I Hate Green Briars!

[Baymule]

I HATE GREENBRIERS 2019!!!!

There is a strip on the north side of the house that goes from the backyard to the Sheep barn. It is on a property line. The sheep have had the run of it and have done a LOT to clear it out. Two weeks ago we had some dead trees cut down behind the Sheep barn and cut in lengths. We put it all on a burn pile.

Today my husband and I attacked the greenbrier jungle. There were several dead blackjack oak trees laying on the ground, covered in briars. It has been an eyesore.

This morning we started here.

Two hours later we did this.

And this.

We made two more loads in the Mule. Hours later we could see progress. We were tired, dirty and time to take showers and quit.

I don’t know if you can see a difference, but that’s 3 loads of briars and dead rotten pieces of oak trees gone to the burn pile.

The war on Greenbriers continues.....

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Does the war on greenbriers ever end ???

 

[Baymule]

Burn pile.

 

[Bruce]

Oh boy, weenie and marshmallow roast at Bay's!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Progress is progress!

 

[Baymule]

There's a bunch of trees in there that we want cut. We're swapping 4 Australorp laying hens to a neighbor for cutting them down, then into fireplace lengths for our DD and family.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well, we have moved our "battles" a few miles, but there certainly is a bunch of that stuff all over this 1.2acres.....
Sure looks Good!!.....and I know ya will feel much better when ya light a match.....

 

[greybeard]

Does the war on greenbriers ever end ???

It mostly did for me. Only lasted about 2 years, but this place was covered with them at one time. I have a few left on the 60 acres of cleared-from-forest pasture, but their days are numbered as well. My sister, about 5 miles up the road from me has been battling it for 20 years on 5-6 acres, trying to grub and dig up each and every tuber. I've seen her with some nearly as big as a watermelon and so heavy she had to carry them in a wheelbarrow.
She will never ever ever get rid of them........they will outlast/outlive her, and probably the life of whoever gets the property after she is in the ground herself if they follow the way she was doing it.. She will get rid of the visible part of them, but once she gets to where she can't keep it cut down or grazed down by her husband's hair sheep, it will be right back. The tubers are energy storage vessels of extreme efficiency and duration, and they continue to grow even if the above ground part of the plant is gone. Similax also reproduces by seed and the viability studies of seeds within the seedbank of old growth similax rotundifolia show to be at least a decade long. Plants coming up from seed 'can' be controlled by cutting and grazing, as those individual plants have not yet developed an extensive tuber in which to store energy, but the tubers from older plants ensure the plant will come right back as soon as something happens to allow the above ground growth.

What is above the ground is the least important part. What is below the ground can sit there patiently for years and years...waiting for 'something' to happen.......that 'something is almost always
1. The landowner gets too old to keep it cut down.....or
2. Livestock (for any number of reasons) is removed for a period of time. 1/2 of one growing season is what is usually required in the southern USA. (It's an evergreen and grows year round so that means within 6 months of stock removal or rotation, all those cut down vines will reappear.

It's kinda like our lawns. We can mow/cut them every week from now until eternity and they just keep growing back...greenbrier has a LOT more tenacity than our lawns.

Most states have laws requiring that all known flaws in property be divulged when selling. IMO, the existence of invasives such as underground greenbrier tubers should be included in that disclosure form.

 

[Baymule]

This morning we lit up the burn pile. I sharpened up the machetes and we hacked on green briars. I put the Sheep on the pipeline to graze, Ringo grumbled at me because he didn’t get to go.

We did two loads on the Mule and quit. It’s looking better.

 

[HomeOnTheRange]

Sweet! Nice job