I don't believe in herbicides, they kill far more life than those intended. So, confronted with a backyard threatened to be comsumed, and deciding to limit the destruction. I bought and borrowed some good cutting instruments, both long reaching and shorter, sharp shovel, heavy duty gloves, old tough jeans & high boots. These last items limit the damage to you, as the bushes want a taste of you (defense on the plants part).
In some parts of the country wild blackberries can be very invasive, and difficult to get rid of without chemicals. This is a page about removing blackberries without herbicides.
The key to chemical-free success in destroying blackberries will come with persistence. Without leaves to produce food for the roots, they will eventually starve and die.
This is a page about making homemade blackberry pulling gloves. Removing blackberry plants manually can leave you with lots of thorns in your hands unless you protect them well.
Does anyone know how to kill off wild blackberry vines? I'm getting overrun. This bush is growing out of a tree stump that we can't get to.
When the young blackberries begin to grow up out of the 10 inch wood chip mulch, how do I till it without disturbing the mulch pile? Do I need to just redo the whole thing every time I spot some green?
Hello!
Blackberries are pruned in the winter by cutting to the ground all the branches that have born fruits and keeping only 5 or 6 new branches. These new branches should be pruned to less than 2 meters (the longest the branches will grow the less fruits they will bear). These new branches are the sprouts you are talking about. Let them grow to a lenght that will help you select the 5 or 6 strongest. Cut the weakest ones to the ground.This sprouts will the new branches for the next season.
I just moved into my property and the back garden is full of blackberry bushes. How can I kill the roots permanently?
By Annette from the UK
I moved to north east Scotland in 2010 and have spent the last two years trying to get all the blackberry canes out of my front garden where I don't want any kind of berries growing. I love brambles and have a patch in the back garden, but the front is for kerb appeal! So the minute I see a cane waving at me, I trace it to the ground and dig it out trying very hard to get every last bit of root.
I'm an American expat so I am still learning about gardening here in the UK, but I'm sure there is an herbicide I could spray to kill off the lot. However, there are other plants in that spot that I do want to encourage, so I hand dig the canes.
You might try asking at one of the garden centres what they recommend for killing off a large growth. Otherwise, the only way to get rid of this is by hand digging, and then staying on it every time you see a new cane. (Handy hint-wear stout gloves!)
It will take you a while to hand dig them all out, and even then you'll have to be vigilant because the birds will bring you pressies, lol, and you'll find you have volunteers of all sorts of thing:) Too bad they won't drop me off any raspberries, darn it-I had to buy those to plant in the back garden!
I live in the Pacific Northwest where blackberry bushes can be a real pain to get rid of. I just moved into a house that had a backyard full of them.
My husband found this blackberry root, growing a new plant, up through a chunk of bark. The Himalayan blackberries are extremely invasive here and can literally grow anywhere!
For 10 years, I have been fighting off wild blackberry vines in my front yard. I've dug them up, going 8 inches down on the roots and I've salted the soil. I've tried gallons and gallons of vinegar. I have cut the vines down weekly, but they spring up faster than I can cut. They have horrible thorns and choke out anything we try to plant there. They have only flowered once, otherwise I wouldn't know what they were. I need to get rid of these! Suggestions?
By Natalie
Go to the nearest feed store and tell them what you have. They will have what those of us who farm use for pasture use. It works well. I forget the name of it, sorry. Its one you mix up.
Most of the posts I've read for killing wild blackberry vines were from folks in the NW part of the country. My problem is I live in NW Florida and these things aren't working. I've tried some of the products from DIY stores and some of the ways that were posted on line. I loved the homemade ideas as I have 4 dogs.
And yet, still they grow!By Keli
I live in the Central Midwest and I use this to kill poison ivy and oak, which is terribly invasive. Mix 1 gallon of white vinegar, 1 cup of cheap salt and 2 cups of Dawn dish soap and spray using a garden sprayer. You might have to cut the vines so the mixture will soak into the stem. But I have found with oak and ivy vines that are hundreds of years old getting the leaves covered will usually do the trick. You will have to reapply several times but it better than chemicals. The soap will make the mixture cling to the plant and the vinegar will burn it and the salt will dry it out. GOOD LUCK!
Who sells vinegar/salt killer?
By Elaine
You can mix your own vinegar/salt weed killer. Mix one gallon of white vinegar with one cup of salt and two tablespoons of liquid dish detergent. Shake/stir well, to dissolve the salt. Spray this on the plant/plants that you want to kill. It works best when the temperature is quite warm. Don't get the mixture on plants, that you don't want to kill! Buy the cheapest vinegar that you can find too!