Composting blackberry thorns

PunkRoquefort

I cut back my blackberry bush, which I bought from a garden centre, then cut the thorns/off-cuts into pieces of about 1 or 2 feet.

I then put them, a few buckets worth, on my large composter and have since added old compost on top.

Have I made a mistake? I have now read that there is a risk of it re-rooting in the composter?

Also, I am wondering if growing blackberries is more trouble than it is worth, as I now have extra shoots coming up in the garden, where it has spread.

Advice would be appreciated. 

Thank you.

fatbelly

I suppose if your compost bin generates enough heat it will kill them

I have wild brambles, not deliberate!y but i've never managed to get rid of them all. I remove as much as i can and pile the results somewhere dry to die completely. Then dump them.

I try not to ever let them flower/fruit. I think if i desperately wanted them and was buying a variety i'd go for a thornless variety or a tayberry

twopenny

They may but it's unlikely.
They will dry out and be woody, they are unlikely to rot. That would aerate the compost but you'd have to pick them out when the time comes to spread it.

They grow from the base, the tips of the briars if they touch the soil will root into it. They may come from suckers or grow from dropped fruit.

Not the easiest plant but if you like your apple and blackberry crumble, flan, juice or jam they are worth it.
Wild brambles I've found here a better flavour.

Dustyevsky

In my experience, modern thornless blackberries don't spread. I have a couple planted in a woodland edge situation, and they've stayed put. If I let the tips of shoots get to the ground, they'd root. I suspect young blackberries come mainly from bird droppings; they happen randomly everywhere in places that aren't grassed.

Like 2p, I'd not compost blackberry stems; they will take time to break down and just be a nuisance in an average, non-Hotbin type of heap.