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.
Sell them to La Madeleine, the best jam in the whole world.
Goats!!! Efficient, effective, and reproducible for a profit. I bought acreage with berry and various bramble thorny bushes everywhere. Goats had them gone within 2 years -— right to the ground. They have not come back. Just an idea if you don’t need to use the land immediately.
Rent a skid steer with a clamshell bucket.
Grab them and pull them out.
Push ‘em up in a pile - let them dry out for a few months.
Throw some diesel on the pile - burn the pile.
That’s what I’ve done many times.
Now that I’m old - I rent the skid steer and pay a local guy to operate it.
I say let the bears eat the blackberries....
Why would anyone want to remove blackberries?
The perfect alternative - blackberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream for dessert for an entire summer month!
Helpful hint - try not to notice all the blackberry thorn puncture wounds on your hands while you enjoy your dessert.
Get a pet bear. Bears love berries.
Bears come into my berry patches, gorge themselves, squashing the bushes flat, sleep all night on the bushes and leave in the morning.
How big in acres? Many of these suggestions are not practical for large areas.
Use after clearing?
Mowable?
Time frame?
Assuming we are talking about acres to be cleared, one course might be to use 2, 4-D (depending on local regs and nearby waterbodies or streams. Wait until well dead, then physically remove per several posts above. (Rent or hire equipment / operator.) Burning after the bushes are dead but still standing is an option but requires dead calm conditions and absolute ability to control. Local regs there, too.
If this is to be done soon (early spring), replant with 2,4-d resistant grass or crops promptly after clearing. Be sure to evaluate potential erosion problems from spring rains! (And in any case, really.) Mow regularly if possible. If not, spot retreat sprouts w/ 2,4-d.
Physical removal and then mowing alone works, but you’ll likely have regrowth for a while if the mowing is not fairly regular. If there are any plants on nearby property, only thick grass or heavy shade seems to prevent regrowth. Birds make great “seeders”.
Well, one might actually want to get around the property...
I do like the idea of saving some patches for picking. I go out with a pair of long handled clippers and gloves to removes the new growth and get to the berries.
Buy some goats.
Another vote for goats, although my flat coat retriever eats the berries.
learn to make cobbler!
The Omaha Zoo used to give goats away due to inbreeding concerns. Knew a guy who did exactly what you suggested in his timber to knock down poison ivy. There’s several businesses around that bring herds of goats to construction, interstate sites and pen them in to knock down overgrowth. Goats are eating machines.
Then shoot the bears and make sausage.🤔
Rent or have someone with a bush hog mow them down and immediately spray with brush killer. Assuming you’re in a cold climate, I would wait until they started showing signs of life. The brush killer spray is more effective during the growing period vs. dormant.
I mowed them down until they died off. They did die pretty easily.
Burning won’t work, they will just come back from the roots.
Burn, then plough, then disk, then harrow.............
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