I had some blackberry bushes in my yard a number of years ago. I didn't do anything to them because I wanted the blackberries.
They all died.
They all died.
Gardens 2020
- Thread starter Robinjopo1
- Start date
Help Support Doomsday Prepper Forums:
DirtDiva
A True Doomsday Prepper
Another option I have used successfully is have you ever noticed where you put chickens it does not take them long to make the entire area devoid of vegetation. Put in a temporary chicken pen for a year. Raise you some meat chickens there. They will take care of the weeds.
DirtDiva
A True Doomsday Prepper
OldButtoni
God Like
DirtDiva said:
**Himalayan blackberries are a real problem in your area and very invasive. In the south we fight kudzu. Both are pretty invasive. I have read of good results on Himalayan blackberries with goats to eat the tops and hogs to root up the roots. But that is in a rural situation.
When I first bought my house I had to fight english ivy that someone thought would look nice running on the brick. It took years of digging, mulching, spraying and pulling. You just have to stay on top of it. There were also huge old quince bushes. I am to this day 6 years later still finding the stray sprout in my lawn. I just keep cutting the tops off and digging the roots out. I maintain that plants have to have sunshine for photosynthesis. If you chop them off enough and smother them enough they will eventually die. Some die quicker than others though.**
One of the many reasons I have never planted trumpet vine anywhere on our rural property. It grows wild along the county road to the place, but I have never tried to dig any of it up to transplant. Love the stuff for attracting hummingbirds, but it is very invasive, spreading by root runners.
Another plant I absolutely love is Ruellia (Mexican Petunias) but it, too, like bamboo and other invasives, will take over a pasture in no time flat. It sends out runners in just 1 month! images of Mexican Petunia at DuckDuckGo
**Himalayan blackberries are a real problem in your area and very invasive. In the south we fight kudzu. Both are pretty invasive. I have read of good results on Himalayan blackberries with goats to eat the tops and hogs to root up the roots. But that is in a rural situation.
When I first bought my house I had to fight english ivy that someone thought would look nice running on the brick. It took years of digging, mulching, spraying and pulling. You just have to stay on top of it. There were also huge old quince bushes. I am to this day 6 years later still finding the stray sprout in my lawn. I just keep cutting the tops off and digging the roots out. I maintain that plants have to have sunshine for photosynthesis. If you chop them off enough and smother them enough they will eventually die. Some die quicker than others though.**
One of the many reasons I have never planted trumpet vine anywhere on our rural property. It grows wild along the county road to the place, but I have never tried to dig any of it up to transplant. Love the stuff for attracting hummingbirds, but it is very invasive, spreading by root runners.
Another plant I absolutely love is Ruellia (Mexican Petunias) but it, too, like bamboo and other invasives, will take over a pasture in no time flat. It sends out runners in just 1 month! images of Mexican Petunia at DuckDuckGo
DirtDiva
A True Doomsday Prepper
The list is long of both native and non native invasive species in each and every state. I strive to plant native species as much as possible. Many people have bradford pear in the landscape here . Terribly invasive in our area. Privet is another. Burning bush is another in our area that is becoming a problem. I encourage people to do their homework before they buy landscaping bushes and trees even. They escape your lawns and gardens and become a problem in our forest and wild areas. They smother out native flora and the wildlife that depends on it. Most Extension offices have a list of invasive species for their states and is a great resource for getting the right plants.
As for me I always get lucky and end up buying property with something invasive on it. Then I spend years fixing other people's mistakes. Just comes with owning property I think!
As for me I always get lucky and end up buying property with something invasive on it. Then I spend years fixing other people's mistakes. Just comes with owning property I think!
Amish Heart
A True Doomsday Prepper
Am going through my seed boxes today and organizing. Moved from a desert climate to a good growing climate, so time to get organized for spring and lay out what I'll be growing. Have got the greenhouse already growing with lettuce, radish, spinach, rosemary, and mint and that is doing well. Town is a ways away just to go for salad stuff. Am also planning a larger greenhouse. Anyone on here have a rammed earth sided greenhouse?
Maverick
Top Poster
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2013
- Messages
- 10,652
- Reaction score
- 26,523
I like the idea of a earth sided greenhouse, I've looked at the design and pictures a few years back, they are very cool.
simpleman
God Like
So that is what is growing near my garden! I have wild blackberries about 15 feet away but didn't know these roots/vines/thorny hell things were blackberries! They don't come up anywhere near the garden, just the roots/vines. Well just dip me in a bucket of shiot and call me stinky! Learn something knew everyday! Thanks People!I have fought wild blackberries here in the city. Our realtor thought they were poison ivy, but I told here no, just wild blackberries. They are growing underneath my privet hedges out front but not all that bad really. From the reading I've done on them, most sources say to use both mechanical removal (digging up small younger shoots) and chemical application.
I can tell you from experience thus far, starving them from light does not kill them. The vines/stems will turn white from lack of light, but they will just keep on running out farther and farther, above or below ground, making new plants. So far I have reduced the quantity of vines out front by remaining watchful and persistent pulling/digging up of shoots as soon as they emerge from the dirt. A compounding problem for us is our house is pier-and-beam up off the ground 2', so the runners creep through the metal vents in the brick skirting and have gone under the house to our side yard! My tact so far is to just pull up by hand any new shoots that emerge into the side garden the minute I see one emerge. So far, that is working pretty well to keep them in check, though not totally eradicated. We can't (or perhaps I should say neither my husband nor I are WILLING to get in that crawl space) & deal with them there. So we'll just keep doing what we are doing.
