Wild Blackberries

We recently moved to 14 acres outside Portland, Oregon. Most if the property is woodland, with about two acres cleared for gardens and the buildings. The yard, although with excellent "bones" has been neglected and my project is large, including cleaning the woods to make them healthy again.

I am tackling the cleared areas first, and have weeded and replanted most of the beds. Now I have to tackle the wild blackberries that line the entire property, included the 1/4 mile long driveway. Of course, I love to pick and eat the berries and don't want to (not do I think it would even be possible to) eliminate the bushes. I do need to clean them up and push them back. They are invading the yard and sending runners everywhere.

I know wild blackberries are common in our area and wonder how those of you who have been at this Northwest gardening thing awhile control the spread. The darned things are difficult enough, with their invasive habit, and when you combine that with their very effective thorns, I need some advice.

Thanks

Cut them at ground level, dig up the roots, and keep an eye on that area. They'll be back. :) keep cutting and digging until they are gone! I've heard of people mowing them with a riding mower too.

good luck!

Everything, Jburesh, says but when little shoots come back , hit em with brushkiller which is crossbow.And you might have to do that more than once too. It isn't impossible to get rid of them just be persistent.

I have come to the conclusion that the Wild Blackberry is the Northwest's Kudzu vine. I have been fighting them for 16 years on our property, and I swear there are more now than when we started. I am also sure they are "aware". I am sure one tried to grab my ankle when I passed it to climb my stairs. I looked at it and said I was going to get out the vinegar the next time that happened. So far the new growth has been going the other direction.
In all seriousness, getting rid of or even getting control of Wild Blackberries is a test of patience, of any gloves you decide to wear, and of your weed killer. I have found that pure white vinegar will cause new shoots to shrivel up at times. And Crossbow is supposed to stop them also. A nursery in your area may be able to recommend something that will work there. In the meantime, enjoy the blackberries-there are time the harvest is supurb! Dotti

Get a goat or many goats and tether them to the area you want to eliminate the bush. Really it works. Little pygmie goats are cute and easy to keep. They are friendly and lovable.

Everything everyone else said, plus cut them at just about ground level. Paint the stubs immediately with brushkiller. We've been on our property for almost 5 years and I still patrol the area pulling up new blackberry 'babies' every spring and summer. Our property was covered with them, and with other wild thorny berry vines. I love the berries, but there are plenty of places to pick them without it being in my yard.
Another approach which works well is to cut them at the ground and put down heavy cardboard, soaking it good with a garden hose. Then add about 6-8 inches of mulch, like shredded bark, on top of the cardboard. By the next year you should have nice soil and way fewer berries. Personally, with the really big vines that are resistant to dying, I cut them off, used a paintbrush with the brushkiller, then used the cardboard/mulch approach. This 'smother mulch' also works very well on english ivy, the other scrouge in out part of the world. good luck!

Soferdig is right. I used to tether our large goats out on a hill riddled with blackberries. But I spent alot of time disentangling legs from ropes instead of gardening. Pygmies are good at defoliating your cut down dahlias come November too. I think there is an outfit that has been used in W WA which hires out a herd of goats, complete with temporary fencing. They are farmed out to maintain power line right of ways etc. Might want to look them up since you have a big area. Here's an example of the goat way of clearing land.

http://www.dailycal.org/article.php?id=11590

That same hill was eventually bulldozed and what was choked by BBerries to an open lawn of only 30 ft, became an open swath of 60-100 ft. The dozer guy said once the grass seed established itself to just keep mowing any blackberries that sprung up; they would die eventually. Indeed they have and the hill remains open. I am constantly hacking back the peripheral blackberry vines that line the hillside however. Just one of life's little pains ( sometimes BIG pains if I drive by on the mower and don't notice a wicked stalk hanging in my path.)

Ditto on the fence, though. My sister used little pygmy goats to control her blackberries on her property. They were attacked and killed by something, don't know what. But it was very, very terrible and sad. So if you use goats and you live in the country, keep them safe.

Thanks for all you suggestions. I'll start by hacking and go from there. The problem, of course, is I want some of them because they taste so very good!

Many of them are on a steep hillside bordering our back lawn. That is no problem, once I move them out of the lawn I can, I hope, keep them controlled in that direction.

As I am clean and replant long neglected garden beds, however, I blackberries them springing up all over the place. Also, we have a 1/4 mile long blackberry edged driveway. Behind the blackberries are maple, Douglas fir and ash woodland, also heavily blackberried. A man from the Dept of Forestry is coming out next week to assess our woodland and help us find a way to make it healthy. I image he will address the black berries, as well.

So, thanks to all of you I know there is a battle raging against errant blackberries all over the Pacific Northwest. I will join the fray with my heavy gloves. I ordered some berry sleeves today, so perhaps I can manage to do battle with arms intact.

Goats will be the last resort, since I don't think they will get on very well with our dogs.

Thank again.

I have an acre and a half of these little ankle wrappers, and I think I will be battling them for the rest of my life. According to local lore, if you cut them and paint them with brush killer in fall, the kill is more successful. In spring and summer, I cut back to the last leaf, then spray with vinegar. Nothing has eradicated them, and I don't think it ever will. At least there are fewer than when we moved in. I'm just glad I don't have horsetails!

Or Japanese Knotweed- the bane of my existence here. Hardy, real hardy. A thousand goats brought out every year probably couldn't eat it or stomp the clumps enough to even bruise the crop. I would rather have blackberries- at least you can eat those!

