"David (Normandy)" writes

"K" wrote in message
...
"David (Normandy)" writes


Been there done that with 8 feet high brambles. Glyphosate is no good on
brambles, it just makes them look poorly for a few weeks then they
continue
growing with slightly deformed foliage. Even with repeat full strength
doses
it survives. You have to use the strong weedkiller. Digging them up will
not
succeed either as they will regrow from small missed bits of root.

That's overstating a bit. They'll grow from missed plant centres, even if
you've cut off all the top growth, but they won't grow from isolated bits
of root in the same way that, eg, bindweed would.


I speak from the experience of getting rid of over half an acre of mature
brambles.

I can't match half an acre but I have got rid of a lot of bramble
patches in my time.

Maybe some varieties of brambles differ in their ability to grow
from a piece of root, ours certainly have done. Size of root may also be a
factor?

I started doing the original clearance with a strimmer with a
brushwood attachment which was very slow work. The man laying our new drive
suggested clearing the lot with his JCB digger which was great, he ripped
the lot off at ground level. At least we could get onto the land after that.

I think that's where our different experience lies. If you trace a
bramble back to a root, there a sort of node from which the shoots
arise. If you simply chop off just above that or even chop through it,
then it re-grows, no problem. If, however, you get below that node, so
that all that is left in the ground is the feeder roots, IME it does not
re-grow.


--
Kay