Brambles

These quick-growing plants are able to spread rapidly to create dense, thorny thickets of stems, which are able to root at the tips. The plants produce blackberry fruits, which contain seeds that can grow into new plants. The tough roots are able to grow again when the stems are cut down.

Symptoms

Spreading thickets of thorny, woody growth, which compete with cultivated plants for light, water and nutrients.

Find it on

freshly-cultivated ground, established borders, undisturbed ground, old walls, cracks in paving

Organic

Cut back stems and dig out roots thoroughly. Pull out seedlings and young plants before they become established and spread.

Chemical

Cut back stems of established plants, and treat the regrowth in spring and summer with brushwood killer. Treat the foliage of seedlings and young plants with a systemic herbicide, which will kill the roots as well as the top growth.