I am responsible for maintaining a 6' X 20' section between my back fence & a drainage ditch behind my house. Each year it is overrun by very aggressive wild blackberry brambles. Is there anything I can spray/put down back there to kill this nuisance vegatation? I can't keep up with it!! The area is very steep so it's hard to even get back there to "work" the space.

 

Aggressive wild blackberry thickets! An accurate description. Oh, the many memories of getting tangled in them while picking blackberries for my mother.

Blackberries grown in the wild tend to naturally be out of control. Blackberries grown in the landscape or garden can quickly grow out of control if not properly maintained.

If you have a friend with a small bushhog, you can make waste of the brambles in no time. Otherwise, you will have to tear into them with a weedeater with sawblade attachment or other mechanical means. Once cut down, apply herbicide like brushkiller. Repeat applications will be necessary as new shoots appear. With persistence and consistency, the patch can be eradicated. If you live where you can burn, burning is effective, but followups with herbicide is necessary. Persistent mowing to keep shoots from developing and photosynthesizing will eventually kill out the brambles. A combination of mechanical removal and herbicides should eventually guarantee success.

 

Since this area borders a drainage ditch, chemicals probably aren't a good idea. Digging and goat grazing are also good ways to get rid of unwanted blackberries.
http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/b...ckberries.html

You can also use a weed wrench.
http://www.weedwrench.com/index.htm

The honeysuckle popper also works well and the USDA uses it.
http://www.misterhoneysuckle.com/

Newt

 

Good link, thanks! I'm going to order my "popper" today

Connie

 

Popper looks interesting, but it has depth limitations. Too, when removing plants that spread with rhizomes, lifting the mother plant leaves rhizomes in soil. Cutting seems to stimulate them, and they produce offshoots with a vengence.

With care, herbicides can be used without ill effects on environment or nearby drainage ditch. They now have foaming weed and brush killers. With these you tend not to have to worry about overspray. The foam is applied directly to the offense plant. Ortho and others have the foaming herbicides.

 

Glyphosate (Roundup) should work well. You can cut down the canes, then spray the regrowth, or just spray everything when leafed out and remove the dead canes later. Best time to treat is probably in the fall before frost as the glyphosate will be more likely to translocate to the roots and kill them.

It will pretty well remove all vegetation, so after controlling the blackberries (wish I could grow them--wild or tame), you will want to plant grass or some other groundcover to keep other invasive weeds from moving in. Also, if there are more blackberries next to the area you have to care for, they will tend to spread back in so you will have to treat them as they appear.

 

The best time to use this type of herbicide is when the plant is in active growth so the herbicide will be moved through the plant to the roots. In fall many plants are slowing down and going into dormancy. So if you use in fall, try and do it early in the season.

Newt