Am I speaking about the English civil wars of the 1400's? No.....I am speaking about my war against these nasty "wild rose bushes" and briar berry patches that are hell bent on taking over my pastures!
I've sprayed them in the spring with a chemical that is supposed to kill them off when they are just beginning to grow. It does kill the green, then I bushhog down the patches, then they come back even thicker in just a few months! I've read articles that say to dig up the roots after the green of the bush dies off. Well, I can't dig up 3 acres of field! I can't tell you how many dollars we've spent over the last few years, trying to get rid of these nasty things!!! Some of them are wild blackberry bushes too. Trust me, they aren't worth having around for a few buckets of berries.
So this year I have had it. I am spraying them with Killz All. Yes, it will kill any grass in that area too. The briar patches tend to kill off any grass in their midst anyway, plus the livestock won't eat in those areas either, so I don't think I'll be losing any forage by doing this. We'll see if I can keep them from coming back by doing it this way. If so, then I can overseed grass in those areas next spring.
When spraying chemicals, be sure to chose a day that is not windy and where there is no rain predicted for a few days afterwards. Remove the livestock from the sprayed areas until a rain does occur.
Keep your fingers crossed for me to win this war this year! If anyone has any other ideas on getting rid of this nuisance permanently, please send me a note and let me know! Thanks!
The blogs will be every 2 months during the summer this year. If I can squeeze in some more time in between, I'll try to post more often. Thanks for understanding!
