brambles

[shirley B]

can any-one tell me if there is a spray strong enough to kill off brambles, have cleared a plot by digging out (in my Garden) but young brambles keep coming from under a fence.  hopefully shirley b

[shirley B]

[Melbourne12]

If the area immediately under the fence is of no use for growing anything and doesn't contain plants that you want to keep, the easiest and cheapest and most permanent method is sodium chlorate.

It will kill brambles and keep them down for at least a year.  But be warned that nothing else will grow there either!

[MattD]

I'd use a systemic weedkiller like glyphosphate (roundup)

You need to wait until there are a few leaves on the shoots so it can be absorbed by the plant. Squirt it onto the leaves of the brambles (and nothing else unless you want it dead too) and then leave it - you may need several applications depending on how big the root system is.  If it looks like rain then cover the shoots with something like a plastic bag so the glyphosphate doesn't get washed off.

It will take a while (up to 6 or 8 weeks) but does eventually kill the whole plant including the root system and you don't have to go digging huge trenches to get the roots out.  The great thing is that for brambles, the root system may be on your neighbour's side and therefore this will eliminate that part too.  Just check you neighbour isn't growing some kind of prize blackberries.

Alternatively, keep chopping the shoots off and eventually it will die as long as there are no shoots growing healthily on the other side of the fence - this may take several years though.

Remember, they are only carbon based organisms, not some kind of alien lifeform - they can be killed off!!

[davyw1]

Try SWK  Soft Wood Killer

[shirley B]

thankyou you the kind folk who answered my post, melbourne, the sodium seems the best idea, but, i have rosemary growing next to the brambles, it's now a toss-up between the roundup (if it were blackberries i would keep them) or swk.  shirley b.

[saddad]

Amcide works well, and only puts it out of use for 6 months... think it's the ingredient in Brushwood killer...
:-\

[ceres]

Shirley B, brambles are blackberries.  As I've cleared my plot and dug the brambles out, i've kept some and potted them up to re-plant in a place where I can contain them because they give the most delicious blackberries.  If you are set on getting rid, take some cuttings of your rosemary.  It roots very easily.

[shirley B]

saddad and ceres  thanks for replies, ceres are there no brambles that are not blackberries, i only ask as the brambles that are in my garden have been there a few years with no sign of fruit.  shirley b

[saddad]

Brambles are to Blackberries as Vines are to Grapes...
;D

[ceres]

Have the brambles been cut back continously?  They fruit on the previous year's growth so if that's always being cut off to keep them under control, you'll not get fruit.  Have you ever seen them flowering?