Removing brambles

emptygrape

My garden was over 6ft high with Brambles when I moved in. Two types for me, the thin ones with lots of thin spikes and the thicker vines with Rose like thorns on. The best bit of kit I found- thick gloves! They’re not so much a problem when you can rip them out and then as they start growing back you can see where you need to dig the roots out.

searcher1

Well doing my little old web searches I noticed 'organic' methods. There's a mention of rock salt (on patios and driveways) and also a cunning mix of 1oz each in a spray bottle of gin (heck I'll want to drink it!), liquid soap and vinegar. There's mention that vinegar alone kills weeds. I'm just wondering about brambles though. It seems the rock salt will kill anything but there again thinking of roads and gritting in Winter there might be something in it.
My wife say's 'we have a wild garden' and I reply, 'yeah but that does not mean it's supposed to full of weeds only'. Plus I really want our paved front and bit or rear to look exactly like that and not some 1950's council prefab frontage that the neighbours will be complaining about before much longer.
However we have some roots that are like massive and not brambles that I'm concerned about. I've purchased one of the 20 quid butane burners and am told the idea is not to set fire to weeds but scorth them and eventually they'll die without spreading spores and seeds. I am certainly going to get some 'roundup' (as suggested) from HB. 25 quids for 5 ltrs with sprayer.
Any ideas on these things?
Michael

worbikeman

I think you're very lucky to have bramble bushes. They deter intruders (e.g. other people's dogs) and provide healthy fruit (have you seen the price of blackberries in the supermarket? -about 20p each!). So-called 'weed' plants also attract other wildlife like birds and butterflies that have nowhere else to go. I live in a high-rise block, I would kill for a nice garden with brambles!

CovTeej

I have been making inroads into the wilderness at the bottom of the garden, only for the bloomin' things to start appearing at the top of the garden!! It's starting to have a 'painting the Forth Bridge' feel about it....

V8ACCobra

I just bought a camp site in France and there is a 1 acre field next to me which is full of brambles which have spread over on to my land (I know where I will be going for my blackberies this summer) anyway we were left with 2 goats which I tied up next to my sprawling brambles anyway turns out they love the stuff 4 weeks later and most of the brambles have disappeared so I will be moving my goats around the bramble patch to completely clear them, so there you have it buy or borrow some goats. :j

tomterm8

Our Hebridean sheep are quite good bramble eaters, too.

On a garden scale... it's either weed killer, or digging them out by the roots.

grandmaster00

PLEASE !!!! DO NOT USE GLYPHOSATE !!!!

read about it online

please use rootout otherwise known as ammonium sulphamate .. read about this too online - youll come to the same conclusion as I

Alfa155

grandmaster00 wrote: »

PLEASE !!!! DO NOT USE GLYPHOSATE !!!!

read about it online

please use rootout otherwise known as ammonium sulphamate .. read about this too online - youll come to the same conclusion as I

Ammonium Sulphamate as a weedkiller was outlawed by the EU in early 2008 - it's been illegal to use this as a weedkiller for almost 3 years now, since 22 May 2008.

However, you can still buy Ammonium Sulphamate as a compost accelerator. I would be tempted to start a new (temporary!) compost heap on top of your bramble patch, if I were you

Lyger

Hi all! Sorry to revive an old thread. Just a quick question - I'm currently battling a lot of brambles in a neglected hedge/bush at the side of my house. I've managed to hack my way into there to get at most of the bramble roots (work in progress - I have 6 bags full of bramble, and still no end in sight!), but I have a problematic one - I have a *huge* root thats growing up from the very back corner of the fences, around a pipe. I can't dig it up, just because it's in such a stupid place. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do to kill it off once and for all?

gibby

We had a really bad bramble and we tried everything including digging it out and using roundup on the leaves but it just kept coming back.

Then I was told to use coke. Yep cola. Its used in some countries as a pesticide as its so acidic and kills of everything it touches.
Try it on your car paint and watch it do the job.

Trim the bramble back to leave a stump about 2 to 3 inches high.
Use a hacksaw to split the stump/s open and pour a glass or so of coke over it. It also helps to pour a little more around it.

You need to do this for a month or so but it really works.

I was using the regular stuff, any brand will do but Ive since been told the ones with artificial sweeteners are even more toxic and can burn through anything.