Top Ways to Deal with Blackberry Bushes in 2022
Anyone living in Victoria BC can see these bushes are everywhere. There are entire stretches where they’ve formed impassable walls of barbs, many feet thick. As a professional landscaper, we see them even more.
Environmental Impact
The blackberry bushes commonly seen here in huge masses covering swathes of land are invasive. These are the ones with the long canes of barbs forming thickets on the side of roads. They form impenetrable barriers to wild animals, smother out other plants, invade agricultural land, prevent human traffic, and take over residential spaces. The seeds are mainly propagated by birds and mammals ingesting the berries and then excreting the indigestible seeds in their waste.
Growth
Blackberry bushes can form roots up to 1 m or 3 ft deep. They extend from a main root ball that forms once a plant becomes established. Once a seed is dispersed, blackberry shoots will appear given the right conditions. At this time they are easy to remove and quite vulnerable. However, after a root ball has been established, they become much more difficult to eradicate. While the canes will grow vigorously in spring and summer then die, the root ball will keep putting out new canes and roots all year round. Canes will grow to a certain size, around 40 cm, and then bend over. Flowers appear mid summer with fruiting soon after. New shoots generally require a good amount of sun to survive.
Bush Control
The simplest and cheapest way is to remove the shoots before they become established. A homeowner needs to look for the peculiar leaf patterns of these blackberries to correctly identify these invasive plants. Once they are established though with long canes, one can use shears or a weed wacker (with a blade not string) to cut them back. These are all temporary solutions.
The best and most long lasting control method that doesn’t involve herbicides is to hire an excavation service.
By digging the root ball out, you take away the plants’ ability to regenerate and regrow. You’re then attacking the source of the problem. Additionally, any leftover stragglers will have to spend much energy rebuilding and regrowing a root ball, which makes them highly vulnerable to animals, people, disease, and the elements.
Our thorough removal involves using a mini excavator to dig out the root ball as well as remove and replace as much of the contaminated soil as possible. Then landscape fabric may be used to prevent new shoots from growing up from any leftover roots. New soil can be shipped in to minimize the chance of replanting contaminated soil.
We will then take it to a proper facility where the plants are destroyed.
Finally, we encourage new plants to be planted above the removal site to further crowd out any potential new shoots.
Of course birds can still come in and poop the blackberry seeds out into your yard but they will be difficult to take root if there is already firmly established vegetation in place.
Why Choose Triton Landscaping for Blackberry and Other Bush and Tree Removal?
We use heavy machinery to quickly and efficiently remove unsightly and unwanted vegetation to minimize machine and labor cost to you. Remain confident that experienced landscapers are dealing with your landscaping problems so the solutions are long lasting. Finally, avoid scratching and hurting yourself on these plants with their crazy thorns by letting us do deal with the hazards for you.