My late brother had them real bad on his place in Tulalip, WA and used some sort of John Deere brush cutter to get the largest clumps of them under control, but again, he never totally eliminated them. They were kept in check enough you could at least walk the back yard in your bare feet.
If they run along the ground instead of growing upright, they are most likely dewberries, which are closely related to blackberries, but are not actually blackberries. In this part of the country we call dewberry plants "brambles" and we call blackberry plants "briars."
Dewberries are usually juicier than wild blackberries and fruit earlier in the year, I really like them.
TexasFreedom
A True Doomsday Prepper
The problem with dewberries is that you have to be a diabetic to pick them. Nobody else can tolerate the number of finger-pricks. They have a very sharp thorn at least every 1/4". At least the wild varieties down here. But they sure are tasty and make a super-duper pie.
Reminds me of Johnny Horton's song "Battle of New Orleans", LOL
Yeah they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico
simpleman
God Like
They run along the ground but I have never seen any berries on them, just thorns! Maybe I need to look closer instead of trying to pull/dig them up.
Brambles (Dewberries) will have thorns so thick the vine looks hairy. Some blackberries are trailing but the vine looks different with thorns more spread out. I believe in the UK they call blackberry thickets brambles. We call them briar patches.
Here is what a Dewberry vine looks like:
And this is a blackberry vine:
Here is what a Dewberry vine looks like:
And this is a blackberry vine:
Maverick
Top Poster
- Joined
- Mar 8, 2013
- Messages
- 10,652
- Reaction score
- 26,523
Young folks that haven't lived long here in Washington always confuse black raspberries for dewberries.
OldButtoni
God Like
Mine are definitely not dewberries. Leaves are narrow and pointy. We have a fair amount of them along our rural property access lane and our yard fence there, too. They bloom and produce tiny fruit, but I haven't picked or tried cooking a pie with them yet. But they are sweet when ripe.
I think we may go to the cabin toward the end of the month so we can use my the telescope there (his Christmas present last year) to watch the 'Star of Bethlehem' (Jupiter & Saturn) event in the night sky. May just stay there through Christmas..............maybe even on through my birthday (New year's Eve). We only get a few TV channels there (no cable) and no internet either, so checking in here or staying abreast of national events will be just what is available on biased evening news out of Austin/Waco area. Hopefully, they will be reporting election battle outcomes correctly.
I think we may go to the cabin toward the end of the month so we can use my the telescope there (his Christmas present last year) to watch the 'Star of Bethlehem' (Jupiter & Saturn) event in the night sky. May just stay there through Christmas..............maybe even on through my birthday (New year's Eve). We only get a few TV channels there (no cable) and no internet either, so checking in here or staying abreast of national events will be just what is available on biased evening news out of Austin/Waco area.
Hopefully, they will be reporting election battle outcomes correctly.Mine are definitely not dewberries. Leaves are narrow and pointy. We have a fair amount of them along our rural property access lane and our yard fence there, too. They bloom and produce tiny fruit, but I haven't picked or tried cooking a pie with them yet. But they are sweet when ripe.
I think we may go to the cabin toward the end of the month so we can use my the telescope there (his Christmas present last year) to watch the 'Star of Bethlehem' (Jupiter & Saturn) event in the night sky. May just stay there through Christmas..............maybe even on through my birthday (New year's Eve). We only get a few TV channels there (no cable) and no internet either, so checking in here or staying abreast of national events will be just what is available on biased evening news out of Austin/Waco area.
The peace and lack of knowing might be very enjoyable.
OldButtoni
God Like
Ordinarily the "not knowing" is indeed relaxing. But with the constant news lately, I'll miss being able to do my own internet searching for facts and truth.
simpleman
God Like
They are definitely Dewberries then! Thanks for the pics, helped clear it up!Brambles (Dewberries) will have thorns so thick the vine looks hairy. Some blackberries are trailing but the vine looks different with thorns more spread out. I believe in the UK they call blackberry thickets brambles. We call them briar patches.
Here is what a Dewberry vine looks like:
And this is a blackberry vine:
DirtDiva
A True Doomsday Prepper
With the shortages of last year many seeds were sold out for 2020. For 2021 I ordered my first seeds and trees today. While we save many seeds there are a few I order every year. I also ordered a new okra called Heavy Hitter that I wish to try. It is supposed to be a very heavy producer and have read very good reviews on it. We eat lots of okra and the heavier one crop produces the less of it I should have to plant conserving valuable garden space.
We also wish to add to my fruit trees with the addition of 2 kieffer pears and filberts/hazelnuts. We dug up sprouts of blackberries and blueberries and increased those as well.
A couple weeks ago we also added another cornelian cherry that had been backordered.
We fully expect shortages on many of the homesteading, canning and gardening supplies that we saw last year and are trying to get ahead of the crowd.
Stay safe DD
We also wish to add to my fruit trees with the addition of 2 kieffer pears and filberts/hazelnuts. We dug up sprouts of blackberries and blueberries and increased those as well.
A couple weeks ago we also added another cornelian cherry that had been backordered.
We fully expect shortages on many of the homesteading, canning and gardening supplies that we saw last year and are trying to get ahead of the crowd.
Stay safe DD
Brent S
Top Poster
I need to prune all my fruit trees and spray them down well. Also have to prune the grapevines And blueberries. The problem with having loads of plants is it’s a full time job to take care of it all. I’m hoping when I officially retire in the coming year I will have the time to take better care of things here.
