Blackberries, before and after

[have_blue]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Then you chop with the brush hog. If schmeared correctly you should be able to move forward at a pretty decent speed. I prefer to mow such that the clippings are ejected into the next row so that the chopping is complete. )</font>


I do the schmearing and cutting in 1 pass. I drop my FEL in the "float" position, curled slightly above level. Not as good as "back schmearing", but quicker.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Note that there is no pile of junk to deal with. No greenery, that is the ground level. Repeated mowings to the 4" height will keep this from ever coming back and grass should take over. )</font>

Well, you're quite proud of your smooth briar patch aren't you? Try walking in there barefooted mister. That'll change your tune. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[PBinWA]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( <font color="blue"> Beats the heck out of a machete don't you think? </font>

BTD (Before Tractor Day) I started with a machete. About 3 hours into the project I decided a good weed eater with a blade would work better. 3 hours after that I concluded the vines actually reached out to grab the machine (and me /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif) to stop my progress.
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I too attacked a large growing mountain of Black Berries BTD. I used my gas trimmer with a blade and while it took me forever. I remember cutting tunnels underneath them and cutting all the bases off. Then I would pull the big pile and roll it into a ball for burning. Once those pile dried out they burned so fast it was amazing. I finally won - sort of. I also aggravated my Carpal Tunnels so bad that I had to go and get them cut.

I've seen some front mounted cutters on Bobcats that do wonderful things to blackberries.

You have to use chemicals if you really want to stop them from coming back. There is no other way. You can control them with mowing but chemicals are going to do the best job.

 

[Farwell]

A while back a guy on Ebay was selling a sharp blade that fits under and a little bit in front of the front edge of the FEL. The blade could be mounted so you use the FEL in forward or reverse. Looked like a very good idea. The blade looked like a Highway Department snow plow blade that was shortened, had a sharp edge cut on it and mounted on brackets that bolted to the FEL. According to the guy, the blade runs about an inch or so under the ground shearing off the roots of brush, black berries and bramble.
Farwell

 

[Highbeam]

Sounds like a root plow. I've seen them for dozers.

"Well, you're quite proud of your smooth briar patch aren't you? Try walking in there barefooted mister. That'll change your tune."

Oh I know better than to walk in there barefoot. There is of course the stubble too but it is short and the vines minced. I walk through there just fine with shoes. The difference is that now I worry about the bottom of my feet where before I worried about my ears.

 

[Knute]

That's a familar scene, I did the same thing behind my garage (and along the driveway, and back in the woods and....)

Before cutting: http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2112/sort/1/cat/500/page/1
After about 10 minutes with the tractor: http://www.tractorbynet.com/photos/showphoto.php/photo/2113/sort/1/cat/500/page/1

Much better than using a machete or hedge trimmer!

John

 

[1bush2hog]

I feel your pain on the reclaimation process.

Increase your mowings to 3 or 4 per year, if you want to stay organic, or there is a good product out called Remedy that will kill the undesirables in grass pastures, but won't harm your grass. Round-up or 2-4-D can be used if you don't mind killing everything. Even with chemical use, you may have treat for several successive years to totally obliterate.

I'm using a combination due to the fact I have much tougher exotic invasives than blackberry, located on slopped areas where erosion and access is also a concern for me.

I'm leaving the blackberries for the black bears. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[EddieWalker]

Highbeam,

Thanks for the tip on using the FEL first. I haven't tried that aproach. I just hit them along the edge and either work my way in, or back in with the mower up and lower it onto the bushes. Neither method is very pleasant.

My fields that I've mowed down over the years still get blackberries every spring, but now they are only a foot tall at the most and loaded with berries that we pick in the spring.

After picking them clean, I mow them down again and keep them mowed until winter.

Somehow I doubt my native grass's will ever choke out the blackberries, but I'm not upset with the way things have worked out either.

Eddie

 

[Highbeam]

Something about the design of my mower makes it very fragile when backing into things so that approach doesn't work well. Plus I usually end up backing under the berries even with the mower raised all the way. Going along the edge works a little better for me but then the vines tangle in the wheels and the side of the tractor and me get scratched up.

I have been told that the grasses will outcompete the berries if they get a chance but I haven't actually done it so I suppose it is an experiment. Worst case is the berries come back and it would take a good year for them to turn into such a mess that I couldn't mow them as weeds at full speed. These areas will never be golf courses without a thorough cultivation process anyway so a few shoots aren't a problem.

 

[California]

re permanent blackbery eradication -

I was told by a Master Gardener that a flamethrower was more effective than Roundup because it kills the roots better.

Has anyone waited until the dead of winter then hit them with a flamethrower? Did did it accomplish anything?

 

[HammerFour]

Roundup is a kill everything chemical, but 2,4-d is a broadleaf weed herbicide. Roundup should work on the blackberries, but I am not sure 2,4-d would.