Blackberries

[Gologit]

I have about a half mile of blackberries that border one side of my pasture. They make a good natural boundary but I need a way to keep them from taking over my whole ranch. Burning isn't an option.
What's a good herbicide to keep them in check?

 

[reachtreeservi]

Start a U-pick organic blackberry farm and let the yuppies keep'em back and you'll make a fortune on the side.

 

[Husky137]

Start a U-pick organic blackberry farm and let the yuppies keep'em back and you'll make a fortune on the side.

That's the ticket.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

I have about a half mile of blackberries that border one side of my pasture. They make a good natural boundary but I need a way to keep them from taking over my whole ranch. Burning isn't an option.
What's a good herbicide to keep them in check?

Right now is not much of an option.

For the least impact on soil and stuff, my first choice is Roundup. But the only time that would work is about 2 weeks before autum starts to set-in.

And the leaves couldn't be too dusty.

Other than that, there are a couple of herbicides you could use in spring.

One thing to beware of, is "brush killer" - a lot of those are sort of a soil sterilant. You may be better to go with something that works foliar / leaves only.

Can you wait a year, or is the encroachment severe?

 

[Gologit]

Right now is not much of an option.

For the least impact on soil and stuff, my first choice is Roundup. But the only time that would work is about 2 weeks before autum starts to set-in.

And the leaves couldn't be too dusty.

Other than that, there are a couple of herbicides you could use in spring.

One thing to beware of, is "brush killer" - a lot of those are sort of a soil sterilant. You may be better to go with something that works foliar / leaves only.

Can you wait a year, or is the encroachment severe?

I can wait...the encroachment is just slow and steady. Blackberries are insidious...turn your back on them and they'll take over the whole ranch.
I have a permit for full strength Roundup so maybe next year I'll give it a try. Either that or teach my cows to eat blackberry foliage. Thanks, Bob.

 

[MNTAINGAL23]

I can wait...the encroachment is just slow and steady. Blackberries are insidious...turn your back on them and they'll take over the whole ranch.
I have a permit for full strength Roundup so maybe next year I'll give it a try. Either that or teach my cows to eat blackberry foliage. Thanks, Bob.

Actually if you get a few goats and tie them up by the blackberry bushes with nothing else to eat, they will get rid of them for you.
They have been using goats in the parks here in Washington, it is low impact on the ground and surrounding plants, plus the goat pellets will fertilize for you too.

 

[Gologit]

Start a U-pick organic blackberry farm and let the yuppies keep'em back and you'll make a fortune on the side.

LOL...Can't do it. Yuppies are usually tree-huggers and if they found out I'm also a logger it might get real ugly around here. Nope...no yuppies.
Besides, the cows munch on the berries and the birds love 'em, too. Not to mention blackberry pies and fresh blackberries on home made vanilla icecream.
It's just the damn foliage and vines that have to be kept trimmed back before the take over the whole place.

 

[Gologit]

Actually if you get a few goats and tie them up by the blackberry bushes with nothing else to eat, they will get rid of them for you.
They have been using goats in the parks here in Washington, it is low impact on the ground and surrounding plants, plus the goat pellets will fertilize for you too.

NO GOATS !!!! I had some for awhile and it was a total disaster. I had one that wouldn't stay home so I tied it to a truck tire with a piece of 1/2 inch cable. Got a call the next morning from the neighbor five miles away that the goat was dragging the truck tire down the middle of the county road.
Thanks for the kind advice but I'll just stick with my cows.

 

[MNTAINGAL23]

Yeah I guess goats can be pretty stubborn. ILMAO reading about yours.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

All I know is that if you have the time, zap with Roundup while leave are green but getting ready to go dormant at late summer.

Roundup does not like dirt, so its light on "footprint" to the environment.

If the vines sit and die, in half a year to a year, they turn brittle. You can take a strong broom stick and swing, and they will shatter into oblivion.

Tougher than heck when green, but super brittle when dead, dry and weathered.

Used to do ours that way on some property, at University campus and golf course side borders, etc..

 

[greengoblin]

How careful would a guy want to be with roundup around a food source? Seems like the kind of thing you would want to be extremely careful with. Even in the fall, isnt there a possibility of residual effects of the spray the next spring with the plants that got just enough not to kill it. :monkey:

 

[smokechase II]

huggers

Put up a sign that you're about to KILL these blackberries.

Double Dawg dare you to see if you can get any blackberry huggers.

 

[Themadd1]

Just rent a brush hog, I am sure there is a farmer around that has one. They can mow down a field in a day. You gots to pay to play.

 

[Gologit]

Put up a sign that you're about to KILL these blackberries.

Double Dawg dare you to see if you can get any blackberry huggers.

That might be fun! For me, anyway.

 

[Gologit]

All I know is that if you have the time, zap with Roundup while leave are green but getting ready to go dormant at late summer.

Roundup does not like dirt, so its light on "footprint" to the environment.

If the vines sit and die, in half a year to a year, they turn brittle. You can take a strong broom stick and swing, and they will shatter into oblivion.

Tougher than heck when green, but super brittle when dead, dry and weathered.

Used to do ours that way on some property, at University campus and golf course side borders, etc..

Sounds like a good plan. Next fall we'll start the Haphazard Plantation Blackberry Massacre. Thanks for all the good advice.

 

[Gologit]

Just rent a brush hog, I am sure there is a farmer around that has one. They can mow down a field in a day. You gots to pay to play.

I own a brush hog, also a flail mower. I've tried both and, while they do a fine job of wacking out the above ground stuff, they don't kill off the runners and below ground growth. I mowed two years in a row. The results were a healthier and denser stand of foliage than ever before.
I think I'll go with MD Vaden's idea about Roundup.
As far as having to "pay to play"...I've had this place for over twenty-five years. I'm familiar with the concept. Once in a great while we even make a little profit.

 

[champoeg]

Crossbow works well. It doesn't kill the grass like Roundup, so the grass will fill back in.

One application will do when the leaves start to turn dark green (in July here). Brush hog the brown stems or leave them to rot in two years or less.

Avoid drift by controlling droplet size and taking advantage of calm mornings.

 

[trimmmed]

Bob, I wish you luck on the round up treatment. Did you say a half mile of those berry bushes?? Yikes!

Anyway, round up would just give the rasberrys here a bad attitude, well the above ground parts anyway as the roots, would be outright laughing

If you cut them flat, then raked out the roots with the bucket teeth on a backhoe, then sprayed round up later on any sprouts, you would be knocking them back some, at least gaining control and you'd only miss berries for one season, lol.

 

[Mkarlson]

Roundup is a reconmendation given by most people mostly be cause its a broad non selective herbicide that works decently on most anything with a green leaf. If "footprint" is a big issue then I would stay away from non-selective herbicides such as roundup....nothing like killing all green vegetation in an area to leaving a big "footprint". 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) in my opinion would be a much better choice. Its not restricted use, not a brush killer (ground sterilizer), is selective by only targeting broadleaves and woody plants(wont kill ghrass), and it cost less. In my area 2,4-d can be bought for about half the price of roundup....or about the same price as generic roundups (glyphosate).

I'm not in anyway saying I dont like roundup its a great product. I spray couple thousand gallons of it a year. Well roundup and its generic alternatives.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

Remember that blackberries grow by above ground runners, so the plants are often connected. If you spray one, you might kill several.