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Old 26-02-2004, 12:58 AM
John Savage
 
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Default Buzzies & blackberries

"Stephen R Jones" writes:
Has anyone got any tips on how to get rid of buzzies or blackberries? The
blackberries grow in other ornamental plants so spraying is difficult.


I wanted to get rid of a few dozen blackberries, but could not access
their base for reasons similar to what you describe. So I reached back
along the leaders as far as I could, deeply scratched each for a few
inches to expose the stem's soft inner layer by repeatedly drawing
longitudinally along the stem the teeth of a pruning saw held laterally
across the stem then quickly painted neat Zero onto the wound. That
spelt the end of that stem, and over time I was able to kill off all
the leaders and bring an end to every blackberry. I worked alone, but
it's something that would be ideal for a 2 person team, with one holding
the thorny stems and making the scratches and the other standing by
ready to paint on the Zero. If the plant was too young to scratch the
stems without breaking them, then I just sprayed all of its leaves that
I could get to taking care not to get Zero on desired plants.

Right now would be a good time to do it, while the plants are growing.
--
John Savage (news address invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)