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brambles

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Fingle....:
OK Yall
Got my lottie last weekend.
Got a mountain of Brambles to get through which cant be strimmed due to waste metal pipe in there too.

Any ideas for detroying it and more importantly...disposing of the remnants as they are very awkward ???

gavin:
Hi Fingle - congratulations on the new plot, and welcome!

Three years ago I'd to clear a large patch of brambles - and couldn't use the scythe cos of well-hidden metal fence posts.  I used the hedge shears - with gloves and a VERY thick coat!!!!!!!  

Not as bad as it sounds, in fact, cos you end up cutting the long spreads into much shorter lengths - easier to move into piles to burn later.

<edit>Forgot the important bit - digging out the roots is a pig of a job.  My patch wasn't big enough to justify hiring a rotovator - so I don't know if that does th job, and apart from that can only think of chemical alternatives - which I don't use.  Digging does work though - depends how big the area you have to clear is.</edit>

All best - Gavin ---------------- and good luck!  Anyway, the first clearing's the hard bit; you'll be sitting in a deck chair, with a flask of tea (?), enjoying the sight of somebody else doing the same next season!

mysticmog:
Brambles, something I know v much about (unlike gardening generally).

They are b*stards, but the best thing to do is:

Cut them down to 6 inches above ground
Drag long brambly bit out from wherever it got tangled into
Bundle it up, starting from one end (wearing v v thick gloves) until it's a coil (watch the free end, can get caught in trousers, sleeves, other peoples ears) and put on a big bramble pile
Put on bonfire and shriek with delight as popping hissing noises ensue
Dig around the roots, about 1/2 ft from the base, as deep as you can go
Keep loosening soil until you can see the roots
Give it a tug, if it doesnt come, keep digging deeper
Put on the roots (gently) - if they dont come away, dig some more

Most important thing is not to break the root if at all possible, cos they'll come back...AAARRRGGHHH..

It's quite satisfying, especially if you get roots of interesting shapes - I've had them looking like babies heads, one shaped almost exactly like australia ( ;D) and one that looked just like a, well a thingy!! (getting as bad as EJ).

Alternatively BURN THEM WITH A FLAME THROWER!!!

Only kidding - good luck, and do a bit at a time.  :)

Mrs Ava:
Yuck to brambles!  Why do all allotments come with brambles?!  Take care when hacking away at them, as Mystic says, they are bleeders for catching you and I have had long whips of them catch my face around my eyes! :'(  You really must try and get every scrap, the stems will root back in no time!  And they do burn so well!  ;D  The lady on the bed next to ours keeps the back of her patch thick with brambles so she can pick the fruit.  I have to hack them back as in no time they sweep across the path and catch my kids as they try to go past.

aquilegia:

--- Quote ---Alternatively BURN THEM WITH A FLAME THROWER!!!
--- End quote ---

Now that sounds like fun! I get loads of brambles poking through my fence from the wasteground beyond. I reckon I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and go round there and dig them up. Or maybe send hubby to do it! ;D

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