Hi All, I am new to this site and first of all I am wondering about a huge blackberry patch 20ft x 30ft that I currently cut down and pulled the roots up on. They were very thorny and I do not want them to come back EVER. I know that I have missed pulling some of the roots as they were large and some broke off when I tried to lever them out of the ground. I plan to do more planting where the blackberries were located and am considering rototilling the area thoughly and picking out as many of the blackberry roots as possible once the area dries out. I am assuming that I will have to deal with the blackberries coming back often if I do not find a good natural killer that will not harm the ground for organically growing vegetables etc. I hope that someone can help me with some good suggestions. Thanks, Alex R.
Good Luck! I am new to this site also. I was raised in Southern Calif. and now have lived in Southern Oregon for over 20 years. Blackberry brambles are everywhere. As far as I know they will always come back, just as most weeds. Please remember that using herbicides is not environmentally OK. These chemicals live in the ground, seep into wells and streams and take a very long time to break down. I am not a chemist, but I am a plant&tree loving liberal who believes we need to back to the basics of living. Each person can do a little and every little bit helps. starriepath Ashland, OR
Here in the Northwest they are quite a weed. Pulling as much as the crown/roots out as possible, then pulling everything that comes back while small works if you are patient. If it was a big thicket, there is likely years of viable seed there to germinate, but you can win if you stay diligent.
You're never really able to totally eradicate these blackberry bramble. I did all of what you did and routine applications of Round-up. Seeds are always going to germinate from bird dispersal and I pluck these small ones by hand.
Also see these threads: http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=11255 http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=2820 http://www.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/showthread.php?t=5378
Once you have hand pulled out and somewhat cleared out the vines the rest is a lot simpler to deal with. To prevent the berries from going to seed just mow down the vines whenever you see they are in flower. Don't give them a chance to reproduce. You should get warm enough in Paradise although your are a little higher up for elevation than Chico but if you can hold off growing the vegetables for a year then I'd cover the area with a clear polyethylene tarp and burn the vines out. We call this soil solarization and is effective for weed control. If that area gets lots of shade then what Douglas suggested for Morning Glory will apply here and that is use a thick black plastic tarp and not give the berry vines a chance to grow and photosynthesize, plus in warm weather with sunlight will also burn them out. There is no need for a brush killer once the heavy brush has been removed and most of the clumps pulled out. You've already done the hard part. Jim
I can attest to Jim's technique. But even if you do totally "eradicate" all of it from that one patch, you will still get new seedlings introduced from the neighbourhood. So, there is no substitute for constant vigilance, and pulling those things out as soon as you spy them.
