Failed Project - Homemade Blackberry Rake

[woodlandfarms]

I have a huge blackberry issue, along with surprise ravines and major chuck holes hidden in my blackberries... I am trying to find the property without dumping my PT into a pit....

I found with my mower a piece off a spring harrow. Wanting to practice my welding skills I decided to build a device to reach up high into trees as well as over edges of ravines and pull out / level my blackberries and such...

Basically pipe, some angle iron, and a bit of plate and some bolts... I attached the boom attachment to the backhoe (I had been using just the backhoe to test the ground ahead before). Figured I could use the reach to get into the trees and down the ravines.

Well, it worked... Kinda... Here is the failures... The harrows are a bad idea for landscape rakes. They really hold onto everything... Second, I am a terrible (novice) welder, finally, the blackberries are really heavy and pretty firm into the ground.

Basically, I got about 15 minutes of use before I broke it. Snapped a weld. I could build it stronger, but the Tines are the failing. I also need to make the mount ambidextorus to work on both the back hoe and out on the long boom...

Also it is a PITA to remove the bucket head and then put on the boom pole. I know I am soft from having a PT where every implement is no more than a 45 second change, but....

the resolution will be to look for some different tines and figure out a more universal mounting system...

 

[Onthesauk]

Interesting idea! I wonder if cutting about a foot off each tine might make it a little less aggressive and not hold on to everything quite as much, more of a raking effect? I've been mowing and cutting them back for 12 years now and still don't dare turn my back to them.

 

[SpringHollow]

Carl,

That's quite the reach. Almost makes me wish I had got the lifting boom attachment.

Do you have your rake welded to the boom or bolted?

Ken

 

[woodlandfarms]

Bolted, and on further inspection I bent the heck out of that. Will need to beef it up in future designs...

Also, yeah, the length is Way Cool. until you have to drive it around. Trying to get in and out of trees... Heck, trying to get it out of the carport... But, it is cool to be 15 feet out ahead of your tires..

I just went out with the PT and backhoe... Found myself staring at some sort of man made pit... Glad for technique, wish this arm method would work.

Those tines would be a bugger to cut without a torch. I am going to just go buy some... Can't be that expensive...

 

[rural2]

You folks probably already know this... Crossbow is extremely effective on Himalayan Blackberry, roots and all. Maybe not as fun as as destroying them w/a tractor, but effective. Desirable plants grow well in treated areas also. Must be residual nitrogen from the dead blackberries???

 

[hill]

Yep, Crossbow works good but you've got to be able to apply it at the root. The vines root as they grow so one beginning will eventually result in multiple interconnected plants that shoot vines like crazy into a nearly impassable barrier. That big wall of berry vines has to be gotten out of the way before crossbow can be applied for affect..

 

[SkunkWerX]

Wow!

What you need is a hydraulic line all the way out to the end, with a big pair of "Snippers" powered by a cylinder, actuated by a valve.

Maybe ditch the ctines, and go with a 2 foot piece of flat bar stock, ground sharp, and pull it back toward you, keeping it close to the ground?

Really looks like a job for a rotary cutter, or something that is powered-up to slice.

 

[SkunkWerX]

Oooops, actually I just had another thought.

A "V" shaped steel attachment, that is sharpened on the inside angle of the "V".

Something that could be placed just beyond the base of the bush, pulled backward so that it catches the bush near the base, and allows you to pull the bush out by the roots. The baclkberry bushes branch out, so, the "V" should catch no higher up than where the bush branches out?

Just thinking out loud.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Yeah, I am a huge crossbow fan... That said, after last years expereince where I basically was only able to spray 10 feet or so into the blackberries, I elected to groom them down, then apply crossbow and a weed control... Using a tractor sprayer... You have to understand, the blackberries can be 10 to 20 feet tall. go out and look at a tree in your yard and that is how hight these bad boys are. If I were to spray just that plant it would take me a year to go 5 feet...

As for Skunkwerks Idea... Yup.. I have this dream of a spinning headed something that would cut and mulch this stuff up and also allow me to mash up my alders... Problem is I have only 1200lbs of lift.... And I also have a wife who has cut me off financially so all projects are in the $50 range unless the $500 worth of crossbow counts...

 

[California]

That big wall of berry vines has to be gotten out of the way ...

I used the loader bucket skimming the ground to snag the canes. They are so many and so strong that this would stop the tractor. Then lift the bucket to yank the clusters out, hopefully including roots, and later shred the debris with the rotary mower.

Here I had to use pruners to clear some personal space. I started a tunnel along a terrace but got thorny stems wrapped around my head as I backed out. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...e-after-746903-dscn4593rtractorinbrambles.jpg

The permanent roots are so deep that discing won't reach them. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...fore-after-746540-img_5898rblackberryroot.jpg

In this orchard, Himalayan Blackberries were fought with nasty herbicides plus discing for nearly a century. Down in back where it's too steep to disc downhill, the blackberries are winning along the face of each terrace and those rows are no longer harvested.

I tried grubbing them out scraping the surface with the loader (2004 photo) http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...08683-more-blackberries-743361-img_5842r1.jpg but the vines are winning and all we can do there is pick berries. Same terrace, 2007:

 

[woodlandfarms]

California. Your nightmare looks like my nightmare. The only thing I have going on is that the previous owner was notorious for digging random and very deep holes. We have had a few booboos so far, none with anything getting stuck or such.

