Looking for a strong killer to kill ivy and bramble. My flat is near to the countryside and am constantly getting ivy and bramble coming in, nightmare
Brambles are a nightmare need a few treatments before the finally die. Vitax SBK is apparantly a good killer of brambles, haven't used it myself, I normally use Kaskara/Broadshot which is a great killer of Japanese Knotweed,Docks,Ragwort, Brambles, Marestail & a few other weeds, usually one treatment is enough, it's a selective herbicide, but can be difficult to get for general public, seen it on Ebay. I also use Rosate 36 (freely available on Ebay) made up stronger than normal dose,200ml into about 10litres of water in a knapsack sprayer, but bramble may need a couple of treatments. BUT, wear a respirator & eye protection, I also wear gloves when mixing & when using any weedkiller, especially ones above.
I've been using Roundup tree stump and rootkill, works like a normal weedkiller but much more effective. Seems to kill of ground elder, at least for a while. I guess it should be sprayed twice a year, I need to do mine now.
I've order 5lof the Rosate 360. A bit out of hand in my garden so needs to be got rid of. Thanks for the replies.
Jit, one word of warning with the Rosate 360, it not selective, & kills any plant immediately you spray. If you have plants to protect, I use a large thick offcut of ply/cardboard around the plant tto protect against the spray.
A few weeks ago, I chopped down some really old and an inch and a half thick brambles from behind my back fence, I chopped them down to the ground and soaked what was left in ordinary spray roundup. Came back to them about a month later and they are all brown and soft and came out easily. I've been digging out the roots and the roots look pretty dead as well. Also did a persistent fuscia and some wild honeysuckle and they seem to have gone the same way!
No doubt, as the roots lead behind next door's fence and I can't get to that to spray it! I've dug out all the roots anyway, hopefully that's that!
Woke up at 6:30 this morning and have cut down most of the bramble. Flat is right next to a field so it will keep coming through. plenty left to make jam Will try and get a pic of it this week. One bramble was about 1" in diameter
Normally you treat ivy at it's base, not up the tree, so cut the ivy around the whole trunk about 1ft above the ground, then treat the ivy stumps, I paint them with weedkiller, some large ivy stems, I've drilled a hole them & fill it wih weed killer. Ivy is pretty persistant. Read this linky: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=192
I ordered 5L of the Rosate 360. Put some in a little spray bottle and sprayed on bramble. After 10 days the bramble was easy to pull out. Instructions are quite extensive and I have just used it neat.
Seems quite thick. Will dilute with water to make it thinner so easier to spray. From my window there is meter of bramble. Going to be a nightmare to contain.
By diluting it will be easier for leaves to asorb it. With Rosate 36 you can use 50ml to a litre of water for brambles, for other weeds I use 20ml -30ml per litre water in a sprayer.