Brambles

[WhizzyLizzy]

We are bringing a paddock back into use from a very overgrown state with 2 metre tall brambles. So far they have been cut and crushed with a monster of a machine and today they were topped sith the rest of the grass patches. However, we are worried that the roots and large parts of the stems are still there and although the contractor says this should be sorted by the reseeding which will be done this week, I'm a bit worried that this won't stop them coming back quicker than the grass can grow. There are large areas which are just dust and bramble roots/stems. No horses on site yet. All help or reassurance appreciated!

 

[kellybee]

I had the same issue last year - we cut the stubbs off at ground level which will stunt them for a while without light to support the roots. The ones that came back through we sprayed with a selective weedkiller when the leaves started to open out (I forget the brand name now) and strimmed when they withered. A few more came up this year but I've sprayed them again and we seem to have cracked it. Our paddock maintenance chap said the crushing with a heavy vehicle will shock the plant, and the energy the plant uses trying to repair itself will likely kill it off. This time last year the field was a jungle. Now it's just the nettles that need to go.

 

[mandwhy]

You could both do with a horse like mine, she'll hoover up nettles in a couple of days revealing space you never knew you had, and will eat bramble branches up to about a centimetre thick (I have no idea how or why)!

 

[kellybee]

Mine like to pick the leaves off and leave the branches - fussy beggars!

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Thanks kellybee that's really really helpful! At the moment the field looks like a wasteland, but this sounds hopeful! I have a funny feeling that our mare might do a bit of hoovering herself

 

[Polos Mum]

If you're not in a rush could you get some pigs in to turn the ground over and dig out all thr roots before you seed?
Our pigs have been invaluable in reclaiming rough land, they don't leave a single root in the ground!

 

[moana]

Brambles WILL come back, through almost anything, and you may have to just keep trimming them back every year. A 'specific' weed killer will help though.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Thanks, we considered pigs, but need to keep the footpath users onside and also don't have the luxury of time. Also thought of sheep, but not sure if they'd just eat the nice new grass and leave the tough scrambles! Once we have planning permission for our stables we might reconsider the pigs...or maybe later if we don't get the permission we could put up some 12 x 12 pig shelters instead! Thanks for the ideas..we went up today as the trench for water is going in, and the roots go down about 20 to 30 cms...yikes..

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

*brambles not scrambles..

 

[kellybee]

SBK Brushwood killer - that's the one! It didn't bother the grass either

 

[Adopter]

SBK is really good the normal version is fantastic for nettles and dock but leaves you with lovely green grass. My two youngsters have cleared all one side of the paddock of brambles over the winter and not even left me enough to get a few blackberries from! They are currently working their way through my rugosa hedge so I think I will have to get the electric fence out. The also ate off the reeds and rough grass for me as well.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

This is really helpful, thanks. I will be investing in some SBK and zapping them when they come through. Anyone know how long you need to keep horses, dogs etc away from the treated areas? Also, I'm assuming that as some of the brambles are among saplings that we want to keep, I won't be able to use the SBK near the trees? Or is it that specific? I'm sure our mare will be in up to her elbows eating everything tasty at the earliest opportunity, while the gelding looks at her in horror...!

 

[Nettle123]

Grazon weedkiller is excellent for bramble regrowth too.

 

[Adopter]

I have used the SBK on nettles under trees and it has not been a problem. As it leaves grass alone I assume it works on the parts exposed above ground, but if you use the brush wood version it might be different.

 

[kellybee]

We kept ours off for 6 weeks, but we have four paddocks to rotate in order to enable this. I grazed one paddock and sprayed that when I moved them into the next, moved them into paddock 3 and sprayed paddock two etc. If it's been seeded I guess your horses will be off it for a while anyway whilst it establishes?

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Yes, we're still awaiting gates and last bits of fenci.g anyway, but we have about 5.5 acres of which about 2 acres at least has the deep roots. It's all been harrowed today, which has loosened it all up, but left a load of broken bits sitting on the soil. The grass seed goes on tomorrow, so we need to conquer the areas which are in between the trees which the machinery can't get to, and then any regrowth. We can keep the horses off for as long as necessary and will then be rotating paddocks, so it should work ok we hope. I'd rather get on top of it all at the beginning though instead of playing catch up later.

 

[Rob Lakeside]

Grazon and SBK both have the active ingrediance Triclopyr

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

You could both do with a horse like mine, she'll hoover up nettles in a couple of days revealing space you never knew you had, and will eat bramble branches up to about a centimetre thick (I have no idea how or why)!

Mine like to pick the leaves off and leave the branches - fussy beggars!

Today on a walk, my mare was going crazy for the new leaves/shoots on the brambles and new growth on the trees. A few weeks back, all she wanted was gorse.
As she's run on the forest for four years, I trust that she knows what she is doing. It's quite deliberate the way she targets certain plants.

Just wondering for the OP, whether it's a good idea to remove all of the rough stuff?
Having cleared a large amount which will let the grass through, maybe keeping a bit of variety of plants might be good for the horses?

 

[Nicnac]

These tools are brilliant for removing brambles. http://www.get-digging.co.uk/

have tried all sorts of weed killers, but they always seem to reappear (have never had them crushed though)

 

[willowblack]

When we moved house we had two acres of 2m high brambles, once they were topped some grass started to come through then we did a bit of seeding, followed by mowing, ending in a horse and a pony to continue the maintenence :-D never had a problem with brambles coming back since, if you can keep on top of them for the first summer it should be fine.

 

[WhizzyLizzy]

Thanks willowblack, again that's reassuring as the situation sounds very similar. I'll also have a look at those tools nicnac. Always useful to have the full arsenal!