Hello, a few years ago I planted a hedge which included blackthorn, I think prunus spinosa is its botanical name. Our cottage backs onto a railway, the embankment is now full of blackthorn, and it comes up all over the garden, an amazing distance from the original hedge. Has any one any tips for controlling this?
Cheers, Lynda
Blackthorn
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Geoff
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I think it grows from runners / suckers (I assume it is not seeding but when you say "amazing distance" I suppose it could be) so a possibility is a physical barrier. Dig a trench and line it with a couple of layers of heavy duty polythene. The ones that have already spread beyond where you want them would be best dug out, Roundup in the late Spring as they come into leaf might kill them if it is practical to use it.
Hi Lynda,
To find out if they are suckers or not you will have to dig down and see if the root pattern is a single plant or there is a tell tale sucker root.
I have the same problem from a Damson hedge that I rather foolishly planted a very long time ago. I also have an area covered by Blackthorn
which has formed a quite large thicket and this has fortunately grown out on the grass verge and is the responsibility of the local authority who come and slash it down occasionally but it always comes back even thicker. The suckers are not that deep and can be removed by digging up the furthest plant and keep digging back to the source.
As Geoff has said a wall of heavy duty black polythene held vertically will prevent further spreading of suckers. I have successfully done this because the suckers were coming up inside one of my Polytunnels
One other way to stop the Sloe stones being distributed is to pick them before the birds get at them and this would be in the green state. This is unless you use the Sloes for Sloe Gin! There's a thought!
JB.
To find out if they are suckers or not you will have to dig down and see if the root pattern is a single plant or there is a tell tale sucker root.
I have the same problem from a Damson hedge that I rather foolishly planted a very long time ago. I also have an area covered by Blackthorn
which has formed a quite large thicket and this has fortunately grown out on the grass verge and is the responsibility of the local authority who come and slash it down occasionally but it always comes back even thicker. The suckers are not that deep and can be removed by digging up the furthest plant and keep digging back to the source.
As Geoff has said a wall of heavy duty black polythene held vertically will prevent further spreading of suckers. I have successfully done this because the suckers were coming up inside one of my Polytunnels
One other way to stop the Sloe stones being distributed is to pick them before the birds get at them and this would be in the green state. This is unless you use the Sloes for Sloe Gin! There's a thought!
JB.