Blackberry Bushes

[ore540]

Forgive me if this is too long but it's a subject near to my heart. I've been playing with blackberries since we bought this place (about 45 miles from you) 12 years ago. Besides taking over the place, the stuff is a real fire hazard.

The previous owner used spray but didn't cut. Left 6-8' hedges of dead vines (wonderful tinder) with surviving & new vines protected and provided with a ready-made trellis of hard, dry old vines.

I tried hedge trimmers (gas & electric) and they could not do it. The vines would jam the blade. String for trimmers, even the heavy .105" (?) stuff, isn't tough enough for the big vines. A gas powered weedeater with a blade works well. A grass blade with 3 long blades works best and is easy to sharpen. I have a Husqvarna brushcutter handlebar unit with a harness and it seems like it will hold up pretty well. I wore out another over about 5 years. A lighter "homeowner" model lasted 2 years, barely.

For small areas the Husky works fine. Except around field fencing where a blade will cut the wire (and the wire will eat string). I use a machete for one 120' property line fence covered with vines (makes a handy place to pick too). For bigger areas the trimmer isn't so great. It takes a long time, you're wading through the debris (including poison oak, if that's a problem) which will reach out and grab you, and it leaves big pieces that you need to dispose of. But that was my method until I got the Kubota last year.

My plan now is to mow down the vines and, when our seasonal creek dries up this fall, spray the new shoots. I don't like to spray on a running creek. The berries had been ignored for three years and they'd really gotten out of hand. 4-6' high (and more) and mixed with bog willows. Couldn't just mow it with my BX24's 4' rear cutter because of the willows.

The method that works best for me is to just mow the berries if they're a couple of feet high. Higher that than, I back into them. Also back onto steeper hills. If it's too rough, tall, in the rocks or willows, I use the Markham toothbar on the loader and rake them out then turn around and mow. That toothbar really works! Mowing the vines and smaller willows leaves a mulch that I just leave on the ground. If the willows are too big I chainsaw them, drag them out of the tangle of berries with the tractor and chain. Now that I can mow the stuff regularly I figure that a twice-annual mowing around the edges will keep the berries back without having to do the saw and drag routine.

Here are a couple of pictures from getting started last Fall.
Picasa Web Albums - ore540 - BX and Blackb...

Of course the sane way is to hire someone who specializes in clearing berries - there are several in our area who have big front units with whirling chains that eat right through the berries, willows and anything else in their path. Then you could do maintenance with a regular rig. But sanity never justified a tractor

Good luck with it. At least you know that, come August, you'll have some tasty berries.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had some pretty bad blackberry problems too. I was able to mow them down with my bushhog and maintain them that way. Some are still alive after four years of mowing, but they are close to the ground and perfect for picking berries in the spring. Then the spring grass comes in and covers them up so that you can't hardly see them.

I'd use chemicals to kill them off and be done with them if you can't mow them on a regular basis.

Stihl is always gonna be one of your top name brands, but Echo is right up there too. The place that I bought my chainsaws and weed eater from sells both. He recomended Stihl for chainsaws, but Echo for the weedeater. I haven't looked into hedge trimmers, so it could go either way.

Eddie

 

[Bird]

I use a cheap Black & Decker electric hedge trimmer myself on the few shrubs we have; never tried it on blackberries, and I've only trimmed the cord twice. I have a Mantis tiller and have the aerator, edger, and dethatcher attachments, but they also make a couple of hedge trimmers that use the same engine. I haven't seen one, but I'd be inclined to think that would be a powerful machine.

Of course, I've used the metal blade on a Stihl to cut blackberry vines and I think that sales lady was right. It worked well when my brother and I worked together; one cutting with the Stihl and the other pulling the vines away with a rake, but to work alone, it wasn't very good.

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Up here with the spring rain and now the warm sumer our blackberries are growing like crazy. If the piles are large I back up to them with the tractor and brush hog and then drop it to grind them up. If you are next to a fence or something and they are established and woody I will use either a chainsaw with a long bar to cut them at there base or use the ECHO SRM24000 weedwacker that I have with a Beaver blade. The Beaver blade is a round laminated blade with a groove for chainsaw chain to be set in and is sharpened like a chainsaw but when it wears out you just put a new section of chain on and is very effective with woody brush as most cutting blades dull quickly and the thing will go through 3 inch trees. Once you get it cut back you will need to follow up every few months to keep the runners in check. If you have a huge problem and you do not have an easy way to get in there then you will have to spray. If you start in early early spring you can start with Roundup when the shoots are just starting but after it starts going to the woody stem you willl need to use CrossBow. The earlier in the season that you can start working on them then they will not hagve energy stored up because if you cut them back in late spring they can grow back quickly and it will amaze you the speed that they do. Had a neigbor down the road that burned his and they came back with a vengence and have now covered a old truck now. I found the best to alternate between cutting and then spraying what comes up afterwards the most cost effective way to go butyou might just have to do a heavy spray to get started.

Not sure what you have down there but our local Coastal Farm supply store has hedge trimming attachments on closeout that attach to the split-boom Echo weedwackers and they give you a lot more reach then a regular hedge trimmer, picked one up for our power prunner which is pretty much a chainsaw on the end of a stick and it works nice.

David Kb7uns

 

[ultrarunner]

If you start in early early spring you can start with Roundup when the shoots are just starting but after it starts going to the woody stem you willl need to use CrossBow.

David Kb7uns

Are you mixing CrossBow with water and what's the ideal ratio of ounces of CrossBow per gallon to get those pesky Blackberry bushes?

 

[EX3200]

I think you need to decide if you want an ongoing yearly battle, or if you want to eradicate them.

I recently tore out 1 acre of blackberries by just tearing them out with the loader/toothbar. Then, I box scraped it with the scarifies dropped down as deep as they'll go. I made a bunch of passes & then seeded with pasture mix.

After all that, I can see a ton of new blackberry sprouts coming up with my new grass.

 

[Cottonhawk]

We use CrossBow and very effective on the blackberries. The mix we use is 2 Oz to a gal of water. It works even better if you add some sticker.

 

[ultrarunner]

We use CrossBow and very effective on the blackberries. The mix we use is 2 Oz to a gal of water. It works even better if you add some sticker.

Thanks for the quick reply...

Do you ever add diesel to the mix?

 

[David_Kb7uns]

Using 2oz per gallon of water and in early spring will hit them with a good shot of Roundup to kill roots. Last 5 years have erradicated several acres of blackberries but you do have to keep up on them as they keep sending sprouts up but with regular mowing they get nipped off. Had some canes that were getting over an inch in diameter and some root balls over 6 inches across so they can get big here.

David Kb7uns

 

[Dave from GA & KY]

Interesting thread. Are blackberries different from the black raspberries we've got growing everywhere here on the east coast? If you've got a tractor, a sickle bar works good for whacking off raspberries next to a drive. But since noone has mentioned a sickle bar yet I'm thinking these blackberries are a tougher animal. If so, I don't envy y'all, the raspberries are enough of a nuisance when they take over!

Dave