How to get rid of blackberries for good

  Despite the fact that blackberries are gradually gaining popularity among domestic gardeners as a valuable berry crop, for some garden owners, they can create serious problems. This is due to its ability to rapidly spread throughout the garden, forming numerous shoots. It is not an easy task to remove it if the gardener has decided to abandon the cultivation of this crop. This article will consider ways to remove unpretentious and viable blackberry bushes from the site. We will learn how to get rid of blackberries forever

What inventory is needed to get rid of blackberries forever

Since removing blackberries is not easy and often requires an integrated approach, a gardener may need a variety of tools for work. These include:

• simple tools like shovel, scythe, and pruner;
• electric tools - lawn mower, electric trimmer;
• synthetic nonwoven fabric;
• weed control chemicals.

How to get rid of blackberries for good?

The most common ways to get rid of blackberries permanently include the following methods:

• It is easier to prevent blackberry growth from growing than to subsequently deal with the ubiquitous bushes. For this purpose, the area with blackberry bushes cut off at the root (the height of the stumps should not exceed 5 cm) is covered with a thick layer of plant residues - pieces of tree bark, root trimmings, branches, sawdust, shavings. The heavier the coating, the higher the effectiveness of the procedure. For this reason, pebbles can be used as a weighting agent.
• The traditional way of removing unnecessary plants is to dig them up with a shovel. The disadvantage of this method is its laboriousness and routine, since extracting the root system of shrubs from the soil requires some effort and patience. It is important to remove the roots of the blackberry completely, without leaving shoots in the soil, otherwise all the work loses its meaning - next year the roots remaining in the soil will give new growth. To unravel the intertwined aerial shoots of blackberry bushes, so as not to lose their rooting place, you can use a pruner. The advantages of this process include an additional result of the procedure in the form of digging up a site. Thanks to this, other plants can be immediately planted in a place freed from blackberries - blackberry bushes do not impoverish the soil, it remains suitable for growing horticultural crops.
• The combined method of removing blackberries involves the simultaneous use of a mechanical method of removing bushes and the use of non-woven material (spunbond). To begin with, you should mow all the above-ground parts of the blackberry bushes, after which hemp with uneven tops remains on the soil surface. The next step is to remove them from the ground with a shovel. Finally, the area freed from blackberries is covered with spunbond to prevent the growth of young shoots in those places where the roots are still in the ground.
• Small blackberry plantings can be removed by simple mowing. The disadvantages of this method include the need to mow the shoots regularly throughout the season - at least once every 14 days.
• Another rather effective, but costly and time-consuming way of destroying blackberries on the site is fencing the beds and then removing blackberry thickets in a closed area. As a hedge, you can use pieces of slate or wooden plates - it is important that they are intact, without damage or cracks. They need to be dug into the ground perpendicular to its surface, deepening at least half a meter. The height of the ground part of the fence should be half or more of the height of the blackberry bushes themselves. The fenced area must be mowed and covered with a layer of non-woven material, trying to spread its fragments overlapping, leaving no open gaps.
• Another way to get rid of blackberries forever, associated with the use of herbicidal preparations, is effective. These include "Zenkor", "Prima", "Tornado".

Blackberry control depending on the species

Blackberries belong to the Pink family - this genus of plants includes about 200 varieties. On the territory of Russia, only a few of them are ubiquitous. So, wild bushy blackberry is distinguished by drooping stems covered with numerous thorns. The fruits, sour with sweetish notes, are colored in a blue-violet hue. You can display it in one of the above ways. The same can be said about another variety common in the wild - the glaucous blackberry. On its erect stems of medium thorniness, medium-sized berries, marked with gray spots, ripen during the fruiting period.

As for the popular blackberry varieties bred by breeders, their breeding may require additional efforts from the gardener. The format of the article does not allow listing all four dozen blackberry varieties, so only the most popular ones will be considered below.

