Remove & destroy blackberries: Our tips

Blackberries are delicious, but they can quickly gain the upper hand in the garden and become a nuisance. Here you can find out everything about removing blackberries.

The prickly blackberry (Rubus fruticosus) is an eye-catcher and ensures a delicious supply of fruit every year. Despite the good points, the blackberry often shows its annoying facade if its lush growth is not steered in the right direction. Since some blackberry varieties also spread through subterranean runners, controlling their growth is sometimes not that easy. We'll tell you how you can effectively combat blackberries that are overgrown and question whether pesticides really help.

Effectively remove blackberries and fight permanently

Everyone has probably experienced it before: Summer is not quite as sunny as you would like it to be and the motivation for gardening is down. The half-hearted approach to gardening will then take revenge next year because many construction sites have been left idle. The blackberry immediately punishes its gardener if he has not looked after it properly. The otherwise friendly berry sprawls beyond its bed, spreading through subterranean runners and gradually robbing your other plants of light and space.

The first measure is often a rigorous pruning of the prickly blackberry shoots. This can be done by hand with rose or hedge shears or with a motorized brush cutter. The brush cutter should be equipped with a special hedge knife, as the woody blackberry shoots are too firm to be cut with conventional plastic cord.

Tip: Don't be too squeamish about severing the shoots. The blackberry recovers quickly and can compensate for a generous cut well.

Important: Be sure to wear appropriate protective clothing. Thick gloves are recommended anyway to counter the prickly shoots. If you work with a brush cutter, protective goggles, hearing protection, long trousers and steel toe shoes are mandatory.

A detailed guide to the Cutting blackberries see this article.

Remove blackberry: dig up runners

In order to reward your efforts in the long run, you should also remove most of the subterranean runners, especially if you are dealing with creeping blackberry growths. You can partially pull these out of the ground together with the above-ground shoots. If the shoots tear or residues are left behind, it is advisable to dig them up. This is the best way to avoid blackberry overgrowth. To keep your neighbor's invasive blackberry runners or wild blackberries out of your garden, consider creating a root barrier along your fence.

Attention: Do not throw the excavated blackberry runners on the compost. There these could possibly sprout again and the blackberry plague starts all over again.

Our tip: Dispose of the runners in the organic waste bin, put them through the garden shredder or burn them if your community allows it on some days of the year.

Fight blackberries with vinegar?

Vinegar is a tried and true home remedy for weed control. Everyone has it at home and it's ready to use in no time. However, the use of vinegar is also questionable if it is used improperly and too frequently.

Its acidic properties make vinegar a weed killer. Applied to the superficial green of the unwanted plants in sunny weather, the natural home remedy ensures that the leaves and shoots wither. This works particularly well with fleshy, unwooded parts of the plant. This is also the reason why combating blackberries with vinegar is less advisable. The acid, which causes the unpleasant plants to burn, also has an impact on surrounding garden plants and soil life. Since relatively high doses of vinegar have to be chosen for blackberries in order to have noticeable effects to achieve, it is pre-programmed that a large part seeps into the soil and this too acidified. The acidification of the soil can be counteracted with regular liming, but this is not a permanent solution either.

Our tip: Keep the use of vinegar in the garden to a minimum to protect soil life and your loved ones. Especially with blackberries, spraying or basting with vinegar is not very successful. Under no circumstances should you use the acidic essence on sealed surfaces. The vinegar is classified as a natural herbicide, which is why it is strictly forbidden to use it on sealed surfaces.

Fight blackberries with pesticides?

Fighting blackberries with pesticides is a widely used method, but it is questionable and sometimes not very effective. Plant protection products with the active ingredient "glyphosate" are mostly used. These preparations are systemic, non-selective herbicides, i.e. pesticides that use the Photosynthesis operating organs of the plant (leaves, partly also stems) are absorbed and then the entire plant kill.

Since the blackberry mostly has lignified shoots and only a few green parts of the plant along its prickly tendrils, the use of glyphosate is not very effective. The green parts of the plant are the only target for the active ingredient. In most cases, it would therefore be necessary to use higher doses of the plant protection product than are permitted in order to obtain an acceptable result. This is of course prohibited by law.

Our tip: Even if it is more difficult to remove the tendrils and their subterranean runners by hand, it is better to rely on mechanical control. The results are longer-lasting and definitely more sustainable from an ecological point of view.

These products are ideal for cutting your shrubs, hedges and trees:

• Felco secateurs: Manual pruning, pruning and pruning shears recommended for all types of cutting. In addition to plastic-coated handles, it has a precision adjustment system for the blade and anvil blade.
• Felco fruit tree and secateurs: Robust fruit tree and secateurs with wire cutter, sap groove and micrometer adjustment.
• Gardena telescopic arm scissors: Practical secateurs for effortless cutting of tall trees and dense shrubs from the ground.

Proper care is essential so that you can reliably bring in a rich blackberry harvest. This article will tell you everything you need to know about the topic Fertilize blackberries.

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