Wild blackberry maintenance

TMIL

5 year old buck +
I've got several wild blackberry patches popping up in old fields. I'm thinking a sprinkle of good ol' 12-12-12 is in order. What else can be done to maintain the patches? Deer browse, sure. But I'm mostly interested in the berries. I've been thinking about keeping a path mowed around each for easier access. Perhaps I should leave the width of the path when mowing next year and make the new path next to the old one, to allow them to spread more. Would this be appropriate? Any other suggestions are quite welcome as well.

Thanks!
Trent
 
I've heard mowing every few years keeps the plants vigorous. But I would only mow it once a year. They will grow rapidly once mowed and may be hard to get through. I would probably mow in sections on a rotation and spray permanent paths through it. This will allow easy access for you and the wildlife, give you different growth stages and allow more light to productive areas. I would probably observe the most productive plants or areas and wiggle my trails around and between these areas for easier picking.
 
I had great luck with a shot of roundup nearby. I had lots of burnweed (don't really know what it was. Touch it, felt like you were getting burned by tiny slivers) that I blasted with gly and the blackberries came with a vengeance!
 
I'd guess stinging nettle too, that stuff is nasty. It usually grows by creeks by me
 
Same here dipper, all our trout streams that are not in pasture areas get full of the stuff in June and July. Chest high in some areas. Wicked stuff for sure!:eek:
images
 
Could be. That pic looks like it. I'd get little white slivers from it that I could never get out. Just had to tough it out. But, when i knocked that down with gly, the blackberries came fast and thick. I wonder if spraying a ring around the outside of the current patch couldn't help the patch grow?

My dad let his garden go last year, and the 15 feet closest to the lilacs and plums absolutely filled in with blackberries right away. There was a bush right next to the garden for decades. I imagine the birds ate their share going back and forth between the lilacs and the blackberries and pooped out a ton of seeds that never went bad. Just needed the right conditions to germinate.

Don't quote me on this, but I read somewhere that a small bird will consume and poop out a seed in 40 minutes. I'm counting on this to help spread my natives up north.
 
Unfortunately that is what happens with buckthorn.
 
Try stringing a wire where you want the patches and the birds will land on them like a fence,butting up a bird feeder helps
 
I know fertilizing is a good idea. We pick a lot of wild raspberry.there is one spot in a tree line along the farmers field that produces berries almost twice the size of all the other spots. Only thing I can think of is that he gets some fertilizer in there.
 
This thread is ancient
It is ancient but it is still relevant. Blackberry is a hell of a deer plant but it can get overwhelming. And what ever happened to Dipper? He could disrupt a thread or two at times but he was a deer manager deluxe: he made great deer plots without spending a lot of dollars.
 
It is ancient but it is still relevant. Blackberry is a hell of a deer plant but it can get overwhelming. And what ever happened to Dipper? He could disrupt a thread or two at times but he was a deer manager deluxe: he made great deer plots without spending a lot of dollars.

Overwhelming...you got that right. Ever seen a ten acre solid patch of blackberry briers. It’s not good. Really changes my perspective on blackberry. Everything is good in moderation but beware of blackberry briers. They can take over and get out-of-control.


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Overwhelming...you got that right. Ever seen a ten acre solid patch of blackberry briers. It’s not good. Really changes my perspective on blackberry. Everything is good in moderation but beware of blackberry briers. They can take over and get out-of-control.


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Absolutely correct. Like a plague.
 
It is ancient but it is still relevant. Blackberry is a hell of a deer plant but it can get overwhelming. And what ever happened to Dipper? He could disrupt a thread or two at times but he was a deer manager deluxe: he made great deer plots without spending a lot of dollars.

check out the dipper rotation thread in the LickCreek forum section

Dipper was soil health before it was cool

bill
 
I don't know where you are at but blackberries are an invasive here. Lot's of money spent trying to keep them under control or eradicated.
Absolutely correct. Like a plague.
I consider it invasive. I've been lucky and haven't had any take over but there are pastures locally that have huge patches in them. They burn and spray often and it never seems get rid of it.
 
I also consider it invasive. Grows around mast producing trees and does not allow deer to get to the mast on the ground. Crowds out other species.
 
What I've learned in our area is that mowing once a year has no impact on them, except that you can keep them from producing fruit that year. Two mowings a year that are spaced out - like spring hay and fall hay cutting hurts them pretty bad but doesn't kill the roots. Hay farmers doing the two mowings don't see them hardly at all, but if they quit mowing a field, the briers will be back from the roots in a short time.
 
Blackberries are not a problem where I am. In fact, I have planted cultivated varieties several times with no success. That said, we do have some wild blackberries and there are several twenty foot diameter patches in one area on my place. I have fertilized them when they were flowering and left an adjacent patch unfertilized and there was no different in fruit size.
 
I wish we had more. I only have a few patches of them in unfarmed ground and the stand decreases in size every year.
 
I have a patch approximately that’s about 30’ x 50’ that was here when I got the place. It seems to have a mixture of wild and cultivated varieties in it. The deer loved to browse it but the last couple of years it seemed like it was dying out and/or being over taken by saplings and a few MFR bushes. I took the brush hog to it in September and mowed everything thing to the ground. Come spring I’ll spray the MFR and hopefully the berries rebound.
 
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