How To Get Rid Of Blackberry Bushes

Are you tired of your yard being overrun by blackberry bushes? Are you trying to cut them back and having a hard time finding the right tool to use well I did find the right tool that cuts through it like butter and you will only wish you had tried this tool years ago?

History Of The Bush

There are over 700 different blackberry bushes from coast to coast in the United States, and some are known by a different name depending on what state you live in.

But the best name given is Bramble, meaning the whole plant not just the fruit (blackberry) but for this blog, I’ll be using the name Bramble.

Most brambles that grow in America are imports from other lands and it was discovered in 1834 by a guy named Lewis Seacor who saw it in his neighbor’s yard and took it home and cultivated it into the annoying bush it can be today.

The bramble will start showing flowers in April- July and the fruit shows up around June -September.

The berries are good to eat raw, use them in jellies, pancakes, or any other way you can think of even in things like lotions and perfumes.

You can even eat the leaves raw and the stems as well once you peel them, while the bramble is still very young. Another use is once you de-thorn the stems and process them correctly you can use them for bindings (cordage).

The thorns can even be used as fish hooks or needles, the plus side about these berries is there are no poisonous look-alikes. Even though the bramble has very many good qualities and uses when it takes over your yard it just becomes annoying.

How Big Will It Get?

The bramble bush can grow 3-4 feet tall and just as wide for one bush, but as we all know there is never just one bush.

The vines that come up will only last for that season then die off but it takes a few years for the dead ones to disappear, so when the next year’s vines come up they will grow in and on top of the previous year’s growth causing your bush to become wider and bigger with each passing year.

They can grow as fast as 3 inches in one day, so keeping on top of them is important. Though the vines above ground can become big, the root system is a different story.

They are a little over a foot deep and if you think ripping up the plant will solve your problem think again because a new plant can grow from just a single piece of the root and or stem left behind then you have to start all over again.

Keep Them Away

a good bramble bush killer without using the chemical-filled ones is:

-1 gallon of Industrial Strength Natural Vinegar

-1 cup of Iodized Salt

-2 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap

Mix well and put in a Sprayer, then in the morning hours spray the plant until the leaves are dripping with the mix. Allow the heat of the sun to dry the mix on the plant so it will absorb it into the roots.

You do this before you do any cutting, then in a day or two, you can cut the bush down. I’ve heard that in some areas using boiling water will kill them.

But if yours are like mine, it will kill everything else around the bramble but not the bramble itself, stupid bush. Now if you want to go the chemical route, you can always try roundup. According to Oregon State University Extension Service, “it can take years to eradicate a large, prickly patch of blackberries because even after the plants are gone, many of their seeds remain in the soil.”

If you mow the existing bramble that makes the perfect clearing for the next bramble to grow so once you clear them out you should use one of the mixes from above then after a few treatments you should plant perennials in its place, like grass or flowers. Don’t just leave the ground bare unless you are doing something like rock or cementing over the area.

Best Tool Ever

When you have a large area of bramble bush to get rid of, using pruning shears can take you all summer long and then some. Not to mention the scratches and cuts you will get where they got you in turn for getting them.

On top of that, it may not be just bramble bushes you are dealing with, you may have poison ivy, poison oak, or even poison sumac or any other vines. So finding a tool that can cut through all four plants like it was butter is fantastic.

Now before I tell you what that tool is, you will need a few things for your own safety, and trust the words of first-hand experience you will want these before you get cutting.

A good pair of pruning shears (for the bigger branches the cutter can’t cut), a good pair of Goggles (for the pieces that will fly at your face) make sure they are the Goggles, not the glasses [see pictures below and above for the tools I use], and a good pair of Gloves (see pictures before “word of caution” to know why you want these.)

Here is the tool I found and couldn’t believe I waited so long to try it and you will too with your first use.

It is BLACK+DECKER Cordless Hedge Trimmer. This thing is so wonderful you will manage to cut down an area in one day that it would take you a week to cut using the pruning shears minus the cuts and rashes.

The biggest drawback for me is that the battery on a full charge will only last less than an hour and takes it over four hours to charge back up that’s why I also got a 2packs Replace Battery pack and a fast Lithium Replacement Charger which only takes it about a little over an hour to charge that way I can work longer while one battery is charging I’m using the other one.

On the plus side, these batteries can be used in other Black and Decker tools. The trimmer only weighs about 8lbs but feels lighter and is very easy to use. You push a button and press the trigger and off you go cutting your annoying bramble bush away and anything else in your path.

Word Of Caution

Because this thing is so light and easy to use you forget it’s a powerful tool that can and will take a piece right out of you if you are not careful. The picture below is proof of that, thankfully my guardian angels were working overtime and it’s just the glove and not my finger it got. So DO be careful people and happy cutting.

Disclaimer: All information on this website is found from Google, word of mouth, other sources, or my own experiences. All photos, videos, and or recordings posted on this site are copyright. I participate in affiliate programs meaning I may earn a commission from items purchased through my blogs at no extra charge to you. Thanks for reading and continue to check back with my blog you’ll never know what I will post next.