Briar patches are thickets comprised of the overgrowth of plants, like blackberry or raspberry shrubs, which are both unsightly and potentially harmful due to their thorny vines. Frequent vines that prove troublesome to the landscape contain wild grapevines and ivy, with both becoming intrusive, invasive and detracting from the appearance of other plant life. Although tedious, based on the amount of growth, briar and vine removal is an issue of eliminating them in the source and following up with a chemical herbicide.
Ivy Vines
Sever that the ivy vines 5 feet up from the ground with bypass pruners or lopping shears.
Grasp an ivy vine and pull it up from the ground. Cut the vine with lopping shears or bypass pruners 12 inches from the base. Put the cut vines aside in a stack. Repeat with the other vines.
Dig around the base of the vines with a garden trowel or scoop shovel and lift the root system from the ground. Put the root system and attached vines in the stack.
Spread out the vines on the ground and spray with an herbicide containing the active ingredient glyphosate, in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions. Even though the vines will die from dehydration, herbicide accelerates the procedure.
Grapevines
Cut the grapevines 1 foot from the ground with bypass pruners or lopping shears. Allow three to six months to your stumps to create leaves.
Spray the stumps and leaves with an herbicide that has glyphosate as its active component, according to the manufacturer’s minimum labelled speed of program. Allow two weeks to the herbicide to take effect.
Pull the hanging stumps out when they decay and die and discard them.
Briars
Dig around the base of the briar plants with a scoop shovel. Using the shovel for a lever, reach under the root ball and then lift up to dislodge it from the ground.
Grasp the briar plant near the base and remove it from the ground. Put the briar plant in a receptacle and carry it into your disposal area. Although cutting edge briars kills them fully, check with the community municipality for guidelines concerning open flames.
Apply herbicide featuring with glyphosate as its active component in accordance with the manufacturer’s education to the place you removed the briar patch from.