Help, how do I kill brambles?

[lifesabitchandthenyoudie]

I'm drowning in a sea of weeds but brambles take all my time and energy! I have an unrealistically large garden, on a slope, by the sea; it's a challenge but I also try to leave it as natural as possible, and 'garden lightly' so it's not too bad. My only source of utter despair is the bloody brambles (I don't even like blackberries!). They grow while you're watching them, twice as fast when you're not, and if I cut them off at the base they just grow more tentacles - I can't dig the bases out because they're too strong!

I have seen that the dreaded Roundup and Weedol do a 'bramble' killer and am seriously considering trying them. Does anyone have experience of these, do they work? Or is there a better, effective way please? Thank you!

Get someone to did them up. I was horrified as Brambles was my childhood 🐴🐎

Cutting them at the base won't work - they sprout out from buds in the soil. I try and dig out as much as possible, or I do use the weedkiller on some.

They throw out new shuts from-a crown at soil level. If you can cut below this, they won’t regrow from roots.

otherwise, eternal vigilance (no green plant can survive indefinitely if it’s always putting energy into new shoots but those shoots are cut off before the energy stores have been replenished), or, last resort, herbicide

SBK brushwood killer. Grass survives SBK unlike anything containing glyphosate.

I have just cleared a ditch line full of brambles. Some were like triffids the stems were so thick. Scratches all over my legs as they bit back on their way to the bonfire.

It's best to dig them out by the root but not always possible. I went for the cut to the ground option with mine because I wanted to dig out the ditch behind, but my plan is to spray them with SBK in a month or so and again in the autumn to kill them and the nettles off. At home I try and dig them out, now is a very good time to do it before they're growing like mad.

I had success with filling a small jam jar with a bit of SBK, making a hole in the lid and feeding 2 or 3 stems in after breaking/bruising some of the leaves to absorb it all, screwing the lid on and leaving it - I put it under am upturned plant pot and left it to go completely dead. which has helped hinder mine massively

We've had some success with cutting them right to the ground, covering with a couple of layers of the good thick weedproof membrane and a layer of mulch. Some tentacles still find their way through but they're weak and thin so easier to tackle.

Get some ammonium sulphamate, it breaks down into harmless chemicals. Apply once new shoot and leaves appear, it will take a few applications but will work.

Thanks for all your responses and ideas, a few to go with here! Gives me some hope.

@Greensleevevssnotnose eek, apologies! Brambles is an excellent name for a horse! Wish I could get someone; not sure I could afford to pay them enough though! DP could do it but he's got enough on his plate, too.

Yep, this. I had success on my allotment that was like something out of sleeping beauty by suiting up and cutting them all back. Wear eye protection.

Then going in with a knife and cutting round under them to get the crown bit out. Then putting all that in the green bin, not I the compost pile.

We cleared a whole half acre plot of meter high brambles by cutting them back and digging out the crown's. It is hard work but very satisfying.

Thank you for this question and answers we are wanting the answers to get rid of brambles as well

Unfortunately, we don't even get blackberries from them so no benefit at all.

We had loads in our lawn and I just painstakingly cut them out as far as I could with secateurs every time I saw a new shoot. We had had a new lawn laid so didn’t want to dig too much into it or use herbicide. With almost daily work over one summer they just all disappeared - combo of me constantly cutting out the new shoots and lawn crowding them out.

Please don’t use weed killer.
I work with a hedgehog rescue, so many small mammals get poisoned and then we have the collapse of insects due to this kind of gardening.
I just can’t believe people still want to do this.

@GreekDogRescue I know, we don't use it at all but I'm really struggling! I do suffer from ME/CFS so find any work in the garden a challenge, but I will endeavour to use the cutting out method instead. Do you know if the ammonium sulphamate is harmful? Thinking I might wrap the crowns in bags after application if I end up using some.

On another note, is there a way of knowing if you have hedgehogs? We have never seen any in our garden, which does seem strange as it's very wild with only stock fencing at the sides, and natural (bracken, brambles and gorse) either side of us. We do have 2 noisy dogs and a cat...

@lifesabitchandthenyoudie they are difficult to spot being nocturnal and sticking to cover. Also dogs can injure hedgehogs so maybe dog scent deters them.
if you leave cat biscuits and water out in a safe spot that the dogs can’t get at too easily, and persevere no doubt you will get visitors.
You can buy lovely wooden cat proof food feeders from Riverside or cut a hole in an upside down plastic box and leave food in that.
if you move it around rats will
stay away as they are neophobic and hate change.
really worth following HedgehogCabin on Twitter or her website as she is so knowledgeable.
they are rising from hibernation now and many are starving so desperately need a helping hand due to insect decline etc etc