. I cannot have goats in my yard, so they are out.Nor can I shoot them.

EvilDr235

 

[LaneP]

Without the use of something like ground clear I would imagine you would have to do it old school....sling blade and machete?

 

[eveled]

I use a walk behind Gravely tractor with a brush hog deck. The blade is over half inch thick. It will cut down anything up to about 2" diameter. Raspberry plants are like grass to it..

 

[H.H. Hipshot]

What's wrong with eating blackberries? I take care to mow around them and collect the berries in May.

They make wonderful jam, great jelly, superb cobblers, and scrumptious pies.

HHH

 

[Bucks Owin]

What's wrong with eating blackberries? I take care to mow around them and collect the berries in May.

They make wonderful jam, great jelly, superb cobblers, and scrumptious pies.

HHH

10X!! I am surrounded with them here where I campground host. They are flowering now and the bees are busy. Soon I'll be having them every morning for breakfast and picking gallons for jelly, pies etc...Love 'em! 8)

Might even make a little hooch next winter.. :shock:

 

[Kevin]

What to do about too many balckberries? How about asking people to pay you to pick them?

 

[Colonialgirl]

MMMMM,, Blackberry cobbler fresh from the oven with Sweet Vanilla Ice cream melting on top, Blackberry Jam, Home canned, Fresh Blackberries eaten on the way to work; Treating neighbors with a big bowl of fresh RIPE Blackberries unlike those you find in the Supermarket.
To repeat
MMMMMMMM, FRESH BLACKBERRY COBBLER right out of the oven-----------PURE HEAVEN !!

 

[Coop]

Control Blackberry Bushes?? WHY???? Do you consider them an "invasive plant"???

We grow them here in Pittsburgh in our back yard, and eat them, freeze them, and enjoy them year round.

 

[6gun]

Wild Black Berries are a real huge problem where I live in Washington also, they are a very invasive plant and will take over your whole yard in a very short time if you don't control them, best way I know to get rid of them is cut off the vines and burn them, then dig up the roots and burn them too, the roots are the most important part to destroy if you leave them the Black Berries will be right back.

Best not to waste money on chemicals and sprays they are just a temporary fix that only kill the vines and not even touch the roots, chemicals can also harm wild life and are dangerous pets and your family so I stay way from using them.

 

[powder smoke]

Control them with your mower, Leave some for eating cut the rest.
Keep them mowed they'll die off.ps

 

[blume357]

seems like I remember Tom Robbins talking about those Black Berry bushes and how they grow in Washington state in his book Skinny Legs and All or possibly Still Life with Woodpecker.

I'd bush hog back and then keep cutting the shoots down... possibly pull roots... eventually if you keep the green cut back the roots should die.

 

[m657]

Depending on how indulgent you are with your notion of 'no chemicals' the control of feral black berry bushes can take a LOT of your otherwise 'free time'.

Sequential and extensive regular cutting of the vines can do much to (temporarily) inhibit their ascendancy over whatever space they consider available. They are also inhibited by movement and other life forms which affect their expansion.

Yes, they ARE an invasive and otherwise praeternatural alien species to the PNW.

I have a triangular shaped piece of land partially on a hillside, which if left to the non-chemical control methods absent a resident goat herd, would soon be totally overwhelmed by BBB. I've come to recognize the advantages of a type of natural border to a limited amount of such greenery.....which is always being violated by BBB selfishness.

I've reluctantly come to appreciate the virtues of such as 'Crossbow' and related compounds in addition to mechanical sharp edged blunt force.

 

[Selena]

I'm assuming you mean the volunteer starts from the main patch. The best way to limit "vineflation" is to be diligent in mowing close to the patch spring through summer.

 

[DGW1949]

I'm assuming you mean the volunteer starts from the main patch. The best way to limit "vineflation" is to be diligent in mowing close to the patch spring through summer.

That......and eat the ones ya leave in the main patch.
Works for me. :D .

DGW

 

[6gun]

Judging from some of the comments I see most here are use to a very different Varity of Blackberry then we have in the PMW and don't understand what those of us in the PNW are talking about. :lol:

Mowing next to a patch of PMW Blackberries just gives them more room to take over as the vines grow a foot or two longer each day taking over that space in a matter of days with 3/4" thick vines with thorns large as a Rosebush, while the vines creep over the newly cut lawn they are also shooting out roots under the lawn for new plants to pop up, only way to stop them is to destroy them.

