Briar patch clearing help.

[dwhite]

Don't know if this post belongs here or in "attachments," but here is the deal:

I have just bought a 66 ac hilly farm that's been neglected. There are large patches of briars that I want to clear to get the fields ready for hay. There are cattle on it now. I used a 7' rotary cutter (borrowed) to knock down a lot of the patches. I'm wondering if they won't just grow back? A local farmer told me to make sure the soil is not acidic and I've sent off samples for analysis.

Any good ideas on clearing briars and keeping them out?

Thanks,
Duane

 

[woodlandfarms]

I am not sure what the east coast briar is but we use Crossbow with excellent results on the west coast for blackberry bushes.

Timing is critical, either the second you cut the plant, or early spring when the leaves are just budding, or the best is late fall when the plants are pulling the juices in and going dormant.

They say that it takes a number of years of this method before you are thorn free and Crossbow is expensive as all heck.

 

[EastTexFrank]

There's no easy way, that's for sure, but mowing and spraying has been the only way that's worked for me. As the previous poster stated, Crossbow is good, Remedy will probably work and is slightly cheaper and I have used just 2-4-D but needed to spray it a few times to take care of it.

 

[2manyrocks]

Seems like ours went away just by repeated cutting. Now the kudzu....

 

[greenmule]

Well there are kind of things people call briars,what kinda briars?

Around where you live there are several kinds,are you talking about multiflower rose bushes??

If so,about the only thing that will keep them down is mowing about once/twice a year. Spray might slow them down,but..

Birds eat the little berrys and spread them,roots are almost impossible to kill,unless you dig them out,and than you'll miss some.

Igot a patch so big and thick,no tractor with hog would work,you'd need a dozer and than it wouldn't be easy.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

Get you a herd of goats....

 

[greenmule]

I like them[where I got them],a goat would get stuck in this one patch I got.

 

[JohnDeere4300]

I like them[where I got them],a goat would get stuck in this one patch I got.

Then you need to put the goat down in the middle of the patch...and it will eat its way out

 

[greenmule]

I 've lived where multiflower roses growed most of my life,but didn't know till a few years ago how big they got,cut one down at ground where it was growing up a tree,it was about8-10 inches in dia.,mother of all those others I guess.

Wonder what kind of "briars" the man had?

 

[AndyMA]

Cutting them off without either spraying or removing the roots is absolutely useless. I rip them out with a set of rock forks roots and all. They barely come back if at all. I can rip them out as fast as I can drive into them.

Andy