The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Land Management => Topic started by: FahransFeathers on April 06, 2022, 08:25:34 pm
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Hi
our new place we've realised has quite A LOT of brambles!
while not an issue for me really it is for when we need to move the horses, donkeys and sheep from field to field as you can hardly walk through some areas!
what is the best way to deal with brambles??
farmer coming to top the field?
burning??
Any ideas really helpful
thanks
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Depends on the area, I've been having decent results with either a heavy duty mower or a mulch blade on a brush cutter
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Our neighbour has been struggling to control his bramble patches for years. He keeps cutting them down to the ground and they just come back. On the other hand we no longer have bramble patches, but it's taken a lot of effort. Basically strim round each patch and (with a sharpened small spade) cut through the roots about 4" down and pull them out. Strim around again and remove more until the patch has gone. Then repeatedly mow the area and dig out any strong growth. We started by removing about 10,000 many of which had roots both ends. We now remove perhaps a dozen every year.
The annoying thing about brambles is some are below cutter height and you can trip over them. Walking around our place used to be a real hazard.
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I have been dealing with a lot of brambles recently and our group has tried a strimmer / finger mower / and even manually with a sickle.
The guy on the sickle did surprisingly well but I doubt many will want to put the effort in that he has.
My weapon of choice to cut the bramble down is a medium length battery hedge trimmer. I was able to just wave this thing about in front of me and cut down to ground level without a great deal of trouble. The benefit is cutting the bramble into small peices to make raking easier.
The battery is a lot gentler on the ears than a petrol version.
I cleared a 20x30metre square area in about 6 hours of labour. I still need to dig all the roots out and keep mowing to stop them coming back though.
The exact tool was a stihl hla 65 hedgecutter
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We find the only way to remove them completely is to dig them out. Cut the excess growth off then mattock the roots out and burn the lot.
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GOATS!
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GOATS!
Can I borrow a couple from you for a few days please, Anke :innocent: :roflanim:
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GOATS!
Can I borrow a couple from you for a few days please, Anke :innocent: :roflanim:
They would need to stay for a while to eat the re-growth... and by then you would be addicted to them!
But honestly, my goat field is thistle and dock-free! Unfortunately most goat do not eat nettles fresh from the plant, but will need them cut and wilted.
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brushcutter and mulching blade