Help, our new property has a wonderful garden spot inside an old, moss covered foundation. However, it is full of wild raspberry bushes!!! What is the best way to remove them??

-- Donna (donnasbooks@msn.com), April 24, 2002

Answers

give them to me!!! oh man! i miss fresh raspberries!

if i remember right, you have to dig alllll the way down to the smallest root. if you cut them down, they grow back.

-- Najia (najia274@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

If you are close to Cleveland, I'll come dig some out . I love my wild rasberries and my wild blackberries produce 30-50 pounds a year (with plenty left over for the our feathered friends) depending on the season.

You'll need to get em out by the roots if you really want em gone.

Mike

-- Mike (mhammer@ix.netcom.com), April 24, 2002.

goats..... they love to eat raspberry canes!!

-- Beth Van Stiphout (willosnake@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Donna, you must dig them up and the haul them all the way to Kansas to prevent them from starting to grow again at your location.

They should be buried to get rid of them, I suggest a normal growing depth. (evil grin here) You may use my property to bury them on. lol.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), April 24, 2002.

Some people dream of having what you have....try selling jam instead. The man who rents my mother in laws pasture mowed. mowed mowed mowed untill they gave up.....now he brags about how nice that lot is.

-- me (crokedcrik@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

Put a sign at the end of your driveway saying "free raspberry plants, bring own shovel" and wait.

-- Chenoa (ganter@primus.ca), April 24, 2002.

If all else fails, use Round-Up, hot water, or salt water to kill them. Someone will probably want them. If you have access to a local paper they will usually let you put a "For Free" ad in for nothing. Good Luck!!

-- Gailann Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), April 24, 2002.

They're selling for 4.99 a half pint here (at the moment).

-- Nina (Ingardenwithcat@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

No, you need to bring them out to Wyoming to get rid of them. Having been raised in the Pacific Northwest I grew quite fond of them. Takes a bit to grow them here. Seriously, goats would gladly munch them down, but digging them out would be best if you're going to garden in the area.

-- Deborah (bearwaoman@Yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

I'd wait a season and see what they produce before doing anything. The wild berries here in Wisconsin have been "doo doo" the past several years. Too hot and dry, hailstorms when they're blossoming, mildew or fungus, etc. If that's the case where you are, it would be a lot of work for a small amount of berries. If however, they are producing good berries, transplant as many as you want into rows in the fall and put a bunch in buckets for sale at the same time. We always have the best luck transplanting raspberries in the fall. We have a raspberry "forest" on the west side of our yard and if we let it go, it would take over the whole yard. We've mowed up to where we like the edge of the yard to be for the past few years and they're finally not growing back where we don't want them. Good Luck!

-- rose marie wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

Please don't poison the Earth anymore than it is. Mow, mow, mow and mow some more? Eat them. Cover bushes you don't want with mulch after you mow them? I don't know, just seems there must be a way without using chemicals that WILL injure wildlife, children and the Earth in general.

-- Susan in Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

I live in the ozarks and black rasberrys grow everywhere here but.. the deer love them even more than I do and I have even had them hold their ground and not run away when I have tried to get some rasberrys for me. I do good to get a full cup of berrys a year. Oh well, They are worth the fight! Did you know that deer sound just like a bear when they are trying to scare you off? I have been told they will sometimes charge but they haven't done that to me yet. I refuse to give up! Pick a new place for your garden and enjoy those berries. try mixing them with coolwhip, put them in a graham cracker pie crust and freeze. Great summer desert!

-- corky wolf (corkywolf@hotmail.com), April 24, 2002.

You can borrow my dog. She eats them before I can get to them.

-- Susan in Michigan (cobwoman@yahoo.com), April 25, 2002.

Mow them every time you see new shoots coming up and I mean mow.Keep at it and they will die.I killed sumac this way.Took 5-6 years.but its all gone now. The Farm Central Maine

-- Ray (thecfarm@midmaine.com), April 27, 2002.

do what i did, sell em 10 for $10 plus shipping and make $200

-- randy in central missouri (rwybrant@coin.org), May 29, 2002.