[clare]

This is my first posting on this board so hello to everyone. I moved to my lovely home in Roscommon nearly 2 years ago.

I have a dry-stone wall which is thickly hedged with well established brambles which produced pounds of lovely blackberries last year. I have been clearing all the old dead wood, weeds and thatch of years-old dead stuff out of the hedge, exposing the lovely wall and giving the brambles more water and light for this year but the hedge is suffocated with nettles in the summer.

How can I kill off the nettles that are all tangled up with the brambles, without harming the brambles? I cannot get beneath them to dig them out without damaging the bramble roots, I cannot get a lawnmower of strimmer in to cut them and I am concerned that if I spray them, the spray will inevitably get on the brambles and damage them too.

Any suggestions please?

[BlackBird]

Roundup or garlon are sprays that will travel through and kill the nettles for you. But they will also damage the brambles if the spray touches them. You may be better to make a sticky mix of either Roundup or garlon with washing up liquid and carefully paint it onto the nettle leaves. Of course there is always a chance that the freshly treated nettle leaves will rub up against the brambles with a slight breeze, possibly affecting their fruit. So my idea is to try pulling the nettles, with gloves on .

[clare]

Thanks for your reply BlackBird. I had a feeling it was going to come down to pulling up whatever I can by hand. Having said that, the nettles are just sprouting now and are small so I could probably be more accurate with a spray than when they're large and knitted through the hedge. I like the idea of mixing a paste too - I hadn't thought of that. Thanks for your advice.

[verge]

Just even pulling the nettles regularly as BlackBird said will be enough to weaken the nettles greatly. They may start to grow more on the other side of the wall, still allowing a habitat for the many insects they support.

Nettle tea anyone.

[clare]

Thanks for the replies. In the end I just got in there with thick gloves and pulled up all the nettles I could find. I was surprised to see how much weaker the regrowth was. Reckon I'll have it under control by next year's season.

[shefra]

hi clare, and welcome, I have a similar problem, that I posted some time back and got great advice here, difference being you are on top of the problem. Inishindie has suggested along with many other members, to use white vinegar directly on the nettles, safe and will not harm the brambles... check out those posts.