Himalayan raspberry bush removal

[MarkD]

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Tough pest plant.  Himalayan raspberry seems to have two types of thorns:  big razor sharp thorns  up to 1 inch that can cut you open bad and little tiny ones that burrow into your skin.  Fortunately the plant stem is easy to cut (soft inside)  and the sprouts die from roundup.

Let the re-sprouts from stem get about 6-8 inches before you spray roundup.  Wait a few weeks before spraying.  Some people have written the plants create underground runners like bamboo, but I haven't noticed it much with our property near Volcano Village. It can seem daunting to deal with a big Himalayan raspberry.  They can get 8 feet tall or more and form a 6 foot wide bush, thorns everywhere.   

I know some people who laboriously cut the whole plant apart with clippers.  If you have a larger property where you can have a big brush pile, it is easiest to push the plant over so you can reach the stem, usually 5 inches diameter or less, cut the whole plant, and drag the entire plant to the pile. I use a hand saw to drag it. 

I wear long, heavy  pants and simply push the plant over with my boots, then I cut with big 30 inch handsaw.  But making some sort of "T" pole, 5 foot long stick with 3 foot horizonal bar, would be a safer way to push Himalayan raspberry down  for cutting/sawing. Careful: The plant is dangerous.  If someone somehow jumped or ran into a big bush, or a Himalayan raspberry brush pile, that could require a hospital trip.