California
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,680
- Location
- An hour north of San Francisco
- Tractor
- Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
You sure you want to grow blackberries?
Photos: re-opening an old lane.
CUT to Remove Berry Bushes
- Thread starter BoneheadNW
- Start date
You sure you want to grow blackberries?
Photos: re-opening an old lane.
LarryD
Veteran Member
'das what I'm talkin' 'bout...I'll bet those are only a couple years old.
I actually did use goats a few years back to eliminate a proble similar to that, albiet not quite that tall. If you put wooden stakes around the perimeter at 2' centers and chain a tire to goats, they can't get out. The tire keeps the grass down and the goats love berry bushes. We had a white pigmy goat that had a purple mouth during berry season... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I actually did use goats a few years back to eliminate a proble similar to that, albiet not quite that tall. If you put wooden stakes around the perimeter at 2' centers and chain a tire to goats, they can't get out. The tire keeps the grass down and the goats love berry bushes. We had a white pigmy goat that had a purple mouth during berry season... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
OP
BoneheadNW
Gold Member
California- Those are awesome pictures! Hope you were wearing your vinyl suit with face protection. A friend of mine at my station taught me a trick in using an old set of bunker gear (firefighter turnout coat and pants) to walk right into thick berry brambles. It works but it can get quite warm!
Bonehead
Bonehead
California
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2004
- Messages
- 14,680
- Location
- An hour north of San Francisco
- Tractor
- Yanmar YM240 Yanmar YM186D
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( A friend of mine at my station taught me a trick in using an old set of bunker gear (firefighter turnout coat and pants) to walk right into thick berry brambles. -BoneheadNW)</font>
I could have used a coat like that. My protective gear was just a leather cowboy hat and my eyeglasses. My t-shirt got a couple of snags but I wasn't as scratched up as I expected. Mainly I avoided getting snagged by moving dead slow.
The second picture was after I shut off the tractor and used the hand pruners to clear some space so I could climb off. I had been pretty bound up when I stopped - moving forward was pulling canes down on me and backing up or lowering the bucket just made it worse.
I could have used a coat like that. My protective gear was just a leather cowboy hat and my eyeglasses. My t-shirt got a couple of snags but I wasn't as scratched up as I expected. Mainly I avoided getting snagged by moving dead slow.
The second picture was after I shut off the tractor and used the hand pruners to clear some space so I could climb off. I had been pretty bound up when I stopped - moving forward was pulling canes down on me and backing up or lowering the bucket just made it worse.
Riddler
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2004
- Messages
- 262
- Location
- Sonoma County, CA
- Tractor
- New Holland TN75VA, New Holland TC45DA, New Holland TC18
California, my place in west county has bushes like that. I'll concede that the flavor of the fruit in late summer is something special, but when they take over large portions of your property, it's time to go to war. I don't have pictures to share, but I too have charged into a few berry patches with the loader in full attack position. I would opt for a little more body armor than you though, especially if a poison oak vine or two might be lurking amidst all of the red-tinged blackberry foliage.
OffBalance
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
- Messages
- 60
- Location
- Snohomish, WA (N of Seattle)
- Tractor
- 2005 New Holland TC24DA
<font color="blue"> You guys in the NW kill me. I am thinking of planting blackberries....you guys are ripping them out. </font>
We don't just have "blackberries" in the NW. We have HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRIES. These are extremely invasive, non-native, and BIG. The canes get to be about as big around as my wrist, and 20 to 30 feet long. The thorns are up to a half inch long, and can pierce right through leather gloves. Sometimes they grow 20 or 30 feet up a tree, and then send down a curtain of vines that catch you as you are out mowing. If you park a vehicle or implement near the edge of the woods, it can be completely covered with vines in less than a season. The berries make OK pie or jam, but are best as jelly because they have a high seed/pulp ratio. Not as good as regular native blackberries.
I borrowed my grandpa's Kubota L345DT, and had great success attacking them with the FEL and a brush hog. Most of the patches that remain are on slopes too great for most CUTs, so I am using the brushcutter. It's a lot of work, even though I have a big Shindaiwa cutter with a 10" blade. And the stinging nettles hiding in the brush don't help either.
I recommend the FEL, a brush hog, and of course a chipper/shredder (not just a chipper) for getting rid of the remains. I have some neighbors who say the best is to cut them in the fall, and spray them at that time. I have other neighbors who had pretty good success by cutting, and then covering the ground with a tarp for a year.
Oh, and I spent a summer in South America, visiting the Amazon jungle, and there was NOTHING as dense and treachorous as blackberries in the NW!
We don't just have "blackberries" in the NW. We have HIMALAYAN BLACKBERRIES. These are extremely invasive, non-native, and BIG. The canes get to be about as big around as my wrist, and 20 to 30 feet long. The thorns are up to a half inch long, and can pierce right through leather gloves. Sometimes they grow 20 or 30 feet up a tree, and then send down a curtain of vines that catch you as you are out mowing. If you park a vehicle or implement near the edge of the woods, it can be completely covered with vines in less than a season. The berries make OK pie or jam, but are best as jelly because they have a high seed/pulp ratio. Not as good as regular native blackberries.
