CUT to Remove Berry Bushes

   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #1  

BoneheadNW

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
262
Location
Washington
Tractor
Kubota B7610
Can anyone give me some advice on the best implement(s) to remove berry bushes? Anyone who lives in the pacific northwest knows that blackberry, salmonberry, etc. berry bushes can be a real bugger to remove as they grow back every spring unless you take out the root system. I know that an excavator with an "opposable thumb" type of bucket can be used remove berry bushes.

Also, are the thorns on berry bushes a threat to CUT tires?

Bonehead
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #2  
The easiest way is a herd of goats, they'll eat them down to the ground and every time a new leaf shows, well you get the drift /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.

I'm in the process of doing the same thing. The salmonberries aren't so bad. I just put a chain around the bas with loop in it and yard them out. Gets 90% of the roots.

Blackberries are a little tougher to try and get to the base because of all the thorns. Try a little 2-4-D (Crossbow, but there are cheaper brands) and once they are dead, just drop your bucket and drivve in. The herbicide doesn't affect the evergreens or grasses but will flat do a number on berries, alders, and especially thistle. You can get it at any Cenex or other ag store.

Of course a small excavator will absolutely do the trick but I don't have one of those in my inventory /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif. The thorns haven't done anything to my tires yet, they're to small to hurt my R-4's

Good luck.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #3  
The really nice thing about using my tractor to rip out blackberrys is that it does not care about the stickers whereas we humans get mutilated if we look at them crosseyed. I have yet to have a berry thorn get into a tire and do any damage. As far as controling them, I use my toothbar, rip as much of the suckers out as I can and the following year will use a brush killer as need on the much reduced in size guys that pop up.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #4  
As for 2, 4-D or other herbicide (round-up), they often work well on brambles in the fall when the plant draws "energy" from the old canes back to the crown.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #5  
<font color="blue"> As for 2, 4-D or other herbicide (round-up) </font>

If I wanted to do a selective extermination, I would not use round-up. I save that for the gravel drive. CrossBow only works on the broad leaf plants like berries and alders. It's used by the timber industry (or was, don't know current EPA rules) to spray clear cut areas and reduce the broad leafs that would grow faster than the firs.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #6  
If I don't have my excavator on the job, I usually knock them down with the front bucket on my TC40. Once I knock them down, I lower the scarifiers on my box blade and drag the scarifiers through the ground to pull up the vines. The evergreen and himalayan (sp?) vines come out really easy, but watch out for the older canes. They are pretty tough and very capable of doing damage to a tractor. Usually I just pile the vines and burn or throw a bunch of extra dirt on them and let them compost. By the time I'm done, everything is pretty clean and just needs a little hand work.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #7  
You guys in the NW kill me. I am thinking of planting blackberries....you guys are ripping them out. I have a BIL who lives in Oregon. When my wife went to visit him....she went crazy picking blackberries. She ended up making a ton of blackberry coblers for her brother's family. She said the local garden shops were selling blackberry killer. One man's junk... another man's treasure.
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #8  
I removed mountains of blackberries from a lot we own. They came out very easily with my toothbar. I just pushed them all into a pile in the center of the lot and burned them. During the process I did some light regrading, using the toothbar to get the roots up. After that I drug it with a log and section of wire link fence to smooth it up. I planted grass and the neighbor was so happy about it, he has been mowing the lawn ever since /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif.

Greg
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #9  
<font color="blue"> You guys in the NW kill me. I am thinking of planting blackberries </font>

Out here, they'll swallow your house before you can blink...are you sure you want to plant them... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
   / CUT to Remove Berry Bushes #10  
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