On Thu, 27 Feb 2003 17:00:36 -0800, Jessica wrote:

Man, still new to these newsgroups. I tried to reply to you but I get a
message saying i need to make a profile in Outlook. Strange.

I live in Northwest Washington in the forest. The blackberries are few
compared to other nuisances like the alders. The reason I ask is that
there are many stumps of once mighty cedar trees on my property. They're
quite beautiful except for blackberry bushes crawling on them.

After I posted this message I met a lady who told me that her mother used
to dig deep into the ground where the roots are and lay rock salt. She
said they never came back. I may try this but I hope it won't kill
anything else as I'd love to plant some phlox or ivy.



non-chemical removal is all about labor. Plain and simple. You basically
hack them down and dig them up. You maybe able to rent/brorrow a few
goats? Goats will mow everthing down 80), you can dig up the rest. The
rock salt trick will work, but it can posion the soil over time tho.
Boiling water works great also.

You will be unable to purchase ivy for replanting I'm afraid. Washington
has/will classify ivy asa class a noxious weed as they should. If you
plant ivy, it will take over and become a far worse problem than the
blackberries.