At the mass killing of the rubus fruitcosus (aka: The Himalayan Blackberry).
I spent last weekend cutting a 30ft x 6ft path through 12-14ft high bastards to my back fence. This weekend I hope to use the big four stroke weedwhacker with the blade attachment, as well as my chainsaw, to clear the back fence line of them.
I don’t mean to bail on y’all but I’m on a mission now. I may emerge slightly scarred, but I will be victorious.
Now to find one of those “If you can read this you are within range” signs to hang on the soon to be installed gate to keep trespassers back.
Later, taters.
The only way the deal with that species is annihilation. Your 6 foot wide path will be gone by next year at best and probably in 3 months depending of water. You need to kill the root bulbs. That means digging them out of the ground or killing in place. I have done the manual technique like you but another way that I can not vouch for but sounds right is bleach. You take a wide bore needle and fill it with bleach then find a new shoot (still green and probably less than 3 months old) and get 5 or 10 cc’s in it. It goes down the shoot converting anything that it can find in to a salt and kills the root bulb.
Good lick
Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that said cleared ground is already sterilized. Rock salt, vinegar and dish soap. It will get re-sterilized every six months or so. Other than that, a pair of loppers will take care of the above ground triage.
I can’t eradicate completely as they are providing a natural “Stay Away” barrier for both line-of-sight and physical intrusions (razor wire has nothing on blackberry thickets).
We just want a path to make walking the dogs a bit more convenient. There are no sidewalks in the neighborhood, but the open space we bought with the property will work nicely once we access.
don’t they allow Crossbow up there?
After the manual removal, use Crossbow. It will keep the new shoots gone.
Or get goats. They will eat it ALL.