Don't even get us started on wild English ivy which is another non-native invasive specie's we battle to keep from taking over the PNW.

 

[Selena]

I'm assuming you mean the volunteer starts from the main patch. The best way to limit "vineflation" is to be diligent in mowing close to the patch spring through summer.

That......and eat the ones ya leave in the main patch.
Works for me. :D .

DGW

If you can eat all the berries produced in your patch I strongly suggest you restock with more productive plants. :P

 

[6gun]

Our Blackberries are classified as class C noxious weeds. :lol:

 

[H.H. Hipshot]

Well, we eat lots of things down here in the South that some don't cotton to, but blackberries are near the top of the list for good things that produce in the spring.

They are worth all the scratches, itches, prickles and chiggers.

HHH

 

[powder smoke]

Blackberry Jam is hard to beat nuf said. ps

 

[dougader]

We had to deal with those Himalayan blackberries in South King County, WA. when I was a kid growing up.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/blackberry.aspx

We had huge mountains of them next to our garden and had to break out the machetes every spring so we could get through to plow/roto-till the garden.

Digging them up and burning is the only thing that will keep them dead... and be careful for wasp, yellow jacket and hornet nests hidden in the thicket when you set about clearing them out. That's the most dangerous side of things we had to deal with.

BTW - We had goats and they would only eat the new, young growth off the plants; not the tough vines that take over everything in sight.

 

[6gun]

We had to deal with those Himalayan blackberries in South King County, WA. when I was a kid growing up.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/blackberry.aspx

We had huge mountains of them next to our garden and had to break out the machetes every spring so we could get through to plow/roto-till the garden.

Digging them up and burning is the only thing that will keep them dead... and be careful for wasp, yellow jacket and hornet nests hidden in the thicket when you set about clearing them out. That's the most dangerous side of things we had to deal with.

BTW - We had goats and they would only eat the new, young growth off the plants; not the tough vines that take over everything in sight.

That's a good link you show, thank God I don't live in King County, (way to leftie now days) I'm in Snohomish County, only those that have lived in the PNW truly understand how nasty and invasive these plants are, everyone else is thinking yummy barry's off small little vines and don't even understand what were talking about, anyone up to picking berry's there is a huge patch of them in the woods across the street from my house if you dare, I promise you'll look and feel like a gators been chewing on you before you make it out of that patch, it's like razor wire. :lol:

 

[Colonialgirl]

Well, we eat lots of things down here in the South that some don't cotton to, but blackberries are near the top of the list for good things that produce in the spring.

They are worth all the scratches, itches, prickles and chiggers.

HHH

DAMN CHIGGERS !!! :shock: :shock: :roll: :roll:
I learned about them when I was in the third grade and we lived in Tennessee and Mom and Dad would take us out Blackberry picking along the back roads around Millington. Them little suckers like to eat you to death !! :roll: :roll: :roll: A rub of Kerosene around the ankles was suppose to help, but somehow they ALWAYS found their way up to the waist line and slightly below.

 

[exavid]

Yep, those things are a heck of a lot worse than concertina wire. The berries are good but the vines are awful. I swear they can whip around and grab your legs when you stand too close. Personally I think a nuclear attack is about the only thing that will get rid of them for any length of time. These things are like well armed Kudzu.

 

[m657]

I've use blunt force, power machinery, fire and chemicals to turn back their assault.

The vines move fast over a couple years and can take over an entire house or barn in 2 or 3 seasons if left unchecked.

Killzall/Crossbow/Roundup are part of my otherwise organic management. Short of goats, glyphosates are a most useful part of the tools required to keep the BlackBerryBush monster at bay.

 

[6gun]

Walked through the woods last night and stopped to look at the berry patch in a small clearing it's about 100' wide 200' deep surrounded by trees on 3 sides, the vines are 7' tall and growing, very thick patch no man or beast would make it out of there alive if they fell in no access to pick berry's even if someone want to, they haven't even bloomed yet still to early, the only thing that stops them from taking over the entire woods is shade, they only like sunny spots.