kaaryn
Full Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:04 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

raspberry cane roots

What do raspberry cane roots look like? I'm trying hard not to mix things up too badly and kill off my roses while removing the raspberries that have grown in around them. There are a lot of roots there that kind of look like long white worms, with rounded ends. They come out of the ground very easily and don't seem to be really connected to anything. Do you think these belong to the raspberries and are safe to keep pulling out? (I don't want to keep these raspberries, they're way overgrown and destined to be burned and tilled up to make room for a new tidier patch next year)

opabinia51
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 4659
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
Location: Victoria, BC

Well, you should have raspberry canes with leaves on them or atleast some raspberry canes and the roots below them (usually quite woody but, not very thick in diameter) will be below the canes.

Question: What are you using to kill the other plants?


If you plan to use some sort of herbicide; it will kill all the plants in the given area not to mention the beneficial flora and fauna in the surrounding soil.

It take a little more work but, is that much more rewarding and I think it is more fun; to just use a shovel and dig up your unwanted plants.

Not to mention, you will not harm the soil or any wanted plants in the process.

kaaryn
Full Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:04 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

These are more like spreading roots, out a couple of feet from the patch. That's why I wasn't sure what they were.

The rest of the plants I'm mostly just pulling up (grass, etc) or digging out (clumps of weeds). There is a lot of knotweed there as well which I am pulling out and burning, digging up the root clumps, and then whatever grows this season I'm injecting with Roundup and/or Killex. But no spraying, I don't want overspray and there are too many kids and animals around here who might get into it.

opabinia51
Super Green Thumb
Posts: 4659
Joined: Thu Oct 21, 2004 5:58 pm
Location: Victoria, BC

Please read the round up thread in the "What Doesn't fit Elsewhere" forum before using the roundup. And keep what I said in mind before using any sort of poison in the soil.

Round up is meant to be a foliar herbicide that kills the leaves of plants. It does kill roots, but when using caustic chemicals it is very important to use them as they are intended to be used.

kaaryn
Full Member
Posts: 22
Joined: Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:04 pm
Location: Nova Scotia

Don't worry - the only plant I'm attacking with poisons is the knotweed, and that's for lack of another effective option. Digging it up while it's still alive will just spread it around from the fragments getting into the soil - so the idea is to kill its root system and then dig it out afterward or else bury it with some kind of membrane then new dirt on top of it.

I'm not being generous with the stuff around my property though, I'm not a big fan of poisons either in or outside of my house. :D



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