My plan right now is to rake back with either a rake or the gapple, then mow to chop it up. Let it grow up a bit and get it with Crosbow next month..

Rinse and repeat for the next 5 years or so ;-)

 

[ore540]

I have a huge blackberry issue, along with surprise ravines and major chuck holes hidden in my blackberries... I am trying to find the property without dumping my PT into a pit....

You gets lots of points for having built something so cool looking.
I just bought a Kubota BX24 and one of its jobs will be attacking our 10' blackberries. It should work but will never look like yours.

An idea - the guys you hire around here to get the blackberries use a toothbar on the loader to rake them out and search the ground. Then they turn the tractor around and mow the vines. Once they're down they can be sprayed or just mowed regularly. If you replace your springs with some straight teeth you should be able to get the vines without getting tangled so easily.

Best of luck.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Toothbar and Grapple are on my system... My first technique was to raise and lower the mower. That met with some honest responses about safety. So I went to the grapple but it had limited reach. Went to the backhoe, it is pretty narrow and the work time is longer...

The rake is also to try and get into some ravines. I can take the bucket to the edge of a ravine, but I still have a wall of blackberries... at least out for another 6 feet or so...

Well, wife will consider my purchase of some more beefy angle iron and landscape rake tines ( Heavy duty $5.99 each). Problem is I have to go back to LA so this is going to have to wait...

Carl

 

[rural2]

I understand completely. Himalayan Blackberries are a problem here as well. They are designated as a "B" class noxious weed. Their control qualifies for a local cost share program ($60.00 per 2.5 gl. Crossbow, $34.00 per Honcho Plus). Not sure why treatment is not effective in WA. I followed application guidelines provided by Dow Agrosciences through the cost share program. Apx. 1.5 acres of interspersed, dense berry vines are now history, roots and all. Had to stand on the seat of my ATV in order to get the spray wand above the darn things more than once... Had light to moderate collateral damage on desirable vegitation from overspray, however that's the way it goes. Took a lot of time intitially, but a person could not even tell the berries were there two years ago.
We have something around here worse than berries. "GORSE" People around here w/gorse problems wish they had Himalayan Blackberry problems...
Good luck to you folks.

Yeah, I am a huge crossbow fan... That said, after last years expereince where I basically was only able to spray 10 feet or so into the blackberries, I elected to groom them down, then apply crossbow and a weed control... Using a tractor sprayer... You have to understand, the blackberries can be 10 to 20 feet tall. go out and look at a tree in your yard and that is how hight these bad boys are. If I were to spray just that plant it would take me a year to go 5 feet...

As for Skunkwerks Idea... Yup.. I have this dream of a spinning headed something that would cut and mulch this stuff up and also allow me to mash up my alders... Problem is I have only 1200lbs of lift.... And I also have a wife who has cut me off financially so all projects are in the $50 range unless the $500 worth of crossbow counts...

 

[woodlandfarms]

WOW Crossbow for $60.. I am MOVING...

Crossbow works well up here but my applicator is/was junk (backpack sprayer). Trying to convince the wife to let me get a 60 gallon sprayer...

Carl

 

[sandman2234]

I think my Ford 7710 would be a good remedy for the blackberries, but transporting it out there might run a little bit more than your $50 budget. With the ability to shred trees and a reach of 25' in any direction behind the tractor I think it would be a good candidate anyway. Best way to do it would be clear an arc of 25' and then move the tractor closer because dropping this thing into areas of "unknown" might be costly due to it's weight and what it would cost to get it out. However being fwa, it isn't known for getting stuck. Sure wish the problem with the berries was closer, as I could stand a little work for it.
David from jax

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v177/sandman2234/tractors/MVC-004F-1.jpg


The old post about the tractor
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...ave-clue-ford-7710-a.html?highlight=David+jax

 

[California]

I think my Ford 7710 would be a good remedy for the blackberries

Man that's what I need. No telling what's out there!!

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...0415-yanmar-1700-arrived-438299-dscn4646r.jpg

 

[woodlandfarms]

Wow Oh Wow do I want one... PT has a nice boom brush hog but I could not swing the coin... Ohhh Well...

Carl

 

[sandman2234]

All kidding aside, I think as good as the PT is, a boom mower wouldn't be that hard to build. I thought about it before buying the 7710. I really didn't need the boom mower, only wanted FWA because I was tired of getting the JD stuck. The boom mower is just a bonus. I recently removed the heavy duty flail mower and added a 42" bucket so I could load the dump trailer that two of us built to haul some dirt from my church to my house. They wanted rid of it and I needed the dirt, so we struck a bargain.
Some of the guys that have built boom mowers have had great ideas and you might be able to use some of those ideas to build a reasonably inexpensive boom mower. The ability to weld and fabricate will come into play, but even that can be farmed out if you don't have a friend with a welder. I liked the one where he used a lawn mower on the end of a boom to chew things up. Might take a heavy duty push mower to tackle those blackberrys but seems like chewing them up works better than most other ideas.
Good luck with it,
David from jax

 

[JohninCT]

So if a Power Trac knuckle boom is out of the question... maybe what you could do is build something similar. Get yourself a hydraulic motor and attach a large circular saw blade and mount it on your boom. If you made the bracket for the cutter head able to turn, then the blade could be used vertical or horizontal depending on your situation.

I made something similar a few years ago to attach to my backhoe using a cutter blade and hyd motor purchased from Power Trac.