Currently trying to restore a garden which has been left wild for years.
There are loads of brambles - some of them have huge stems of wood 3" in
diameter so they've been there a long time.

In order to dig out brambles I've read somewhere that you only need to sever
the roots below the point where the new shoots emerge, which is at the
knobbly area where stems meet roots, similar to that area of a grafted rose.
The cut roots left below this area will rot away and not produce new shoots.
Can anyone confirm this?

I don't know if it's always true, but that is my experience.

On 11/04/2014 10:45, Chris Hogg wrote:
On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 08:46:55 +0200, kay
wrote:


Frank Booth;1000782 Wrote:
Currently trying to restore a garden which has been left wild for
years.
There are loads of brambles - some of them have huge stems of wood 3"
in
diameter so they've been there a long time.

In order to dig out brambles I've read somewhere that you only need to
sever
the roots below the point where the new shoots emerge, which is at the
knobbly area where stems meet roots, similar to that area of a grafted
rose.
The cut roots left below this area will rot away and not produce new
shoots.
Can anyone confirm this?

I don't know if it's always true, but that is my experience.

Mine too. Provided the OP gets the 'core' of the roots out (not a very
botanical description, but it's the lump in the middle from which both
stems and roots emanate), it won't re-appear. On brambles smaller than
the OP described, I loosen the soil and then work my fingers down,
around and under the core and then just heave it out by brute force.




Of course the term you are looking for, Chris, is 'crown', which I'm
sure you know. Irritating how these things escape one at just the wrong
moment.
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay