Tom's Blog

For the past two weeks we have been carrying out a big push to control brambles in our savannas. The successful burns we had about a month ago top-killed most of the bramble canes and they are now resprouting from the base. A perfect time to spray, because they are relatively small, which means we don't need to use much herbicide. Also, we can avoid most of the "good" plants nearby.

We are dealing here with two major bramble species, black raspberry and red raspberry. The latter is the most difficult, because it forms dense clones of short, closely growing stems. Black raspberry, on the other hand, has long arching stems which tip-root, making a traverse of the area difficult. We also have the occasional blackberry and dewberry patch, but these are easier to deal with.

We have been spraying every day for the past two weeks, with personnel varying from day to day. Tuesday May 20 we had six people, four paid and two volunteers.

I have found it very advisable to wear thick, bramble-proof pants for this work. You have to wade right into the middle of these patches to get every plant.

The weather has been great for spraying, although we really need some rain.