Bramble treatments, for example, can be applied as soon as leaves fully open in spring, but the period between when fruit-bearing ends in midsummer and when leaves change color in fall is the time for optimal impact. Timing impacts success, so it helps to understand the plants involved and schedule treatments accordingly. Timing Tactical TreatmentsДifficult woody plants and brush can be treated throughout the growing season, but your results may vary because of seasonal changes in the way these plants grow. Known as systemic herbicides, these brush-fighters work to leave no plant part untouched and meet brambles and itch-inducing ivies on every advancing front. To control these plants effectively takes an herbicide that can move or вЂњtranslocate' within the plant once it's absorbed by leaves, stems or other parts. With tough, woody brush and vines, every part left untended means a repeat of the problem is in store. 1 Poison ivy roots seldom go below 12 inches deep, but they can spread up to 20 feet wide below the surface, while their vines clamber up to the tops of trees. While most roots on wild blackberries stay near 1 1/2 feet deep, some can go down more than 6 feet. Known as contact herbicides, they don't move through plants to reach other parts, such as the far-reaching roots on tough vines and brush. Some herbicides can help temporarily, but they work by killing only the plant parts they touch.

Fighting on just one of those fronts can knock back berry bushes and slow their prickly advances, but the problem persists unless you do battle on all fronts.

Poison ivy and other tough brush and vines spread in much the same ways. Add the multitude of tiny seeds a mature, berry-covered bush produces - which are dispersed near and far by birds and wildlife - and you have a bramble explosion on your hands. New plants also form wherever cane tips touch the ground and root. Berry brambles spread from the base of the plant, known as the crown, where stems and roots meet at ground level, but they aren't limited to one type of growth.Д«rambles spread by arching, above-ground stems called canes and by underground stems, known as rhizomes, which can pop up to form new plants where you least expect them. Tenacious brush and vines rely on several ways to take over new territory. Woody brush and vines, such as berry brambles and poison ivy, can be difficult to eradicate, but with the right approach, you can take back your landscape and put an end to their rambling threats. Wild blackberry fruit can be a welcome surprise when brambles make their way into your landscape, but when summer wanes and their fruit has passed, these fast-moving, thorny thickets become major headaches.

Poison ivy 2 lily cover