Massive area of overgrown ancient fruitbushes, brambles etc...

[MayorNaze]

well, massive means 10x5 paces

huge blackcurrant bushes that don't really fruit any more, decent but very straggly raspberries, ivy and proper thick brambles over everything (couldn't even touch it ith seccateurs )

do i burn the whole lot and start again? how do i start again

is on allotment that i have taken over, hence not sure how old it all is and state of abandonment

u need to leve lit first, hoiwever you do that. Burning might work if its dense and adry, otherwise hacking it all down with a machete or scythe might work.

The problem is you have to get every single tiny scrap of root out the ground, bramble can regrow from a fragment of 1/4".

Maybe the best plan is to kill it all with Glyphosate, then rotavetae it and double dig it. That way the roots left in the ground will be dead when you chop them up with the rotavator. If you rotavate it while the roots are alive you'll have thousands of bramble plants in 3 months time.

I would be inclined to take it all out and start again. IMO it really isn't that hard to deal with a tangle like you're describing, & I definitely wouldn't use glyphosate especially if you're wanting to grow food on it. Yes, bramble can regrow, but its really easy to pull or hoe out once the roots are chopped up.

We took over a big patch which was old raspberry canes, overgrown with brambles & bracken. We started by taking a slasher to it & hacking it all down to a manageable level. Then used a 'digging hoe' ( azada ) to take off the remaining vegetation (admittedly I use this tool for just about everything). We ran a rotavator through it after that a couple of times but with a smallish area like you have you could equally well dig it through with an azada or spade. Then forked through it to get out any big lumps of root remaining. Job done . . .

Glyphosate degrades on contact with soil, its safe for use on ground being used for crops, according to the makers. Farmers use it all the time.

thank you

i am a bit anti chemicals tbh, but know i have to get rid of all the brambles, some stems are nearly as thick as my wrist

so ripping it out and starting again is the way to go, yes? i know blackcurrant bushes stop fruiting after past a certain age, but am not really sure how old they are. will ask around and see if i can find out.

is attacking it with a flame gun thing plausible do we think?

Really, don't panic about the brambles, they look far worse to deal with than they are in reality. I've taken over quite a few abandoned patches in my time, and I would take brambles over a cultivated garden that has couch or bindweed in it any day. Take a long handled slasher to them, & once the long prickly bits are gone you'll find its all much less daunting!

My feeling on the fruit bushes - having been in exactly the same situation in the past - is that the disadvantage of having bushes that are over-run with perennial weeds probably outweighs the cost & wait if you replace them.

Its pretty easy to take a patch back to bare ground, but much harder to get rid of some but not all of what is there, IYSWIM. If I were to keep either, I'd be inclined to keep the blackcurrants, just because they're easier to clear around I would say.

thank you

i enlisted some help and we hacked and chopped for a good few hours this morning. and it looks so much better!!!

am keeping the currant bushes but have pulled out some raspberries, mainly becasu they were spreading downward over the rest f the patch. pulled out some corking bramable roots, in fact my bck is feeling it a bit but in a good way

discovered a gooseberry bush i didn't know i had and also thought i had 1 redcurrant - i have 2!

TAkver -
I've looked at azadas before. What size do you use & how would this relate to your toughness/tallness? Looks like you prefer to fork/spade

Thanks....