Trying to eradicate blackberry long before any chemical product came onto the market was a farmer’s nightmare.
Imagine dealing with blackberry 20 feet high and on the West Coast a singlebush being 130 miles long and land areas where blackberry covered over 3500 acres.
It’s enough to make anyone get rather prickly!
Here are a few extracts from various papers around the country that reported on the progress of blackberry eradication.
The apparently hopeless task of eradicating blackberry was the subject of discussion at the meeting of the Waitotara County Council — Cr. Campbell reported the case of two settlers in the Brunswick district whose property was over-run with blackberry, and who were constantly being warned that if they did not clear their land they would be fined considerably more than they had been on previous occasions.
It was pointed out that there was no hope of them ever eradicating the blackberry, for it literally covered the place.
The Gisborne Times reported on a rather large blackberry bush back in 1925. Image / Papers Past
Objection was made to the system dealing with the offenders who did not comply with the Government’s regulations governing the eradication of blackberry, in that certain settlers were made an example of whilst others escaped.
Incidentally, it was stated that there were approximately 3500 acres in the Brunswick Riding that were over-run by blackberry and gorse.
Mr Richie: I know a blackberry bush on the West Coast that is 130 miles long!
Another member stated that the Government inspectors did not use discretion in the way they enforced the eradication of blackberry laws.
The law should be enforced in cases where blackberry appeared on property in small patches only and not where there was no hope of eradicating it.
It was stated that the Government was asking farmers to clear a certain amount of their land each year.
Mr Ritchie: That won’t clear it.
The discussion lapsed without further comment.
Blackberry dies under new chemical
Northern Advocate, November 26, 1949
Many New Plymouth residents and visitors to New Plymouth must have been considering recently what must have been considering recently what has been causing some areas of fully-grown blackberry on the roadsides suddenly to wilt and later, from all outward appearances, appear quite dead, wrote J.F.B in the Taranaki Daily News.
No doubt many of last season’s blackberry pickers must have been annoyed to find their favourite area apparently killed out by some “thoughtless person”.
On the other hand, farmers, and research workers from all parts of New Zealand and Australia are watching and waiting for the results of the experiments, for blackberry has laid waste many thousands of acres in both countries.
The chemical being used was applied in Taranaki on a fairly large scale before being sent to other parts of the southern hemisphere for trial.
Its effectiveness on blackberry was found by accident when in a trial on red oak in America some bramble (blackberry) happened to “get in the way” and was killed.
The man who made this discovery carried out more work on blackberry, and the chemical that is now doing all the damage round New Plymouth was developed.
The first trial carried out with this chemical on blackberry was so successful that more trials were laid down immediately, and research workers came from all parts of New Zealand and Australia to see how the blackberry was affected.
The results were good, and each of the research workers took with him samples for trials under different climatic conditions.
Very encouraging reports have since been received.
Australian sources report that their blackberry has definitely been killed.
The roots have been dug up and have been found to be dry and brittle throughout.
In an experiment near Christchurch,blackberry has also been classed as “definitely dead”, but in the majority of other trials the mixture was sprayed on to the blackberry only recently so that conclusive results are not yet available.
The effect on blackberry sprayed locally has been slow but sure.
The foliage wilted and the normally green stems first became blackened, then after about a month it changed to a greyish white colour and was found to be dry and brittle.
It was found that the effect on the large fully-grown bushes was the most spectacular, the large canes being easily broken and snapping cleanly.
Experiments have shown that large bushes should be treated rather than small re-growth, which does not have enough top growth to absorb sufficient of the spray to have the maximum effect on the large root system.
It has been found, too, that the majority of the spray is absorbed through the stems rather than the leaves of the blackberry, because large volumes of total liquids per acre must be used in a machine that produces a high pressure so that the spray may be driven past the leaves and on to the stems.
Apparently the time of application will influence future work on blackberry.
This latter method has still to be tested thoroughly before it can be recommended for general use.
In the meantime it seems likely that this new preparation will be very successful on well-established blackberry if sprayed during the period from mid-summer to mid-autumn.
The killer, in the form used in this work, is an oily liquid that will emulsify with water, forming a milky liquid.
It is non-corrosive to spray equipment, does not constitute a fire-hazard and is non-poisonous to livestock and humans.
It will be economical to use as only one gallon of the commercial preparation of the chemical is necessary to spray an acre of blackberry.
This gallon should be mixed with 80-100 gallons of water per acre.
