The Blackberry Control Thread

[farmersamm]

So................................. I'm lookin' around for pictures of Blackberry leaves (there's different varieties so I gather), AND ALL I FIND IS SITES AND BLOGS DEVOTED TO PROPAGATING THEM. Idiots want Blackberries.........come see me

 

[Wdj]

So................................. I'm lookin' around for pictures of Blackberry leaves (there's different varieties so I gather), AND ALL I FIND IS SITES AND BLOGS DEVOTED TO PROPAGATING THEM. Idiots want Blackberries.........come see meView attachment 166150

Yup. My most despised invasive is English Holly. Given up on chemistry except some success with cut stump treatment. Grubbing and pulling been all that seems to really work. And some folks still use it in landscapes. I would pay for the honor of ripping out the last one on earth!

 

[TomA in CA]

I always tried to farm organically since I started in 1961.
With your health history I would stay away from that crap.
Can't you plow the field and plant your hay for a few years?

 

[B. White]

Yup. My most despised invasive is English Holly. Given up on chemistry except some success with cut stump treatment. Grubbing and pulling been all that seems to really work. And some folks still use it in landscapes. I would pay for the honor of ripping out the last one on earth!

It was all over this place when we moved in on and under siding, up a block wellhouse wall and up pecan trees. Triclopyr with a little diesel took care of it. The hard part was scraping off the tendrils getting ready to paint.

 

[farmersamm]

I said it was gonna be a journey...........................................

In my defense..........it's been a while since I needed it

Bit o' surgery, and we have VICTORY

Continued..............................................

 

[farmersamm]

What with all this herbicide knowledge I've been absorbing of late................ Thought it was an excellent time to get some practice.

Don't have any diesel on hand, so I mixed the Remedy with Kerosene. Ought to work. Kerosene is a close brother to Diesel.

While looking at the SDS for the product, I happened to remember the chemical composition was listed. Lo, and Behold, Kerosene is the major carrier.

So, it should be effective to mix with Kerosene. I did a 50/50 mix. A bit above the label call out.

While the outer layer/ring is the most critical, I just painted the entire surface.

Including the bark down to soil level.

There's plenty of good videos on this. I'd tend to recommend the ones from the herbicide companies, and university ag extension services.

Now, I guess I'll toddle off, and jack up the sprayer to put some wheels on it(sigh)

 

[GermantownGreen]

Tordon kills blackberries. Works good in fall as plants take it in and kills over winter. I spray when there blooming and growing.

And Grazon would work on them in the spring, turkey season timeframe. Might take three years application, cycle.
Persistence pays. GG Wes

 

[Wdj]

It was all over this place when we moved in on and under siding, up a block wellhouse wall and up pecan trees. Triclopyr with a little diesel took care of it. The hard part was scraping off the tendrils getting ready to paint.

Foliar application or cut stump?

 

[B. White]

Foliar application or cut stump?

Foliar. I guess the folks who lived here before me planted every type of invasive available in the 50s. Had this around the house and wisteria and what I think is some kind of jasmine around shrubs and in monkey grass. Also had all kinds of holly around that kept sprouting back. It has been about 5 yrs, but I think I mixed about 20% diesel in. Tried it without it first without success.

 

[Wdj]

Foliar. I guess the folks who lived here before me planted every type of invasive available in the 50s. Had this around the house and wisteria and what I think is some kind of jasmine around shrubs and in monkey grass. Also had all kinds of holly around that kept sprouting back. It has been about 5 yrs, but I think I mixed about 20% diesel in. Tried it without it first without success.

Thank you. I will give that a try.

 

[farmersamm]

And the fun continues..............................

I'm frozen solid. Probably corrosion. If it looks beyond repair, I guess a new one is in store for $235. TSC has them cheaper by about 30 bucks, but they don't have any in stock.

"Have a great day" she says

 

[farmersamm]

Looks like a trip to the Big Town is in order.

The pitting in the housing wall is the deal breaker. I could built it out with Bronze, then turn it..................but it would likely be Christmas before I got it finished LOL. A repair kit is $100.......half the price of a new pump...........so new pump it is.

Lesson learned. Next time I'll pull the pump off the sprayer, fill it with waste oil, and put it up in the shop.

So..........................

235 for new pump
170 for new tires
So far, we're at about the cost of buying 10 round bales...........gotta put everything in perspective.

 

[UAFitter]

And the fun continues..............................

I'm frozen solid. Probably corrosion. If it looks beyond repair, I guess a new one is in store for $235. TSC has them cheaper by about 30 bucks, but they don't have any in stock.

"Have a great day" she says

Since it comes from me, you will doubtless ignore this out of hand. I’m gonna say it anyway: hire the co-op to spray this. They’ll do a thousand times better job, it’ll be done in two hours, and you’ll be out from under the gun.

I know whereof I speak: when we moved to our place, there was a nine acre pasture that was solid thistles. I spent ten years mowing and spot spraying, but it wasn’t until we bit the bullet and paid a local applicator that we made real progress. Do yourself a favor and drop a dime to the co op.

 

[farmersamm]

COOP doesn't spray. They're directing folks to the drone outfits.

X100 acres between both places. Plus chemical.

That ain't happenin'.

I'd not imagine that a boom sprayer could get onto the place down South. Too many small trees. Blackberry thickets down there are probably 1-200 feet wide..........1.5 to 2X as long. No boom sprayer can manage that.

