The Blackberry Control Thread

[TomA in CA]

You don't want to breathe those fumes whether you put it on or the drones do. Back in the '60's my grandfather died after spraying brush with 245-T ( agent Orange) which was a "supposedly safe" product at the time.
Plow that ground. Blackberrys are fairly shallow rooted. Turn those roots up to the sun. Out here we replant hay every year.

 

[farmersamm]

You don't want to breathe those fumes whether you put it on or the drones do. Back in the '60's my grandfather died after spraying brush with 245-T ( agent Orange) which was a "supposedly safe" product at the time.
Plow that ground. Blackberrys are fairly shallow rooted. Turn those roots up to the sun. Out here we replant hay every year.

Dioxin was the culprit.

What Is Agent Orange Made Of: Herbicides and Dioxin

Agent Orange combined two herbicides that were contaminated with dioxin, a toxic byproduct that has persisted in the environment for decades.

scienceinsights.org

https://biomonitoring.ca.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/245T_FactSheet.pdf

Triclopyr is toxic to the blood, kidneys, and liver.

2,4-D is an Ester...................if you smell it, you're breathing it. It's volatile stuff.

Nobody can tell me that any of this stuff is safe.

Have to go to Tulsa tomorrow to pick up a more powerful spray gun

https://www.valleyind.com/product/long-range-spray-gun/

....will also pick up a new respirator that has P-100 cartridges, which are listed for pesticides(which includes herbicides). My old respirator is just listed for painting vapors.

I appreciate your concern.........this is nasty stuff.

So....................... I fixed K'kins sweeper today, and hoped it might earn me enough credits to convince her to go to Tulsa in the AM. No soap. She's holding firm........but maybe I'll break her down tonight

 

[farmersamm]

If I can get running by Sunday, surface winds are predicted to be 10mph steady with gusts in the afternoon to 20mph.

 

[UAFitter]

If I can get running by Sunday, surface winds are predicted to be 10mph steady with gusts in the afternoon to 20mph.

I'm sure your downwind neighbors will be glad to hear they and their property will be receiving your overspray. All of your overwrought drama about spraying your mess evidently doesn't extend to them.

 

[Wdj]

Just so you know you are not alone

 

[farmersamm]

Triclopyr burn down.............................. Plants were sprayed on 9/28/26, 2% solution. Small test plots.

This corresponds to the guy's take on it. The Triclopyr gives a fast, satisfying result.........but is it for real????

I had a question.................. Am I seeing the plant go into dormancy, or am I seeing results. Judging by the one/few healthy canes in the thicket, which were probably missed when spraying..........I think I'm seeing results. BUT I DON'T TRUST THEM. I won't know for sure until the Spring.

You might note the pics of the healthy plants under the high line taken a few days back. No signs of dormancy.

Even the "healthy" canes are dying from the bottom up, so it seems.

Obviously the plant is in stress.......but is it a killer stress?? Did enough Triclopyr transport to the roots?

 

[farmersamm]

What we've learned about perennials (K'kins is part of this)..............we now know that the stuff with the yellow flowers needs to be sprayed at this time........not in the Spring. This stuff comes on late in the year, never in the regular growing season. Always after the grass has been grazed for a full Summer.

While it's a late season pest, it has to be using nutrients, and preventing good forage growth. It's bad enough that this was in Cotton for years during the Depression. Never has been good pasture. Grama had 3 little mouths to feed, and had to lease it out back then. To this day, the grass is sparce.

The pastures around here are absolutely covered with this. And, these guys spray like mad in the Spring. They're missing it. This stuff is making energy for regrowth next year. Perennials require a completely different mindset.

 

[farmersamm]

Got to thinking this evening. Getting really late, past bedtime.

Used to be, this was a pretty easy cakewalk. Put in the hours, and get results. And move onto the next thing to be done that day.

We're infested with Eastern Red Cedar here in Oklahoma. It's a legacy of the Dirty Thirties. They brought the trees in to help prevent soil erosion.

I used to push pasture out about maybe 40' at a time. Every Cedar, especially the large ones, gave you another 40' of ground. The lower branches cover a lot of territory.

You limb one side, as high as you can reach, then drag the limbs off to the side so you can get to the trunk. Then, you could cut the tree down. This is probably a 30ish to 40ish foot tall Cedar. Limbing them, looking at the way they were growing, and the lay of the land..........you could predict where they would fall. You can do a lot with a chainsaw.

