Boy do I remember the blackberries in Oregon! Monsters! I lived on the outskirts of Portland for 3 years in the late 90s. I used to make Jam out of the wild ones. When life gives you lemons... I will never forget the trucks that advertised removal and they had this giant hook swinging in the back. (All new to me as a San Diegan) Your city might be able to help. Especially since it is considered a nuisance plant. City owned lot, they should help.

Although I am in the city here I am dealing with a tree that sends shoots up everywhere, I mean like 100 every 3 months. It's is my neighbors tree. I too do not like the idea of poisoning. Anyway, the moment I notice a shoot popping up I pull it out or lopper it off. If I wait it grows roots of it's own, you know. I can't think of any other way. The seeds also drop and grow. Arrrgh. So it is a constant chore. BUT I am not poisoning or damaging the tree.
Good luck, and check with the city.
Allison

Mow them twice a year outside the growing season and use herbicide during active growth. We mow with a John Deere ride-on mower or a Brush hog. I've used both brush killer and commercial grade Roundup and find them about equally effective, i.e. not that effective. I've used both Scott's Brush Killer and Lilly Miller Brush Killer. All of these herbicides have varying dosages. I always apply at the highest dose if I'm doing brush. Do it when they are actively growing and it's really hot. Spray all surfaces to the point of dripping. Not nice work. I have a dedicated 3 gallon backpack sprayer for herbicide only. I don't spray during the wet season because of the number of frogs and other amphibians. After spraying I do not remove the plants until the next mowing (October and May-June). We rake up blackberry canes that are mowed unless they are mulched to oblivion.

I have the same problem you do, with less rainfall and incredibly persistent natives. Coyote brush is impervious to everything I've put on it so far, apart from digging it out. We cut it to the ground at least twice a year. Herbicide only seems to work on new seedlings, but we give it a dose when we can. The overall quantity is too great to spray all of it. We also have blackberry. I use herbicide a couple of times a year on those patches and mow it to the ground in the non-growing season. The worst is poison oak. I'm in the fifth year of applying herbicide after digging out and removing all the plants. They still emerge as tiny plantlets buried under the mowed grass each year around this time. I nuke them with herbicide because I am terribly sensitive and the dogs run through the stuff and then give it to me. Each patch is marked with a blue irrigation flag so I can find it and monitor it. Seedlings are a continuing problem because it produces berries.

Hmmm, I don't have an industrial strength mower or brush hog.... I'm trying not to acquire "stuff" if I can avoid it. You're saying I should acquire something because there's no getting rid of it, just constant battling it back? Humph!

We had plenty of blackberries when I lived in California... they are a bit more rampant and vigorous here, but they were a huge enough PITA there.

I need to figure out about the tree shoots. It is possible that they are sprouting from the root system that came down in a storm a couple of years ago. If so I am not nearly as worried about poisoning the root system... although, there are lots of others of this tree spread around in the neighboring hedgerows and such... wonder if it's all one thing... I guess that's what poplars DO, isn't it? ARGH! Anyone know how deep the runner roots tend to be?

Maybe I should just get that whole space graded. Actually, the source area for both of the pests is supposed to eventually get a bunch of sewer work done so I assume they will have to dig up an awful lot of the vegetation that is molesting my "future rose garden."

Cass, I never had coyote brush in my yard in Berkeley, but you're on a hillside, yes? Oh... that sounds so painful. I am a hillside avoider after watching the Berkeley/Oakland hills burn catastrophically twice in my lifetime.

Allison, I love the berries, but these vines are really trying to take over the only place I have to grow stuff at this point. I have a quarter acre lot and nearly half of that is in the ravine behind the house (totally uncultivable). Waaah! But there are so many places to pick all the blackberries you want, totally free, that I won't miss the few that I will be preventing on my lot.

Oh totally, I know what you mean. The blackberries I only saw and picked elsewhere. I didn't have to deal with it on my land. It is soooo invasive! I can't imagine having to deal with that. I do not blame you a bit for wanting to get rid of it. It's BRUTAL! I don't remember any other way people dealt with it besides paying for someone to remove it. Slowly cutting away at it doesn't work. Geez, I don't know, unless the ravine area is city property you could enlist their help. That is what we pay taxes for, right?! Remember the squeeky wheel gets the grease.
Allison
ps. My sons name is Nicholas. We call him Nickels. :-)

Talk to a forester about the tree. And get to know the seedlings. Here, Hackberry is a major problem and I know it can be pulled easily up to about eight months. After then, it takes wet soil so the thing can be pulled. It's about knowing the enemy.
Poison Ivy. I think some may be on three hundred year old roots that reach to KY. It just keeps coming back, even when we dig roots out. Now I'm trying some spot treatment with Tordone on cut stems close to the ground. Just a drop.

Also, I've gone around and tried to kill most of the PI going up trees within a half mile of the house. Much of it is on woody stems up to two inches in diameter.

I can't help you with the tree -

But you must be talking about the berry commonly called Himalayan blackberry because our native berry isn't that aggressive - the Himalayan is a listed invasive with a huge economic impact, don't feel badly about resorting to a chemical.

If you can, cut it back now, and I know that isn't an easy task. Later in Fall (late Sept into Nov, you'll have to pick your weather days carefully for dry and clear), spray regrowth with Roundup. The timing is important, spraying earlier results mostly in top kill, but in Fall the canes will take it down into roots and the Roundup will be much more effective.

Thanks morz8. Yes, it's the invasive pest, not the native. It does make great berries. I'm not a berry fan -- except blackberries!

My discomfort with using the herbicides isn't reduced by knowing I'm using it on a pest with an economic impact. It's because herbicides are toxic and I neither want to handle them nor put them into the environment. I'm uphill from a stream (Allison, the ravine is mostly my own property) so I would be a bit concerned about runoff. I also do not want to even acquire spraying apparatus if humanly possible. Unfortunately cost is also a huge factor I cannot avoid (especially after the visit from the nice furnace man this morning).

If I'm going to use an herbicide, it's good to know about the timing. Thanks. And -- anyone else got any comments about the right herbicide to use? I've previously heard, "don't bother with Roundup, it doesn't work on blackberries," and now some folks are saying it's about as good as anything else...

Guess I need to head out there with the loppers. Ugh.

OSU.edu (and WSU.edu) recommends the Roundup (glyphosate) but for use in Fall as mentioned above - "when the plant is sending energy reserves downward and the product is more easily translocated to roots" . It isn't particularly effective long term when sprayed during the growing season. Applied as directed, it has about the least possible impact as any chemical you could use, has no soil activity, and you can buy it premixed at the strength needed, no mixing. It's available in an approx qt size and a larger 128 oz container for the home gardener and they both spray, no need to buy spraying equipment.

If you can manage to cut the canes back now, you'll have a greatly reduced amount of compact foliage to treat later in Fall and will use less product, you'll be able to spot treat each regrowing crown and not broadcast the entire area.

I'd meant to mention too, I am a berry fan but I never pick the Himalayan berry, find the seeds too large and flavor too bland in comparison to the natives. My scratched hands and wrists are just beginning to look presentable again, but I have about 12 fresh gallons of natives in my freezer this year. I had to defrost it and reorganize to make room for them :)

Hey, I'm not saying you have to acquire anything. You asked about your options. If you think your blackberry is a problem, imagine what it would be like uncontrolled on 15 acres. That's why I have mowing equipment. Without it, I'd live surrounded by poison oak, coyote brush, 5 foot tall grass, and blackberry.