Blackberry vine removal

[Thor's Hammer]

The triangular blades are crap. You want the mulching blade with the downturn ends, mulches it up really fine so you wont have to take anything away.

 

[Frans]

That's a snap Steve.

We used to remove acres of that stuff.

Using a brushcutter blade like Frans posted kinda flings crap everywhere.

Get one guy with a hedgetrimmer cutting it at the base and two other
guys with potato forks rolling the berries downhill rolling it up into a
big tight crepe type thing. Two guys rolling the berry log downhill
as the third guy cuts the bottom of the berries. Tighter and tighter.

After all you end up with a big giant roll of blackberry vine at the bottom.
Then section it with hedgetrimmer and load it up, Laters................

No disrespect Dava but....:what:

I call that the scorched earth method. See it alot with the mexican/phillipine/vietnamese/Indian(india)/asian farm workers and others who apply little or no plant health care knowledge to their work.
They come in and rake all the mulch away, leaving bare earth. Hedge all the shrubs into nice little tame balls, then they come in and with matchets hack a bunch of limbs 'interfering' off the trees. And don't charge alot either.



Your method does not take into account any of the most basic principals of land/plant management.
Pick up any book of reference, talk to any person who has done the tiniest amount of horticultural learning, and you will discover that this method is one of the worst.
On a par with such medical practices as blood letting, and drinking alchohol to prevent hypothermia.

After all, that layer of mulch which plants put down is nothing but trash anyway, might as well clean it up. Nature has not the slightest clue how to create healthy eco-systems which manage themselves. Just look at any Walmart parking lot and see how a landscape should look

Here are a couple of results of this way of thinking:

1. Homeowner then usually goes and buys shredded redwood bark because the prison yard look just does not fit into that garden party. (total crap stuff) which does nothing to prevent erosion, floats away and ends up downhill or in our sewage treatment system, adds nothing to the soil in terms of benifical ammendments, and encourages weed growth.
2. encourages erosion by giving the impression that this layer will help absorb water and prevent run off. Which it does not.
3. promotes such noxious weeds such as Yellow Star Thistle. Ever hear of that? It is now on the noxious species list, decminating vast areas of our parklands, grazing lands, etc. Why? Because of years of stripping the multi-tiered plant growth which does a whole host of things one of which discourages such growth as Yellow Star Thistle.
4. Allows such weeds as Thistles, poison oak, Scotch Broom, Coyote Brush, Pampus Grass, etc, etc. which require sun exposure close to the ground to 'bolt' (horticultural term for thistle emergence)
5. requires the continuing use of 'pre-emergents' (one of the most damaging types of herbacides) to control the noxious weeds.

6. Looks ugly unless you are a city person who believes that bare earth looks 'tidy and neat'.
7. Requires huge amounts of work year in and year out to maintain and control. Or not, after all, Scotch Broom has now gained such a foothold in California that it is a legislative issue. But hey, thats the governments job, right?

This type of work has gained acceptance for a varity of reasons.

a. Municipalities have historicly jumped on this method of work because they can use just one person to annually spew herbacides thus saving on immediate labor costs and encouraged by the companies which provide these herbacides.
b. it is a cultural practice used by third world countries because in those countries, it is a life and death battle to establish crop land, thus clearing/stripping the native plant life is essential to survival. Ever been to any tropical country? Ever see how the Hawaiians clear land or in the Phillipines? Their they move in and just strip or burn the area to be cleared. They have to, the jungle grows so aggressively. Ever go to mexico? By and large the country is stripped. Who normally does the grunt work in our country? Labor from these types of countries. They apply the skills they know from their countries.
c. It requires little or no thinking to perform this work, thus municipalities, building contractors, etc can hire unskilled labor to do the work.


Sorry for the harsh words Deva, but you touched a nerve. I am NOT a proponent of the hack 'n slash 'n strip method of brush clearing. But hey your method 'Gets 'er done'.

