When they're in season, they provide scrumptious blackberries for you to snack on during walks in the countryside and woodland. Brambles are very common invasive and vigorous shrubs capable of multiplying and growing very rapidly. They prefer sunny spots: in woodlands you will find them in clearings rather than in shaded areas, or where the vegetation gives way to meadows and fields. They line ditches, paths and walls, settle in abandoned buildings, occupy uncultivated areas and invade meadows.
These weeds have suckering roots, which every year sprout suckers that grow into new stems. In addition to being thorny, the branches themselves can form new roots and thereby generate more plants. It is thanks to these mechanisms that brambles are capable of intertwining to form large, impenetrable thickets up to 1.5–2 m tall and higher, which is why they were formerly used to demarcate property boundaries.
There are several species of brambles: the genus Rubus is a group of plants with similar characteristics and which aren’t always easy to distinguish from each other — even expert botanists have their work cut out! The most widespread species in Italy are Rubus ulmifolius, known as the elmleaf blackberry, and Rubus caesius, known as the European dewberry. Today we will investigate which tools and techniques you can use to eliminate brambles without resorting to herbicide or shrub killers.
When is the best time to get rid of brambles?
You may find yourself having to get rid of brambles when they start encroaching on your garden or vegetable patch. Or if you decide to clear an overgrown area, for example to expand your vegetable patch or transform it into a vineyard or orchard with the aim of increasing the amount of food you grow for personal consumption. You don't have to uproot brambles, you can choose to keep them as hedge partitions, windbreaks, or to support biodiversity, but even so, you will still need to keep them in check.
What’s the best season to get rid of brambles? Generally speaking, in autumn or winter, when the plants’ activity slows down and the foliage is less thick, thereby making your job easier. The young branches take root in autumn, so it's best to intervene before this happens. Also during that time, the temperature is cooler for you to work in: cutting brambles requires considerable physical effort, so doing it in hot and muggy weather can be exhausting. Furthermore, to guard against thorns and sharp equipment you need to wear full protective clothing, which can get uncomfortable when you’re toiling under the sun for long periods, making the job even more exhausting and slowing your reflexes. We will talk about protective clothing for cutting brambles in the last section of this article.
Techniques for eliminating brambles with a brushcutter
You can adopt different techniques to get rid of brambles, but in all cases it takes time, which might be as long as several years: it’s not a job that delivers immediate and definitive results. A good system against brambles is to use a brushcutter.
With a professional brushcutter you can tackle both dry brambles, which are the most tenacious, and herbaceous ones, which are less difficult to deal with. However, the technique is the same: proceed slowly, sweeping the brushcutter from right to left and working from the top of the plant downwards. In this way you gradually lower the height of the bramble bush and reach the base of the plant, where you can then shred the fallen branch cuttings with the brushcutter. There is no need to take them away, you can leave the shredded cuttings on the ground to act as mulch, which will decompose over time. Remember that burning pruned plants is prohibited: here you will find our suggestions for disposing of plant waste correctly.
Brambles are tenacious and will grow back from the stumps, so after using the brushcutter, dig up the stumps and roots with the help of a pickaxe or hoe, and leave them to dry out in the sun so as to deactivate any buds that sprout from the suckers.
In subsequent years you will need to manage the regrowth of new bramble stems from buried roots that you weren't able to find and dig up. Cut the shoots with the brushcutter 3-4 times a year between spring and autumn, and also get rid of the stumps and roots: gradually the brambles will weaken, becoming progressively less invasive.
If you are dealing not with a single bush, but a full-on jungle of brambles, start from the least dense part of the bush and cut back the brambles in vertical strips about 1-2 m wide (depending on whether you are on sloping or level ground). Once you’ve pruned a strip, go back and start on the next strip. If the area is sloping, work from the bottom of the slope and face squarely uphill: regardless of how the land lies, the brushcutter must always be on your right, uphill from your body if you are on an incline.
Depending on the type of bramble, with a brushcutter you can use cutting line or fit a bladed disc with two or three curved teeth. Blades and discs are ideal for eliminating the most difficult brambles—especially dry ones, but also herbaceous plants—with the technique we described above, i.e. cutting horizontally and vertically at the same time. They are heavier than cutting line and require a powerful brushcutter (with a displacement of 35 cm3 or more), so in the long run they tire you out more. They are also more prone to kickback, which is a sudden recoil action whenever they touch a hard surface (log, stone, etc.) while spinning at high speed. In any case, to clear brambles all you need is a double curved blade, on which the tips are bent downwards: by the way, here’s how to assemble a brushcutter blade or disc.
Cutting line may be sufficient for cutting herbaceous brambles over a limited area, using the same technique brushcutter suggested for blades. It is also suitable for tackling shoots, which we talked about before, and for cutting low-growing brambles in grass, which are the least problematic. In the latter cases, the best technique is a single horizontal sweep from right to left, keeping the cutting head slightly inclined.
Choose a brushcutter cutting line of suitable thickness, shape and material for brambles, and which is proportionate to the brushcutter’s power output. If you have any doubts about which cutting line or blade is best for eliminating brambles with your Efco brushcutter, ask for advice from your nearest service centre; in the meantime, check out our guide to choosing cutting line.
If the bramble-infested area is quite extensive, to deal with the shoots or to cut brambles growing among weeds, instead of a brushcutter you can use a flail mower, which is also ideal for steep terrain.
Other ways to eliminate brambles
Goats are very effective helpers against brambles and you can keep them in a do-it-yourself shelter. However, you’ll need to protect other plants from their grazing, such as by fencing the animals in so that they can only roam within a limited space, or by wrapping plant stems with goat-proof protections.
Another system for cutting a bramble hedge is to prune it with a hedgetrimmer and a pruner (which enables you to work both on high branches and on shoots and stems poking through the soil). Alternatively, you can use a multifunction brushcutter equipped with the corresponding attachments. As you cut, clear away the cut branches and stems with a rake and pile them up on one side to dry out, then chop them with a flail mower and leave them decompose where they are. Alternatively, you can reduce the volume of cut biomass using a chipper or shredder, then deposit the chopped waste into your compost bin.
Eliminating brambles safely
When eliminating brambles we recommend wearing a helmet, face shield and hearing defenders to protect your eyes, face and head from branch cuttings, wood fragments and any stones that the brushcutter or other tools might kick up. A helmet is essential, especially if the bushes are tall, because the cut branches might fall on top of you.
When using a brushcutter with cutting line, a hedgetrimmer or flail mower, wear a work jacket, work trousers, utility gloves and safety shoes to protect your body—including hands and feet—both from thorns and from abrasions and cuts caused by the equipment. By contrast, if you are using a brushcutter equipped with a blade, or alternatively a pruner, opt for an anti-cut protection jacket, chain-resistant trousers, chain-resistant gloves and cut-resistant footwear.
Here you will find more detailed information on protective equipment for working safely.