• "Taylor" - a variety of remontant blackberries, known for a long time. Black cone-shaped fruits with sweet pulp ripen on both last year's and fresh shoots. The variety belongs to tall varieties of blackberries and is resistant to extreme cold. Removing its bushes involves two stages: mowing the above-ground shoots and then removing the root shoots from the soil.
• Agawam is another tall blackberry that is also known for its high yield, with aromatic and sweet black fruits appearing on the bushes during the fruiting period. Thick and strong shoots are covered with sharp, slightly curved thorns - it is recommended to cut them off with a secateurs, and dig out the root part with a shovel.
• Thornfree is an almost thornless blackberry variety with long creeping shoots. During fruiting, clusters of large, sour taste of berries, painted in dark tones, ripen on the shoots. Since this variety of blackberries is highly winter-hardy, the fruiting period lasts until the very frost. To remove the Thornfrey bushes from the garden area, it is necessary to leave the area without winter shelter in the fall, and after the snow melts next spring, mow fresh shoots and dig up the roots.
• "Abundant" - a blackberry, characterized by creeping creeping shoots, on which elongated, dark-colored berries of a sweet-sour taste ripen during the fruiting period. The variety is classified as late-ripening and high-yielding. Due to its low resistance to winter frost, there is a possibility that roots left without shelter for the winter will die as a result of frostbite.
• "Texas" is an American high-yielding blackberry known for the unusual appearance and taste of its berry-like fruit raspberries... "Texas" does not tend to grow very large, besides, it does not tolerate severe winters, so in many cases it is enough to leave the bushes without shelter.
• "Loganberry" is a hybrid blackberry-raspberry variety that does not have thorns.On shoots of medium height, numerous large fruits ripen in several stages throughout the fall. Since the variety is not resistant to winter cold, it is enough not to cover it for the winter for the root system of the bushes to freeze.

How to get rid of blackberries on the site forever - Tips from experienced gardeners

Gardeners who want to get rid of blackberries forever continue to improve their skills in dealing with this culture. For example, some gardeners prefer to use a pitchfork instead of a shovel when digging deeply buried roots of blackberry bushes.

It has been repeatedly noted that wild blackberries are most vulnerable to the effects of the Tornado herbicide. It is quite simple to use: blackberry bushes that have reached a height of about 15 cm must be sprayed with a chemical, choosing a calm and dry day. The best time for this procedure is morning or evening.

Removing blackberries over a large area

The larger the area of ​​blackberry plantings, the more difficult it is to remove blackberry bushes forever - you have to resort simultaneously to several methods of dealing with this tenacious crop. So, the first stage is reserved for traditional mechanical methods of removing overgrowth - mowing, cutting off the overground parts of the bushes with a pruner. The permissible height of the stumps remaining after mowing is no more than 15 cm. After manually removing the blackberry bushes, use herbicides. The final stage of how to get rid of blackberries for good involves covering the area with non-woven material that will prevent fresh growth from forming. Since the chemicals do not work immediately - about 30 days, you should observe the area cleared of blackberries. Fresh growth will inevitably appear and try to get out from under the spunbond. Therefore, the creation of a fence (the method was described above) will prevent the spread of blackberry sprouts. If there is no opportunity to build a fence, the only way out is to manually cut off the pruning shears or chop off the newly grown shoots with a shovel. Finally, if all other methods did not give the desired effect, you will have to dig up the area, removing the remnants of the root system of blackberry bushes.

Choosing a way to get rid of blackberries forever depending on the season

Measures to combat blackberry thickets can be carried out at any time of the year. For the spring-summer period, one of the methods given above is suitable, or their complex application. As for winter time, there are a number of nuances that distinguish the process of dealing with blackberries in the cold months. First of all, it is necessary to find out the degree of frost resistance of a particular blackberry variety.

If the variety is winter-hardy, it is necessary to regularly clean the remnants of the bushes from snow, not allowing snowdrifts to cover them. Of course, it makes no sense to use spunbond or other nonwoven materials for shelter. Before winter, the above-ground parts of the bush are pruned so that the stumps peep out from under the snow cover. Regular cleaning of blackberry beds from snow will increase the chances of frostbite and further death of the plant root system. You can dig up the roots only in the case of a mild winter, when it is quite easy to extract them from the ground.

As for varieties of blackberries with a low degree of frost resistance, the technology for dealing with them differs significantly from the previous one. First you need to cut off the aerial parts of the blackberry bushes, leaving only the stumps of the thickest shoots. They need to be covered with spunbond or other synthetic covering material, tied tightly. Then a fence is built around the blackberry beds, as described above. In the spring, after the snow melts, you need to dig out the shoots fastened together with a shovel.

How to get rid of blackberries forever: video