Waiting for wise azz response...............................

 

[farmersamm]

I got this

Over around 15% of this (probably more......hasn't been worthwhile going down to look at it till it's time to start the work)

And these pics only cover maybe 60% of the ground down there.

Spray the thickets this Fall, do the small tree clearing through the Winter. Is what it is.

 

[Wdj]

If you haven't already you might want to take a look at some of the boomless nozzle setups available . Can do a wide swath with just 2 nozzles set in the center of your track. And it puts it fairly high to get over the top of blackberry tangles.

 

[farmersamm]

If you haven't already you might want to take a look at some of the boomless nozzle setups available . Can do a wide swath with just 2 nozzles set in the center of your track. And it puts it fairly high to get over the top of blackberry tangles.

I'm planning on a long range spray gun for the thickets. How well they work is another question. I'm replacing the pump with an identical 8 roller pump with an advertised 300psi max output.

Supposedly has a 35' range, but that's shooting a tight stream. Don't figure that's going to work too well...........use up 100 gallons in a heartbeat, and won't give good coverage. Zee plan is to use wind drift. We can have some high wind days in Oklahoma. A medium coarse spray will travel quite a distance in the wind.

One problem I see, is working from ground level, or at most.......from the tractor operator platform. It doesn't give good height for getting the most bang for the buck out of wind drift.

During the intervening years, while this mess was building up, I built this thing. Mostly for limbing trees.......but would have been handy to buy me a bit more height. Lord Knows when I'll get to rebuilding the motor for this, or the other, 190XT.

I could borrow a tractor with pallet forks to use this thing...........but the guy's one of K'kins bosses. I don't believe I want to do that. I've borrowed it twice, and I'm a nervous wreck until I deliver it back to him.

Anyways, for now, it has to be a spray gun at ground level I guess.

Guy at COOP says that he has a few business cards from drone outfits. I'll check them out when I pick up the Cimarron. I'm pretty sure there's a minimum charge for this kind of thing (spot spraying), but it doesn't hurt to ask.

The thing about using contractors....................it's money out the window. At the end of the day the money is gone, and if you need the service again.......it's more money. Spend money on your own equipment, you build equity(if you want to call it that). Spend on my sprayer, and I have the sprayer to use when I need it. This thing is going to be in stages. And it's probably not a one-and-done.

Speaking of contractors..................... I had a guy build fence...........at 2 times during the job, he upped the price, and said he'd walk if he didn't get it. You can't shoot the guy, that won't get the fence done, and it puts you on track to wearing orange. It's a lose lose.

Hired another guy to cut cedars...............took a full day to cut maybe 40-50 WITH A SAW LIKE I BOUGHT. Every time I went to check on him, the sucker was on his phone. Ran him off after one day. That little deal worked out to about $10 per tree.

My take on the situation.................... I believe a lot of these guys that start their own business around here are guys that don't like working for someone else........mainly because someone else requires them to ACTUALLY WORK. Or maybe I just had a run of bad luck.

K'kins probably woulda shot both of them (she was not happy), but it would be a shame to have to visit her at McCalester.

Be a lot of driving at $4/gal gas.

 

[farmersamm]

BTW.............................. One test patch sprayed on 9/18 has yellow leaves over the entire spray area. It seems to be corresponding to what the guy in the video said about Triclopyr. A relatively fast burn down. If it comes back in the Spring, it'll confirm what he said about the need for at least 2 applications.

 

[UAFitter]

COOP doesn't spray. They're directing folks to the drone outfits.

View attachment 166293
X100 acres between both places. Plus chemical.

That ain't happenin'.

I'd not imagine that a boom sprayer could get onto the place down South. Too many small trees. Blackberry thickets down there are probably 1-200 feet wide..........1.5 to 2X as long. No boom sprayer can manage that.

Waiting for wise azz response...............................

You let the place go to the dogs, not me. You’re trying to repair eight years of your neglect, not mine. If you spray a hundred acres twice at $15 an acre, that’s three grand plus chemical. Call it $5k all in, and it will be done. History as a guide, your DIY effort will end with nothing sprayed, fifty posts of your genius modifications to a piece of junk machinery (that don’t actually work,) some random flame straightening, and a bunch of complaining about how the derelicts you hire are derelicts. Happy motoring.

 

[farmersamm]

Sammy Goes To The Big Town

Cimarron $10/ounce
Plotter $3/ounce (straight Metsulfuron)

Stopped on the way out of town to drop the wheels off at the local tire place. Manager comes up to me, wearing an overcoat, opens it, and there's 2 14" tires hangin' in there. "I can let ya have 'em for $50 for the pair" looking around so's not to attract attention. SOLD!!!!!!!!! A pair of very nice used tires, including mounting. Been dealing with these guys for near on 30yrs.

Picked up a new pump, spray gun (half what they wanted for it at TSC), and a coupla hundred pounds of Shawnee cubes (THE ABSOLUTE BEST SMELLING CUBES ON THE PLANET.......................NAY!!!!!!!!! THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AND..........scored a Whopper at BK

Saved about 1/3 for the pup so he'd have a treat when I got home. He's always bummed if he can't go.

Called K'kins when I rolled in the gate. She worries about me when I go somewhere unattended

We were at WalMart once, and she told the checkout kid that she was my caregiver She's been this way since the day I first met her. We call it The Sam, and Kelly, Roadshow. LIFE IS GOOD.