Somebody talk me out of using Roundup Wild Blackberry Killer

[Toil]

well if you read carefully, she was cutting, not pulling. I think it make a difference. Sorta like wounding the enemy is better than killing as it takes more people out of the fight.

[tomf]

It takes 3 years of pulling and killing them and cutting them down before they give up. You can win by doing it by hand, get some thick gloves and a spade. If you use salt then you are just using another poison and one that will damage the soil for a long time and the salt will get to the roots of your other plants.
2nd Roundup will not kill them it takes a product like Crossbow or a mix of Crossbow and Roundup. If you do spray put a cone on your sprayer so the spray does not hit other plants. I have killed acres of them and used very little chemicals, mostly I dug them out with my bucket.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[GeorgiaGirl]

Toil, that's interesting -- cutting sure would be a LOT easier than the pulling I've been doing. Probably fewer wounds that way too.

tomf, I've been pulling them for 4 years and they've only gone crazier... that's why I posted this. After 4 years, I was starting to get a picture of the whole rest of my life being consumed with fighting these things as they get worse every year. The salt idea would only have been for the area directly under a landing where nothing else will grow anyway except this thicket of thorns.

Thanks again for all the advice!!

[Toil]

Toil, that's interesting -- cutting sure would be a LOT easier than the pulling I've been doing. Probably fewer wounds that way too.

!

to be clear I have never done this with brambles or berries but I have ruined other plants that way.

I just figure any plant gives up eventually if it spends more than it makes.

[cynthia_h]

Thus the sharp, square shovel. Ram it into the ground to the full length of its blade, severing the roots/rhizomes of the blackberries. Now, CUT with pruners the vines whose roots have just been severed.

You should now be viewing a small patch of ground with vine stubs no more than 1" tall. Use that sharp shovel to dig up the severed rhizomes. For added insurance, screen the soil that comes up with them through half-inch hardware cloth over a wheelbarrow (follow RainbowGardener's link to my successful Bermuda Grass war). Only soil which passes through the screen will be returned to the ground.

Now, *before* retiring for the day, put metal flashing into the ground where you first severed the roots. Purchase the tallest, strongest metal flashing you can afford (it usually comes in rolls). Jam it into the ground to inhibit the subterranean spread of blackberry rhizomes.

When you have the energy again, attack a contiguous patch of vines and, at the end, move the flashing.

The use of flashing is how I held back the bamboo in Berkeley. That was an interesting situation.... I didn't *want* to completely win--the bamboo was our only privacy from the cocaine-dealing apartment building immediately to the south--but the bamboo was both invasive and a fire hazard during the dry months, so it had to be controlled.

Cynthia

[Gary350]

Okay... I guess I'll just keep yanking them out by hand and hope that one day they give up. They sure don't show any signs of giving up anytime soon... in fact they're getting more aggressive/invasive every year... but I'll take your word for it and keep trying!

Blackberries do not have deep roots so they are easy to dig up. Blackberries send out runners in all directions and new plants come up from the roots. Roots are only under the soil surface a few inches. I dig my new plants up and put them in flower pots to transport to other places to be planted. It is just as easy to use the shovel to cut the plants off and let them die. Old plants can be cut off too and they die just as easy. Pulling them out of the ground by hand is too much work.

[Toil]

Thus the sharp, square shovel. Ram it into the ground to the full length of its blade, severing the roots/rhizomes of the blackberries. Now, CUT with pruners the vines whose roots have just been severed.

You should now be viewing a small patch of ground with vine stubs no more than 1" tall. Use that sharp shovel to dig up the severed rhizomes. For added insurance, screen the soil that comes up with them through half-inch hardware cloth over a wheelbarrow (follow RainbowGardener's link to my successful Bermuda Grass war). Only soil which passes through the screen will be returned to the ground.

Now, *before* retiring for the day, put metal flashing into the ground where you first severed the roots. Purchase the tallest, strongest metal flashing you can afford (it usually comes in rolls). Jam it into the ground to inhibit the subterranean spread of blackberry rhizomes.

When you have the energy again, attack a contiguous patch of vines and, at the end, move the flashing.

