Nuking brambles

Hmm...perhaps your glyphosate solution was too strong and burnt off the tops before it got translocated to the roots. AFAIK bramble roots don't spread by suckers in the way you describe. New growth comes from the central point where the stem emerges from the soil, but I am open to correction on that.

Our garden is surrounded by fields, whose hedges are full of brambles which are a plentiful source of blackberries in late summer, both for us and the birds. Bird droppings at around that time are always purple and full of blackberry seeds, which germinate freely all over my garden :-( . As a result, I'm for ever pulling out seedling brambles and bigger. I wonder if the brambles that you think come from roots of plants that haven't been fully killed off by glyphosate aren't in fact simply seedlings from similar bird droppings.

Reply to
Chris Hogg
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Quite a shopping list for the OP. ;-)

Point taken though.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Could be - I'm no gardener. Original brown fingers. But when I do pull out one which has appeared from nowhere, the roots seem to run back a long long way

I don't think they're terribly popular in this part of London with small gardens - but of course will have a presence on railway embankments, etc. Fields are something we just see on TV. ;-)

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Brambles on railway embankments were much better when the on-train toilet deposited its contents on the track ;-)

Reply to
charles

Yeah, but then again, I don't need much of an excuse for a new tool ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

There is no way I am running my hand over those buggers! They have killed more decent gloves than anything else.

I shall try the paint on idea...

Can one thicken glyphosphate with anything to make it more "topical"?

(I have the normal gallup 360 concentrate)

Yup, the problem there is getting to anywhere near the root in the first place.

ok, ta.

Reply to
John Rumm

Ah, ok that answers my question on thickening...

Reply to
John Rumm

I find when dealing with the huge long stems, the safest way is to cut off, and feed it direct into a shredder before it gets a chance to return the favour!

Reply to
John Rumm

;-)

They tend to be most irksome when immersed in already established and sizeable shrubs. (or poking out of bushes, waiting for something soft and squishy to drive past on a mower!)

Reply to
John Rumm
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Like I said already, wallpaper paste.

Reply to
Huge

Or if you're on good terms with your bank manager

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Reply to
Chris Hogg

On a lesser scale, I use a hedge trimmer, then a Flymo. When the brambles regrow, they can be individually picked off or pulled out.

Reply to
Dave W

Only if parboiled with a little salt and pepper.

Reply to
Davey

Yup, saw that after I posted

Reply to
John Rumm

The info. on the Gallup 360 leaflet says not to spray under hedges, so I'd assume the same for (other) shrubs. Weedol does seem to be suitable for under woody growth, so I keep some for that purpose. Now, how to eliminate Aquilagea growing up through heather...?

Reply to
PeterC

I'd like to know the reason they say that. I would imagine it's because of the real possibility of getting the spray onto the hedge itself and damaging it, rather than because it isn't effective on weeds under the hedge.

Which Weedol would that be? Scotts do several products under that umbrella name.

Work your hand down through the heather along the stem(s) of the aquilegia until you reach soil level. Grasp the stem firmly and rip it out! My aquilegias are just going over ATM and beginning to set seed. Rip them out before the seed ripens, otherwise the problem just perpetuates itself. Personally, I like them, especially the purple 'wild' one, so I let it seed where it will.

Reply to
Chris Hogg

Sorry about the snappy tone ...

Reply to
Huge

BTW, if you do make some up, use it all. It doesn't keep - they stuff I tried to keep for future use (i) went runny again & (ii) went mouldy.

Reply to
Huge

Possibly, yes. The Weedol does, of course. warn about drift.

Rootkill Plus.

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Trouble is, they spread everywhere and I prefer various long-flowering herbs. I've let a chunk of the garden do 'wild' but still control it to favour what I want. Getting to the bottom of the Aquilagea is painful (can't use a glove as need to feel the stems) and the roots are in amongst 50-yo heather roots - they just snap off. I have a cunning plan: remove them down to the roots, let them grow several leaves, use a plastic cylinder as a barrier and see if I can spray/wipe then. Need some sort of wetting agent - the leaves are hydrophobic.

Reply to
PeterC

Contains glyphosate

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Reply to
Chris Hogg

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