Advice on clearing a hill area of thorns

boardtc

We've an overgrown hill area at the back, 30m wide and a 30-degree slope, full of brambles:

We have no room to get a machine in so any work will be done by hand, I'm not afraid of that, but I'd appreciate any advice to help plan the attack!

looksee

We did have a similar - though not as big - expanse of brambles in this garden when we moved in. Solution…chop the tops off with whatever cutting implement suits. It may help to hire a brush cutter. Clear all the top growth off and leave in a (huge) heap, in a couple of months it will have collapsed into a fraction of the size. They burn very easily when they have dried out a bit. This is just a passing observation, not a recommendation 😋 Meanwhile you have to get out the knob of root that is just under the surface, this is where it will re-sprout from. While you have a huge area, one main root knob produces a lot of top growth, we used a mattock and just dug them up, hard work but it worked.

Get some briar proof gauntlets and a tough old jacket and wellies, and a goggles is a good idea too, those things can whip around.

boardtc

Most excellent advice, thanks!
Hiring a brush cutter for a weekend is the ticket.
I never knew about a mattock, would a small one work? https://www.screwfix.ie/p/roughneck-1lb-micro-pick-mattock-15-/18368
Gauntlet! Only know the word in the context of armour!

Chris_5339762

They're fantastic wild areas for insects and wildlife and produce good blackberries… do you need to remove all of it or can some just be left?

The Continental Op

I cleared a very similar bank two years ago and I continue to clean up the verge along our road which is a similar state.

A decent brush cutter (40cc or more) with one of these does a gratifying job

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00RZH0V4G/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/vdp/11291b412bdd40f4956847f6e9e86be3?ref=dp_vse_ibvc1

The great thing about that cutter is that is turns the brambles into small bits that you can leave if you don't want to clear them up.

Edit> Once I have the brambles and blackthorn chopped up with that cutting tool I just run a mower over at the HIGHEST setting for a couple of months to top off anything that comes back up. A dose of Dicophar helps see off the blackthorn.

https://www.homeland.ie/garden/lawncare/lawn-weedkillers/84714/dicophar-selective

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122372297#Comment_122372297

You need the 5lb mattock, I have the screwfix one and it is absolutely invaluable for heavy work, get one even if you don't use it on the brambles.

Gauntlets are heavy leather gloves with a long wrist cover to protect the area between sleeve and hand, similar to welding gloves, though welding gloves don't tend to be as thornproof as gardening gauntlets.

boardtc

@The Continental Op you likely have a bush cutter but I sense you would be recommending putting this blade on a rental?Some good tips there though I don't think I'll be running the mower on the 30' hill!

@Chris_5339762 there are some blackberries up there every year, just not accessible. I hear what you are saying, though, in our rural location, there is plenty such about.

@locksee some great kit to have there, I've been ripped by barnbles plenty and must pick up something like https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HJL1SW6

The Continental Op

I've no problem running a mower across or up and down a slope but not a ride on and not a massive heavy walk behind. I have a cheap chinese 19inch mower that is very light and will easily do that.

You could see if a neighbor will lend you a strimmer in return for a nearly new bramble cutting blade ;-)

To put one of those blades on a hire machine you will need a mounting bolt unless you can hire a machine with a blade of some kind.

DC999

You can rent goats now in Ireland. Not a wind up. They bring them and pen them in. I met someone who got them and loved it to clear an acre. No idea of the name of the company. But worth a Google. No idea how they are on heavily brambled land.

They use goats to clear land in other parts of the world.

Chris_5339762

Forget all of the gardening gloves in the world, go to the Army and Navy store and buy WELDING gloves. They are the best briar gloves in existence.

loyatemu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122374686#Comment_122374686

this is what Clarkson was doing to clear areas on his farming show, but he also had a robotic mulcher

https://youtu.be/yo4kYYRcywE?si=VomygAhPKk2IKUjc

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122382628#Comment_122382628

Can't agree with you there, I have tried both and the gardening gloves were a clear winner, though it could well be that the brand of gloves makes a difference.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122382703#Comment_122382703

Think it does. I get a really cheap brand of welding gloves and they are great for use with thorns. You don't get much feel for what you are doing so they are only any good for thorny stuff. Sometimes I'll just use the left glove to hold a thorny branch and nothing on the right hand so I can use secateurs easily.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ultimate-Industrial-WGR-Standard-Gauntlet/dp/B06WLMGSKH/

Furze99

My advice would be get a decent petrol hedge trimmer and tackle it bit by bit. That has a much wider cutting swathe than a brush cutter strimmer. Using the latter will also be tough as the brambles fall down on the head, so you have to keep thrusting them off. The hedge trimmer is harder physically to use as you need to bend a good bit but cut about half way up first and then as low down as handy. When you've it all roughly cut like this, then get yourself the strimmer with metal blade and go over it again. Tidy all as you go along. Finally brambles don't like mowing, so if you can get a mower across it after doing all this, that will suppress them. Start off on high settings etc and then gradually lower. After a year or two, you'll have it whatever way you want.

You are removing cover for wildlife though, cover for small mammals etc. So maybe leave parts. An alternative might be to cut a series of paths through it, which you treat as above and keep mowed. That can be a nice feature.

The Continental Op

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122382837#Comment_122382837

No such problems using the bramble cutting head I linked to above. It shreds brambles right down. I agree that flat blades can have that problem but with them you start high and bring the blade down through the brambles. That way you don't have a mass of long bramble stems.

You can even use that bramble head once the brambles are cut to smash any longer bits lying on the ground to shreds.