Help! black berry vines are attacking

[mum4boys]

Our house sits right up against a wetland. Our front door is about 100 feet from our driveway on a very narrow sidewalk (about half the size of a normal sidewalk. One side of the walkway is the wall to our house and on the other side is the wetland. March to September we fight this endless battle with the blackberry vines coming from the wetland. If we do not whack at them, we literally cannot get into our house. We spent two hours tonight digging the vines up from the roots that we can reach and cutting the other vines as far back as we could get if we could not reach the roots. I am convinced the vines actually have a brain and our plotting our demise. I cannot tell you how many times are shoes came untied or we got wrapped up into a vine or a vine from somewhere else snapped back and hit us in the face and hands. Yes are hands are shredded even with gloves. It is only March. Does anyone have any ideas what to do so we can win this war. We thought about renting goats but boy is that expensive.

[lmonter]

All I can think is post on freecycle or craigslist for blackberry canes, free for whomever comes out to dig them up.

After that, all I can think is dig a trench (renting one would probably be nicer on your back), however deep those roots seem to go, and put some kind of strong barrier down (cinderblock or concrete forms lined with moisture barrier something?) in the ground and up so they have a much harder time migrating.  Not sure whether that'd be feasible or not, or whether it would work (or if those canes would outsmart it and just go even deeper in the soil).

[mum4boys]

The canes are seriously smart. Some of them go back 20-30 feet into the wetland. We cannot build anything because literally it is the wetland and the half sidewalk to our house. Thanks for the help though.

[tinuviel_k]

Originally Posted by lmonter 

All I can think is post on freecycle or craigslist for blackberry canes, free for whomever comes out to dig them up.

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Sorry, but I couldn't help it. Here in Washington state you could not give away blackberry canes if you had $100 bills fastened to the branches. Himalayan blackberries are a big invasive weed here and they are EVERWHERE. They have a mind of their own and just take over. The entire western half of the state lives in fear of these suckers invading their land, LOL!

OP, the only way I've seen to get red of them besides hardcore rental equipment is goats. And you are right, renting goats is so expensive! I wonder if you could pick up two or three goats on craigslist and then "re-sell" them after you are done?

[lmonter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tinuviel_k 

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Sorry, but I couldn't help it. Here in Washington state you could not give away blackberry canes if you had $100 bills fastened to the branches. Himalayan blackberries are a big invasive weed here and they are EVERWHERE. They have a mind of their own and just take over. The entire western half of the state lives in fear of these suckers invading their land, LOL!

Glad I got a giggle.  :)  Wasn't my intent, but that's okay.  I'm used to the drier part of the state, my bad. 

Good luck tracking down some goats.  :)
 

[mum4boys]

I was speaking to my dad and he said we really should get pigs as the pig will actually root out the vine.