Prickly problem

[ken]

Brambles are one of our most persistent weed problems. For the most part we can cope by digging them out although there are some deep-rooted ones which seem to run, and can be a nightmare. However, we have two at the moment that are partiularly difficult to deal with - one in the middle of a mature berberis darwinii, and one in a big rose - I don't know what it's called, but it is the Kiftsgare type - huge! I can't dig these brables out, nor can I lay them flat to weed-kill. My proposed solution is to cut them off at ground level with loppers, and maybe check once a week with the idea of repeatedly cutting them back and weakening them until they give up. Does that sound feasible?

[macmac]

All I know is we had a bramble problem at the bottom of our garden, we turfed the lot .The nasty devils reared their heads several times but the mower got the better of them in the end So your idea of chopping them off regularly might work.As long as you don't go on holiday too often

[Compo]

Once it crops again, cut the bottom of a plastic bottle, place the bottle over the top of the shoots and blast with glysophate, leave the bottle over the shoots and repeat several times. You can also get glysophate gel sticks to gently brush the plant and get the weedkiller where u want it.

CoMpO

[Marken]

I think if you keep cutting back every new shoot, the plant will eventually get exhausted and die. However you need to keep vigilant as even a small shoot going un noticed will just strengthen the plant and encourage it into stronger growth again. Compo's suggestion with the plastic bottle sounds good and the glyphosate will be tackling the problem at the roots.

Either way will require more than one treatment to solve this thorny problem...

[ken]

Thanks, everyone. The glysophate tip sounds a good one, and I'll give it a try. It may be a case, though, where I can't get close eough to use plasti bottle and glysophate, but can reach the point where the stems emerge from the grund with long loppers. Just have to wait and see. Thanks again!

[Johnboy]

Hi Ken,
I have had the problem myself in the past and the way I eventually got rid of the Brambles was to very carefully expose the roots, generally by pulling hard or rubbing the soil away with my finger and the roots become slightly exposed. Snip these small white roots, but you will not be able to get them all, with something like long pointed kitchen scissors and the bramble generally doesn't recover.
It's a bit like micro surgery but very effective.
JB.

[ken]

Hi Johnboy
Very[u] interesting, but leaving me slightly puzzled. Sometimes when I dig up the stump of what looks like a dead bramble, there are white shoots coming away from the base, just below the soil surface. I take these to be new top growth shoots, not roots. Anyway, something else definitely worth trying.
All the best, Ken[/u]

[FelixLeiter]

I managed to get rid of all the brambles from a neighbour's garden last year just by digging them out, all in one go, in the winter when the leaves where off and I could comfortably wear stout clothing to get amongst the berberis.

Still and all, if you want to kill it chemically, glyphosate is not the best stuff for controlling anything woody like briar. Better for that is SBK, which is specifically formulated for controlling "brushwood", as they call it in the trade. You can kill briar by persistently cutting it, but you have to be very persistent, and cut it several times and cut it back hard, through a growing season otherwise it ends up being pruned, and grows with even greater vigour.