Yes, we have our battles! If you ever get horsetail, I understand that increasing the Ph of the soil will kill them. They don't like alkaline soil.
those goats are so cute! My DH would love to have some. I tell him that we don't actually live in the country at all, so he'll have to be happy with our dogs.

It sounds like you are all talking about the Evergreen and/or Himalayan blackberries that get huge, nasty and invasive rather than the "Wild Blackberry" that is trailing, about the size of your little fingernail and the most delicious berry alive.(imho) The big ones are in deed very difficult to get rid of and any or all of the above methods would work. Good luck. They seem to be part of the NW heritage along with slugs.

My husband saw this post (he never reads this forum) and had a good suggestion for you. Buy some chickens. They seem to eat everything green. You would need about 30 an acre. Well if you had that many it would get taken care of real fast. They like to dig too so many of the roots would be get eaten as well.

Pigs are the best they root out everything. But there is the issue of the odor.

You got a lot of good advice here, and for whats its worth, here is MY two cents worth.

My Mother was an RN, and she used to bring home clean syringes and needles, (used for med injections into IV's and such). My dad would take them, put full strength black berry brush and weed killer, (crossbow or similar), and inject the stems with the full strength solution directly into the stems. He would then burn them.

As to containment, how about a CONTAINER?? lol. Really, though, you could in theory place them into a large container that they cannot get thru, hence the spread would be somewhat controlled.

Best of Luck,
Bluelytes

Thanks everyone. I've been working my way through the cleared areas cleaning garden spaces and re-planting, dreaming about more gardens, etc. As I work my way slowly through this very large project (it is SO much fun), I cut and tug volunteer blackberries - some very far removed from the "parent" plants. I don't mind them along the woodland edge of the cleared area, but they are not welcome in the middle of the lawns or in the gardens. Since we have five dogs (we raise and show them), I try to avoid poisons, so am, for now, using the cut, pull when I can, and spray with vinegar method. I'm burning a lot of blackberries right now.

Thanks for letting me know I am not alone in the battle.

Roni

We never have eliminated them, I'm not sure that's possible, since we border a wildspace. We don't want to use Crossbow because it is so deadly poison and Roundup just makes them yellow on the edges, doesn't even slow them down. But, we have reclaimed 80% of our property and kept them under control by RELIGIOUSLY cutting them back to the ground and pulling up as much of the runners as we can. Eventually, they give up or at least go somewhere else, it seems. But, I still love those berries!

Blackberry plants coming up in the lawn + dogs = thorns in paws and lots of yelping and possible infections. Careful.

The big ones that grow where you can mow can be subdued by constant mowing .....otherwise, follow which ever recommendation works for you ........and I agree - those wee tiny little wild blackberries, Rubus ursinus, are worth whatever it takes to get them to produce.

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=rubus%20ursinus&btnG=Google+Search&sa=N&tab=wi

My two cents on my blackberry method. Poison is too expensive. Machette and propane blow torch works just fine. Machette will help you release any pent up frustration and you'll develope shapely upperbody strength! The torch for the demonic satisfaction of burning your foe to ashes.

Slash and burn then walk away smiling.

Ooh, I like the blow-torch idea! And I KNOW my husband will love playing with fire! ; )

I'll bet you'll find that you do too! We play with that thing more than we do any of our other toys!

if you are going to buy crossbow, get it now, as I was told it was just delisted by the epa, and in the future you will need a chemical applicators license to buy it, it is the only thing that works well on blackberries and poison oak, I smash them down with the tractor then till up the roots then spray what comes back to minimize the amount of spray usage, we also have african haired sheep which love to eat brush and are'nt as unruly as goats Caleb

Where can one get the Rubus ursinus? Is that something you can buy or just have to get lucky to have growing wild?

Gwen

Gwen - I don't know that it IS available - it is just a natural gift in my world. The closest cultivated berry I know of is marionberry - they taste a lot like R. ursinus. Maybe other DGers can give you something specific to go on here.

Here's a fascinating link on these berries and their descendents.
http://www.oregon-berries.com/cx1/cx1a.htm

Katty, thats a great link. I always wondered where those big blackberries originated. They sure have taken over.

Yes, Katy - great link - thank you so much!!!!!

A few years ago, Ann Lovejoy wrote and talked about a natural product that was just hitting the market. A byproduct of the wine industry, it is applied to the soil and so significantly raises its acidity that it becomes inhospitible to any plant life. Once the desired clearing/death is accomplished, one needs only to add lime to the soil to correct the ph. Sorry, I don't have the name but perhaps a google search?

Herpst, that sound like a gift from the gods. Could it be used instead of Roundup maybe? I'm going to go Google!

The only problem with it is that all plant life in the application area dies so selective weed killing isn't possible.

Found it! Blackberry and Brush Block. I'm checking it out.

http://www.greenergyinc.com/press.html

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nwgardens/30887_lovejoy12.shtml

I had to laugh about using goats. We bought a few of them from a neighbor that claimed they will eat everything in sight including blackberries. Well, we tied them up in an area infested with them and the goats ate everything except the berries. We moved them over and over and they wouldn't touch the berries. After spending good money on expensive goat pellets, I returned the goats to my neighbor for a refund. She was ticked off and gave me back half my money. I gave her the goats and extra feed. That was ten years ago. She still hates me. The irony of this is my son bought the house next to her and she won't talk to him either. You should see her back yard. Completely overgrown with blackberries, grass, weeds, you name it. Major eyesore. Guess what lives there? You guessed. The magic goats! The story about goats eating berries was made up by goat sellers. I believe that.