Posted on 02/24/2023 7:37:24 AM PST by LouAvul
These are large patches on rural property.
I've narrowed it down to two methods. One is to use a burner which will cost me ~$100. The other is to use a backhoe which will cost me ~$35,000.
Suggestions? This is very rural property with very large patches of blackberries.
>>Goats.
That was going to be my suggestion - and in some areas you can even rent them (believe it or not), just for this purpose, to get rid of unwanted plants.
In fact, there may even be some locally owned restaurants (wholesale) or food banks (charity) near you that would be interested in helping you out, what with all the interest lately in locally-produced ingredients.
Stake a goat next to the patch. It should eat it down to the roots. At least that’s how we did it in Australia with other thorn bushes.
I have spent many decades since my youth removing blackberries; they grow like crazy around here. Your options and some of the other suggestions sound silly to me.
We almost always just use various forms of weed eaters to cut them down with a brush cutting blade. The $99 specials from any discount store typically work just fine. The dried vines from the previous years break strings... even the big diameter strings on push behind trimmers/mowers. Sometimes I also just use a small basic rotary mower with a small 3 hp motor. The one I have is light enough that I can approach the berry bushed with the front lifted up by pushing the handle down near the ground. Sometimes I just throw the mower on top of the bush and pull it back and forth. This has the advantage of chopping most of the vines into an attractive mulch.
The other option is of course using a tractor. If you have some type of brush trimmer for it, this would probably be the easiest, but if you have crap hidden under the blackberries this can cause expensive damage when you hit the crap. In that case just a bucket or blade can be used to knock them down and either bury the vines or roll them into a big pile that can be burned after they dry or just thrown on the back of a truck and hauled off. Then finish by cleaning up the area enough so that it can be easily mowed.
If you spray poison on the plants nothing will grow there for the rest of the season and you will have an area of dead black berries that look ugly and will still need to be cut down. The black berries will come back the next year when the poison wears off before most other plants will.
Once you have chopped down the black berries with the brush trimming method of your choice you should shovel and rake the area flat and throw some grass seed on it. Then keep it mowed. You will win faster if you pull up the little stems that will inevitably start coming up, but keeping the area mowed for a couple of years will also tend to reclaim the area.
+1. Goats tend to keep them under control.
My wife and I were shocked to find Walmart selling them in this area where they tend to be an extreme nuisance... But of course blackberry jam and pie is a favorite in our family, and when we were kids we did sometimes sell them by the roadside.
Don't you mean the Australian goats ate UP to the roots?
Up and Down all depend on your perspective lol
Put up sign saying, “Free Blackberry Bushes - 1st Come 1st Served”
I live on a rural, gravel road. People buy goats and let them roam.
These critters are so cute.
Best way to get rid of Blackberries is to rent some goats. No spray, no fuel ... just hungry animals. They will eat them down and depending on the size of the plot, by the time they get close to finishing new shoots will be trying to come up and they will get those as well. They will also deposit a load of free fertilizer. Now, go turn the soil and grab any roots that get turned up. Should have a very usuable lot when done.
We have to be careful walking in black berry patches here in lower Alabama. Rattle snakes like to hide in them because of all the birds the berries attract. You won’t see me trapseing through a patch while the berries are in season...
I absolutely loved picking black berries on a hot summer day. Had a jug of ice cold water and a walking stick that helped separating the thorny bushes. Can’t do it now because of my fibrosis, but those were the days I loved. Froze the berries and we enjoyed them for several years.
ohhhhh. Yikes. That's not something we worry about in NY!
That's a good reason to hire a service to do the job.
I agree that brush killer will kill the roots and after a few weeks then you cut them to the ground.
My wife digs and cuts and weeks come right back because the remaining roots are still alive.
“I would love to have blackberries on my (tiny) property. I have to go into the county forest to pick them.”
A suggestion: Get the thornless variety. They should be available at your local nursery.
Jeff Chandler wrote: “That’s a good reason to hire a service to do the job.”
Cabelas sell some very nice knee length snake boots, waterproof and breathable too.
Wink, wink, How did you get that picture of me from my late wife. LOL
Goats and mowing? Blackberries aren’t that tough if you keep mowing them down.
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