 

[stehansen]

Deva, that's what I was thinking would be the best way to do it. I thought if I got the big roll down into the little creek I could put a rope around it and drag it up a little ways and then I could grab it with my tractor/loader and load it in my dump trailer. Sorry Frans but I think they want bare dirt. I'll ask them but I think that still having the stickers cut into little pieces wouldn't satisfy the auditors. They got "ticketed" in a USDA audit for having plants with potentially dangerous stickers growing on the property. I'm not going to revisit this place unless it is to trim the trees as it is almost a 2 hour drive from my house.

 

[No_Bivy]

goats

 

[sotc]

goats

 

[Al Smith]

California must have wimpy blackberries because the ones in these parts are tough as wang leather with thorns like a rhino's horn .There isn't a goat alive that could eat a tough old cane ,maybe the leaves and a green shoots . Those old canes get as large as your thumb .

 

[Paul B]

Al, the blackberry around here seems the same, since I have never seen anyone sick a goat on them I wasnt about to call it out. I HATE trimming blackberries, leather gloves dont stop the thorns at all, and you can pull and pull the roots out, like chasing a buried rope across the lawn they dont end!

 

[No_Bivy]

they will eat it here....along with Multi flora rose which is worse. Must have some whimp-ass goat up north

 

[Paul B]

hahaha, no goats within probably 30 miles of here, hard to judge their intestinal fortitude.

I havent seen a goat in person for a long time, I bottle fed a few babies back about 20 years ago when a buddy of mine had some land.

 

[No_Bivy]

I serious...they can handle it here.....throw a bale of alfafa in the middle and turn em' loose
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[Paul B]

LOL!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Yep, myself being a former dairy goat owner, you guys underestimate the appetite and munching power of our four legged friends. They will eat the shirt right off your back if you let them.

 

[Paul B]

time for a minor derail!
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[arborworks1]

Goats. They eat everything. Guy put them in his junkyard to clean up the place. They ran out of greens to eat and started eating radials and convertible tops

 

[Bodean]

Using a brushcutter blade like Frans posted kinda flings crap everywhere.

Laters................

I wasn't doggin you. Hell Cat.
I thought it would make cleanup more difficult. Guy.

I never mentioned herbicides either. Big Dog.

I know about environmental restoration. Friendo.
Coyote Brush is not a weed either. It's a california native plant. Captain Happy Pants.

I understand what duff, mulch, or humus is for also.
There is a difference between the right way and the client's way.
Maybe their planning on replanting afterwards, what do you know? Hot dogger.

Steve asked for the most efficient way to lose these berries without machinery access.
I've done alot of this work by hand before we came in and replanted for erosion & etc.
Native Plant restoration and site disturbance rehab day after day for a few years. Though, I'm sure you're the best ever.

I gave my opinion on the subject, By the way I hope your town gets two WalMarts. A Regular AND a Superstorecenter. HAHA.

Now Get Back in Your HOLE, Rabbit!




I'm embarrased for writing that in a peaceful Blackberry thread.
I'm sure It'll piss Frans off too, but whatever, it's the internet.

Next time we chat Frans we can clear this up, til then, Laters.

 

[No_Bivy]

......................

 

[Frans]

Hell cat
friendo
big dog
captain happy pants
hot dogger



I'm loving it! Peachy peace bro. But the Walmart wish has already come true

 

[SkwerI]

"captain happy pants"

 

[No_Bivy]

goodbye blackberries......
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[Bodean]

No worries Frans, It's all Jesus.

By the way, the lord's love knows how to treat blackberries.

 

[No_Bivy]

Bo-deva...clear out your PM's

 

[SkwerI]

John, you want his phone number?

 

[Bodean]

I cleared them John.

Looking back on the pics again, why would chemicals be a good idea so close to the creek.

Replanting (with natives) and installing wattles, ECB or something in the interim to prevent erosion would be a great idea.

Maybe a living willow (salix) retaining wall? Then that would help terrace a bit too.

I assume that picture was taken recently, it's wet in the summer.
More water I bet in the winter.

Steve I hope they have a followup plan after you're done.

 

[sotc]

http://www.pesticide.org/pubs/alts/goats/goats.html
brush eaters

 

[No_Bivy]

blackberry + hay bale = happy/fat goat

nice find SOTC