So last summer we bought a house near tillamook on the oregon coast. The back was an impressive blackberry bramble about a half acre in size. Super thick. I have been going at them with sheers and a 2 stroke brushcutter. I got a good portion cleared away this spring. I'm leaving the stocks on thr ground as mulch and so far I've been mowing to keep he new growth down. Eventually I want to get pigs to munch on them.
Since spring the cleared arias have exploded with bind weed. It's nowhere else on the property. Seems the blackberries were the only thing strong
enough to keep this stuff down.
I'm mowing it to try to keep it from flowinging. Since I identified it I have read threw some forums and it sounds like there are few things one can do aside from pulling them every day.
I found a youtube
video from a state extention office talking about a bind weed mite. You can order them from a few different state's extention offices.
It is a microscopic mite that breeds on and lives in the leaf. They suck the juices and I guess move really slow so mowing helps spread the infection. Apparently they don't attack any other plants. Just the
bindweed. They reduce its vigor and slow it's growth and flowering so it is more easy for other plants and grasses to out perform it! Given this plants reputation this sounds almost too good to be true. Can anyone attest to these critters?