The use of flashing is how I held back the bamboo in Berkeley. That was an interesting situation.... I didn't *want* to completely win--the bamboo was our only privacy from the cocaine-dealing apartment building immediately to the south--but the bamboo was both invasive and a fire hazard during the dry months, so it had to be controlled.

Cynthia

wow Cyn, if only berries came with a little tag that has your instructions!

I may print this out for my community garden. Against land trust rules, we put in a buttload of raspberries. On one side there is sumac, which they can strangle all they want. But the other side is the veggie area, with a fence that makes it harder to access them.

[The Helpful Gardener]

GG are you feeding birds around these areas? Could these be replenished every year from airborne deposition?

HG

[GeorgiaGirl]

Cynthia, WOW, now that is an action plan I can get on board with!! THANK YOU... I will be trying this!!

HG, all my bird feeders are well away from the house... these wild blackberries are all around the foundation. I've never let them develop into 2-year canes (so they haven't produced berries) so all these offshoots in faraway beds wouldn't be due to birds eating then redistributing new seeds.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Got it.

Well dear, chems is NOT the answer; you CAN do this non-toxically. Lots of good advice here. I'm with Gary; you should be able to dig these, but cynthia's systematic destruction of the beasties sounds VERY effective...

I've been letting them grow where ever the birds leave them and planted a bunch of raspberries as well last season (canes just coming in great this spring) I will be keeping Cynthias advice to mind, but haven't seen as big an issue here as it seems to be West Coast and South...

HG

[cynthia_h]

I will be keeping Cynthias advice to mind, but haven't seen as big an issue here as it seems to be West Coast and South...

HG

OMG, the next time you're in northern California, just drive up Grizzly Peak or anywhere on Highway 101. Blackberries everywhere. They can propagate year-round because we don't have recurrent, regular hard freezes for weeks, let alone months, at a time.

The South doesn't either, as a rule.

So the blackberries just go nuts. Gardeners learn to defend themselves against the thorny vines or never see their soil again.

Cynthia

[rainbowgardener]

I am here in cold weather zone 6. I planted raspberries, which are now in their third season. This year new canes are popping up like CRAZY, next to the old ones AND in other places, even though they are not in full sun or particularly good soil. I am looking at all these raspberries popping up and wondering if I will regret having planted it!

[applestar]

Nah! More stuff for your annual plant sale -- and all FREE and minimal effort on your part (well you do have to dig them up and pot them, but you could just as easily dig them up and bag them in plastic bags)

[The Helpful Gardener]

Some of my volunteers have been here three years already and still aren't out of hand...

It goes to show that a sense of place is a necessary tool for good garden decisions. One of the strengths of our forum is a wide geographical range, but we must nevefr forget that what works for us in Colchester or Berkeley may not be a good answer for Houston or Winnipeg...

But we'll find out what is...

HG

[GeorgiaGirl]

Well dear, chems is NOT the answer;

I know, I know... I posted in a moment of weakness and frustration. Trust me, few people are as anti-chemical as I am (I won't use chemicals in household cleaning, personal products, food, anything except when it's totally necessary like inside my car!). I appreciate being "talked down from the ledge."

I was out yesterday for round 397 of the Battle of the Blackberries, and whaddaya know, I found (way behind some large shrubs) what must be two-year canes... there are tiny clusters of berries growing on them. I still hate the darn things, but I guess I'll let the berry-growing ones grow this year so they'll hopefully die afterwards. In the meantime, I am continuing my battle to eradicate all the one-year ones.

[Ozark Lady]

That could be how you are spreading them!
You found the source!
If birds are eating them, and then doing what birds do... they are being planted in other places.
Either remove the fruiting ones, or cover them, to be sure the birds don't spread them, or you are helping your enemy the berries, win!

Then again, how far do birds travel to eat? And then to go to the bathroom afterwards, it may not be possible to eliminate their planting them.

[The Helpful Gardener]

HG

[GeorgiaGirl]

GOOD POINT... I am having surgery tomorrow but as soon as I get home those fruiting ones are OUTA THERE!!! I have plenty of thornless canes that I've planted; I'll enjoy blackberries from those only!! (I must say I'm VERY relieved that I must have missed 2-year canes in the past and that's how they have been spreading... I was picturing a 24'-long rhizome tunneling under my driveway!!!