I borrowed my grandpa's Kubota L345DT, and had great success attacking them with the FEL and a brush hog. Most of the patches that remain are on slopes too great for most CUTs, so I am using the brushcutter. It's a lot of work, even though I have a big Shindaiwa cutter with a 10" blade. And the stinging nettles hiding in the brush don't help either.
I recommend the FEL, a brush hog, and of course a chipper/shredder (not just a chipper) for getting rid of the remains. I have some neighbors who say the best is to cut them in the fall, and spray them at that time. I have other neighbors who had pretty good success by cutting, and then covering the ground with a tarp for a year.
Oh, and I spent a summer in South America, visiting the Amazon jungle, and there was NOTHING as dense and treachorous as blackberries in the NW!
LarryD
Veteran Member
<font color="blue"> Most of the patches that remain are on slopes too great for most CUTs, so I am using the brushcutter. </font>
I am dead serious about the goat thing. and they could care less about slope. Some of the best "rock crawlers" around. You could probably find someone in the area that would be willing to pasture several goats at your place and it wouldn't be 1/10th the work to clear the brambles...just some temp fencing. I used them when I lived in Carnation and they did way better than me with a blade on a weed whacker.
PM me if you think this might work and I'd bet the lovely Mrs. could put in touch with a goat rancher...I think she got ours in Snohomish.
I am dead serious about the goat thing. and they could care less about slope. Some of the best "rock crawlers" around. You could probably find someone in the area that would be willing to pasture several goats at your place and it wouldn't be 1/10th the work to clear the brambles...just some temp fencing. I used them when I lived in Carnation and they did way better than me with a blade on a weed whacker.
PM me if you think this might work and I'd bet the lovely Mrs. could put in touch with a goat rancher...I think she got ours in Snohomish.
OffBalance
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2005
- Messages
- 60
- Location
- Snohomish, WA (N of Seattle)
- Tractor
- 2005 New Holland TC24DA
Hmmmm. Not sure we need more animals around - the big dog, two cats, two goldfish and pet chicken are about all the kids can handle right now! So, after the goats eat the berries, what do you feed them?
Highbeam
Super Member
So bonehead, do you live on Bainbridge Island? We used to run over there to buy the illegal fireworks and to catch the ferry. Maybe Mercer?
I know its not a tractor but I have had extremely good luck stomping blackberries with the bulldozer. Set the blade 3 inches off the ground and go forward. The pile is pretty small at the and after being compressed. This works unless the plantation is more than about 8 feet tall when the dozer just crawls under the plants. The same should work with a FEL provided you can get good enough traction.
Depending on your intended final use for the area, I say don't worry about the root system. After running an implement above the ground and cutting/tearing/piling up the bulk of the above ground stuff then you will only have the occasional spear shooting about 2 feet out of the ground and the "stumps". Mow the area with the brush hog and then disc it. Keep it under control from this point forward or it will come back. It will always come back if you let it. The birds eat the berries too and they will spread the seeds.
Salmonberry, devils club, pretty much all underbrush works the same way. The problem is when you run into a stump or find a car, house, boat, etc. within the plantation. A guy could make a lot of money on the side if he didn't mind clearing blackberries from lots.
Blackberries are nothing compared to a nice huckleberry pie. We have a dark blue huckleberry up here in WA that grows wild. It is like a blueberry but smaller and more powerful. Best of all it is an attractive evergreen plant.
I know its not a tractor but I have had extremely good luck stomping blackberries with the bulldozer. Set the blade 3 inches off the ground and go forward. The pile is pretty small at the and after being compressed. This works unless the plantation is more than about 8 feet tall when the dozer just crawls under the plants. The same should work with a FEL provided you can get good enough traction.
Depending on your intended final use for the area, I say don't worry about the root system. After running an implement above the ground and cutting/tearing/piling up the bulk of the above ground stuff then you will only have the occasional spear shooting about 2 feet out of the ground and the "stumps". Mow the area with the brush hog and then disc it. Keep it under control from this point forward or it will come back. It will always come back if you let it. The birds eat the berries too and they will spread the seeds.
Salmonberry, devils club, pretty much all underbrush works the same way. The problem is when you run into a stump or find a car, house, boat, etc. within the plantation. A guy could make a lot of money on the side if he didn't mind clearing blackberries from lots.
Blackberries are nothing compared to a nice huckleberry pie. We have a dark blue huckleberry up here in WA that grows wild. It is like a blueberry but smaller and more powerful. Best of all it is an attractive evergreen plant.
OP
BoneheadNW
Gold Member
Highbeam-
Yes we are on Bainbridge Island. I'm in the process of determining if I truely need a backhoe or weather a boxscraper would suffice. Other than the occasional planting of trees and disrupting of piles of hardened clay, I believe that the FEL and boxscrper could do it. That extra $6K for the backhoe and subframe really hurt!
Bonehead
Yes we are on Bainbridge Island. I'm in the process of determining if I truely need a backhoe or weather a boxscraper would suffice. Other than the occasional planting of trees and disrupting of piles of hardened clay, I believe that the FEL and boxscrper could do it. That extra $6K for the backhoe and subframe really hurt!
Bonehead