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Many of Oregon's biggest and nastiest blackberry thickets are growing around brushpiles, stumps, buildings, garbage heaps, and old fence rows. It isn't a good idea to just charge in there with a tractor -- I know, I've damaged all three of my tractors running into stuff hidden in the canes. Not to mention scratching myself and my clothes trying to drive through stuff way taller than the tractor. My total repair bill from blackberry-related equipment damage in the last two years is more than $500.00 The best method I've found is to use my John Deere 310 backhoe. I use the hoe on the back to rake out the thicket, and keep the tractor itself out of the area at first. Using the long boom to "explore" the area means no driveshafts to get vines wrapped around, hydraulic hoses to get caught, radiators to punch holes in, stumps and wire to snag bush hogs, or spike-tooth harrows to flatten the tires. The cab of the backhoe provides a nice high safe platform to sit on outside of the thorny nasty thicket, as you use calmly use hydraulic power to shove the canes over and drag off the top of the soil. This proves a much better method than driving through the thicket with anything short of a tank or a fully skid-plated and brush-guarded bulldozer. Once it is possible to see what's in there, the 4-in-1 bucket on the front can be used to pull out Tee posts, gates, old wood stoves, kitchen sinks, lumber, downed trees, oil filters, farm equipment, car parts, etc. (I've found all of those things buried in blackberry). I also drag out all the woven wire fence and barbed wire so they don't get caught in the brush hog. Once the canes are knocked down, and the obstacles removed, I mow the remaining stalks and plant bits with the 9N and brush hog. Then leave the plants alone until September. Spray the regrowth in September with a 2% Crossbow solution. The regrowth is more tender (less wax on the leaves), and also lower and more manageable than the mature canes. But the big advantage is that blackberries translocate carbohydrates in the fall from the leaves down to those big tubers in the ground, bringing the Triclopyr and 2-4-D down with the sugars. This kills the tubers and the roots. I achieved 100% control on two test plots I did last year with this method. Many people spray blackberry in the spring and summer. Something about "gardening season" prompting property maintenance. The problem is, the plants push sugars out from the roots towards the leaves at this time, and little
translocation of the herbicide is acheived. You'll stunt the growth for that season, but won't kill the plant, spraying in the spring or summer. You can rent backhoes or mini-excavators by the day for about $200 to $300, or if by some chance you live within backhoe driving distance of me, I'll gladly come attack your bigger thickets, now that I've finally mastered how to do it. I'm running out of worthy opponents on my place.
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