Now..........this is all well and good.........but what do ya do with the things. You can drag them with a chain, but you can only drag them into rows. Takes up more land than you cleared.

Time to fire up the welder. While I know this steps on some toes..........there's welders, and there's fabricators. I'm in the later group.

Put something together to handle the problem, and pat yourself on the back when it works.

You make huge piles of this crap, and wait for a wildfire to come through........which happens occasionally. You'd be an idiot to try to burn a pile like this.

So now it's Blackberries, and saplings (some of which are fairly large). The game never ends. The players just get old.

(The wildfire did come through about 2yrs(?) ago. Piles gone. Took near 20yrs, but it happened. Pics are sometime around 2007.

It's a young man's game. It takes time, and it takes physical health/strength. That goes away with time. You can't play catch up when you get older. You start to get steam rolled.

I'm not crying about it. It's a natural progression. It's the stuff of thoughts, and remembrance. A nice feeling.

And...........I'm still at it.

 

[farmersamm]

During the idle time, I figured I'd put up some videos of drone spraying.

Sure not gonna have drift problems with drone application

Apparently large swaths of Australia are covered in Blackberries.......................

Really not what I'd call a spot treatment, but I guess there's such a huge infestation that chemical going on, non infested, ground is considered a cost of the operation. It does solve the problem of getting chemical to the center of the thicket.

I've been very interested in the process, which has gotten around to seeing the investment these guys are making. Near as I can figure, the trailer alone costs somewhere in the range of 100K................not sure whether that includes the cost of the actual drones.

The bulk of the videos I'm seeing are promotions for drone sales...............................

NO WONDER

https://nuwayag.com/products/dji-t100-spray-drone

With the involved costs, I'm figuring "small" jobs will be priced accordingly. You're gonna pay time out, on site, and time back. These things cost money, and have to be paid for.

I'm not stopping work on the pull behind sprayer just yet.

Major SNAFU on Friday. I left the house too late to complete a circular drive from here, to Perry, to Tulsa. By the time I got to Tulsa.........Grainger had closed. I'd of made it except for a major road closure. Pine street was closed for almost a mile, making a 4 mile detour necessary. I got to Grainger 10 minutes after it closed. Drove back to Tulsa today to complete the parts purchases. OOOOOOMPH.

I'm thinking we're pushing the dormancy boundary. The days are getting short, which has a bigger influence than temperature on dormancy. We might have lost our window. Major rain event coming on Tuesday evening, lasting for 2 days. If the plants look refreshed, we might commit to spraying(shrug) If not, then it's time to start clearing trees, and doing cut stem (stump) treatments. Removing the trees will at least give us a hay crop next Summer.........even though the Blackberry treatments will have to wait till August/September.

Something I've been researching, is the difference between liquid herbicides, and free flowing powder/wettable powder herbicides. I might not have enough excess GPM capacity in the little PTO pump to spray the granular chemicals. The dry powders, in water, don't fully dissolve............and require very healthy tank agitation to stay in solution. I'm looking into whether surfactants can hold the powder in suspension.

The agitation problem is stemming from pump ratings. I picked up a pump "rated" at 300psi. BUT A CLOSE LOOK AT THE BOX, AND INSTRUCTIONS, SHOWS THAT 300psi IS INTERMITTENT psi. It's not rated for a constant 300psi output. Gotta love the sales/marketing guys. I need to get on the blower, and see what the duty cycle is for the max 300psi output.

This also relates to GPM output. A certain GPM has to be diverted to agitation..........leaving less GPM for actual spray application. This might be solved by the duty cycle thing I've talked about. Agitation time, spray time, agitation time. Put a clock on it. It's the po folks way of getting it done.

If we can't solve the problem, I guess we'll switch to Triclopyr. The liquid herbicides require less agitation. I can get generic Triclopyr relatively cheap........making higher concentration mixes doable.

I need to get ahold of a person who's actually done this, in the PROPER way. No wives tales, or local lore. And willing to share it. K'kins is putting feelers out. She knows more people than I do. I ain't a very friendly guy. But I'm friendly to folks I respect. It's something you'd have to experience to understand. There are people out there who's advice you can trust. Lord Knows I don't know WTF I'm doing

 

[farmersamm]

https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/le-mars-dji-t100-drone/cF441kLFgFsW5tK4QzJuHf