Blackberry Removal

[California]

Himalayan blackberries the OP mentions (from europe) are in a world by themselves in the Pacific Northwest where they grow like crazy. I am in the same area as the OP. Our native blackberries are a nuisance. Himalayan berries are a nightmare.

And all down the Pacific coast! Years ago these apple orchard terraces were sprayed with herbicide to keep down the blackberries. About 1970 Dad had to find a different contractor to till, spray, harvest this little orchard. After that, areas that were too steep to cross-disc weren't maintained. Minor infestations of blackberry quickly became impenetrable jungle.

In 2005 I tried ripping out blackberries with the backhoe to restore access along one terrace down in back, and found the apple trees had grown in grotesque directions to reach out of the jungle to reach daylight. There wasn't much apple production there, so I haven't tried to maintain it since then. That row disappeared into jungle again, and we get more berries there than we need for making jam - several dozen jars each year. This weekend relatives will be visiting to pick all they want.

Pro tip for berrypicking: Glove on left hand to pull clusters out of the jungle to pick with right hand without reaching in and getting thorned. Also this tension prevents catapulting the rest of the cluster as you pick the first berry. Pick into a small bucket on your belt.

Is that correct Himalayan Blackberries from Europe? Either way what is the difference between them and native blackberries. I do not know what we have, I just know they are good!

Himalayan Blackberries have nasty thorns like a rosebush but at closer intervals and the tips break off in your skin if you can't gently move opposite the direction the thorn went in. Patience is essential. The berries are larger than native Blackberries. The Natives grow in the same place but are outnumbered by Himalayan. Native thorns are much finer and easier to avoid

Digging out blackberry roots is difficult because they go so deep. Car keys for size comparison.

Now that we're organic certified, discing is the only method used against Blackberrries and Oaks that spring up everywhere in the orchard. But this doesn't get the intruders that are so close to apple tree trunks that the disc can't get them. Every few years after the ground is saturated, I go out and rip out those too-close weeds that have roots tangled with the apple roots. Using the backhoe when a slender trenching shovel isn't sufficient. Oak roots pop out like carrots. Interconnected Blackberry roots aren't as easy, but tugging on the largest one generally brings up the rest. What got me going was the harvest contractor told me he spent $thousands trying to save the eye of one of his crew who was snagged by a Blackberry thorn while harvesting.

Overall the orchard is much cleaner that when I started this cleanup 20 years ago.

 

[goeduck]

Just mow a couple years in a row and grass takes over.

While you can achieve reduction by mowing open areas, the real problem with Himalayan berries is when they grow where you cannot mow. Under fences, between trees, around out buildings etc. If a bramble has been in place for some time, the seed bank and root fragments in the soil will keep them coming back for years after clearing.

 

[JasperFrank]

Amazing that this plant was introduced only 100 years ago. I have to laugh when ever I see blackberry starts for sale.

The Strange, Twisted Story Behind Seattle's Blackberries

Those tangled brambles are everywhere in the city, the legacy of an eccentric named Luther Burbank whose breeding experiments with crops can still be found on many American dinner plates.

www.npr.org

 

[mapper]

Small closed containers of Glsophosphate with a small slit in the lid. Put a growing tip of BlackBerry vine in through the slit. It will absorb the stuff and the entire plant dies roots and all. Mix the glysophosphate at the same dilution you would use for spraying, too much and it just burns the tip and doesn't kill the plant.
Much easier than clearing and grubbing.
Native blackberries and marion berries are far more flavorful than Himalayan and evergreen varieties.
Spent to much of my youth attached to a machete cutting blackberries and salmon berries on my folks property to have any tolerance for them on mine!

 

[Big Barn]

Small closed containers of Glsophosphate with a small slit in the lid. Put a growing tip of BlackBerry vine in through the slit. It will absorb the stuff and the entire plant dies roots and all. Mix the glysophosphate at the same dilution you would use for spraying, too much and it just burns the tip and doesn't kill the plant.
!

i use a toilet bowl cleaner container for applying glysophate to invasive bamboo plants. chop the stalk off at ground level and put a few drops on the fresh cut

for blackberries i just use a normal sprayer for application with a little extra surfactant to minimize runoff.

fall is the "best" time for application when the plant is in root "storage" mode

 

[California]

Amazing that this plant was introduced only 100 years ago. I have to laugh when ever I see blackberry starts for sale.

The Strange, Twisted Story Behind Seattle's Blackberries

Those tangled brambles are everywhere in the city, the legacy of an eccentric named Luther Burbank whose breeding experiments with crops can still be found on many American dinner plates.

www.npr.org

I'm near where Luther Burbank started out. No wonder any uncultivated ground here is choked with blackberries.

His thornless cactuses are around here too, planted in yards and road frontages as decoration but not naturally proliferating all over the place like the blackberries.

After a few years Burbank gave up fighting the overwhelming gophers here and moved a few miles to Santa Rosa. And donated that parcel with too many gophers to ...




... the adjacent cemetery.

 

[cqaigy2]

While you can achieve reduction by mowing open areas, the real problem with Himalayan berries is when they grow where you cannot mow. Under fences, between trees, around out buildings etc. If a bramble has been in place for some time, the seed bank and root fragments in the soil will keep them coming back for years after clearing.

True, i can't mow under the fences, but also don't care if there's some blackberries there, and those are easier to pick the ripe berries from anyway.


Even if i kept all my acreage completely clear of blackberries, there's still a seedbank available to reseed from.

 

[Rebeldad1]

I am in SW Washington. had 2 areas to clear. First one brush hogged and some tractor work to level. Added a bunch of mulch and have had no trouble. Second area brush hogged and leveled with the tractor. added about 3" crushed rock. done.

Cut them and dont let them grow. they will stop growing.

 

[Creamer]

Thanks! It definitely looks like what I have are the Himalayan by the pictures. They are aggressive.

 

[goeduck]

Small closed containers of Glsophosphate with a small slit in the lid. Put a growing tip of BlackBerry vine in through the slit. It will absorb the stuff and the entire plant dies roots and all. Mix the glysophosphate at the same dilution you would use for spraying, too much and it just burns the tip and doesn't kill the plant.
Much easier than clearing and grubbing.
Native blackberries and marion berries are far more flavorful than Himalayan and evergreen varieties.
Spent to much of my youth attached to a machete cutting blackberries and salmon berries on my folks property to have any tolerance for them on mine!

Interesting concept. Do you do this in the fall? Do you select larger or smaller canes? Shorter (closer to the root system) canes? You do not cut off the tip, you keep it intact?

I wonder if this would work on our big leaf maples, almost impossible to kill.