| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| katie |
What's the best tool to cut down a blackthorn thicket?Between the outer fence and the chicken enclosure is a Sleeping Beauty-like blackthorn thicket - close-growing and very, very spiky. We need to be able to get to the chicken fence to mend holes and I have been using a pair of secateurs and a pruning knife to cut stems/trunks of up to about 3" circumference. There must be a quicker way but I don't know what it is. Any ideas, anyone? |
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| joanne |
Flame thrower and napalm? I don't anything that doesn't involve alot of work to make sure you get all the suckers out | ||||
| katie |
That's what I was afraid of! 
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| Brownbear |
Hire a mechanical digger for the day. Great fun and you can rip it all out in no time. | ||||
| katie |
Now that sounds good.... | ||||
| Hairyloon |
Chainsaw... and a slightly kamikaze nature (with regard to the thorns, not the saw).
Possibly a chainsaw on a stick if you're being girlie about scratches. Personally I try to charge double for spiky things (triple for monkey puzzle  ), but just wade in and rag it to bits... then have a long soak in something hot and medicinal.
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| Green Rosie |
And a cautionary note - if any of your blackthorn scratches start to be more painful and swollen for longer than normal get yourself to A&E explaing that you may have blackthorn poisoning. If they try and send you home without treatment kick up a fuss. Both OH and one of his employees had this, the latter ending up in hospital where they sliced open his hand to get out the poisoning.
Apparently it is caused when the thorn that embeds in you has bird mess on it and is unique to blackthorn. Untreated it can lead to loss of a limb. It is however very rare but worth knowing about. |
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| katie |
Eeek! 
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| stumbling goat |
add to second the concern about being atsbbed by a blackthorn thorn, painful and easily turns nasty.
take care and good luck. sg |
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| Hairyloon |
I knew it was nasty, but I didn't know it could be that bad. |
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| Treacodactyl |
It's been posted before but always amuses me.
Farming With Dynamite P4.
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| Green Rosie |
Neither did we until our employee got rushed to a specialist hospital and was told he could have lost his hand or more. But as I said, such cases are VERY rare. |
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| Hairyloon |
I don't think it is very likely to cause me to greatly modify my technique, but I think I'll monitor the consequences more carefully. |
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| Hairyloon |
I thought C4 was the modern stuff. What is this P4, and where can I get it? [/quote]
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| Dekk |
I have a similar problem. I've tried hedgecutters, chainsaws, manual labour. the only way i wouldn't recommend is chainsaw its very slow and buggers up your saw. apart from that sorry its slow and boring but i would recommend wearing welding gauntlets as they keep 99.9% of thorns out. | ||||
| Rob R |
Persistence. Whichever of the very good methods you choose from the above it will come back, so keep at it. | ||||
| Hairyloon |
Reckon you're doing it wrong.
Trouble is, the 0.1% tend to stab proper deep/ |
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| Tavascarow |
Put an electric fence around it & turn some pigs in.
I'm amazed at what they will root up, blackthorn included. 
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| Dekk |
the good news is the roots are not very deep and can be removed quite easily | ||||
| T.G |
hmmm - and theres me with 30 blackthorns to plant apparently they are great for laying
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| Hairyloon |
There must be easier ways to get laid.
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| T.G |
oh i say 
eta, back to the question: What's the best tool to cut down a blackthorn thicket? someone else by the sounds of things
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| Annette H |
Just spotted this thread. We have a large patch of blackthorn in one of our hedges and can only keep it under control with a tractor and flail cutter, even so it still seems to be advancing into the field.
Using a digger sounds a great idea (why didn't we think of that ?). We often have a friend here with a jcb so will bear it in mind for next time. |
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| boisdevie1 |
Would it not be possible to wrap a rope or chain around the base and then pull it out, either using a winch or car? | ||||
| mochyn |
According to our neighbour (A champion hedger) it's the best for stock-proof hedges. |
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| Hairyloon |
Depending how big it is, I've had a lot of success with a simple bit of rope and a long bar. |
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| kirstyfern |
I use a power scythe (brush cutter) - super bit of kit  It cuts anything up to 3" thick as it goes in (and has been known to take down a 4" feence post!) and as you reverse out it pulls the loose branches back out, I burn the branches.
I'm due to put my goats in the paddock soon so hopefully they will keep it down.... |
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| kirstyfern |
http://www.tracmaster.co.uk/products/power_scythe/
We have the 615L I use it to cut the weeds after the horses have grazed the paddocks, to keep the woodland clear but cutting down saplings up to 3 inch diameter, for nettles, docks and thistles (up to 4' high!), and for hay making (as it cuts a sward safe for animals to eat) My machine is well overdue a service after 10 years, the Honda engine seems indestructable to me! I have bent levers / broken cutting teeth / broken the throttle cable (but I can change gear for faster and slower!) but it still does the job even on a 45degree slope, the best bit is if I get stuck in a bog I can lift it out. Shame you couldn't get all those attachments when I bought the last one (ex demo price £1000 cash) as they won't fit on my model... Depending on how good a job the goats do i may not use it a lot this year!!! |
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| katie |
Now THAT is a cool piece of kit! (Pity we can't afford one right now!  )
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| kirstyfern |
I'm sure the hire shops do them...... I got the guy to do a demo for mum (before I took over the field!) and she was so impressed (he mowed down 6' high nettles to create a walkway to the stream and then found a gate that had not been opened for over 10 years due to the brambles!) she asked how much for the demo model (now filthy!) payment in cash! She got it for £1000, I think they are £1200 + VAT new! |