Himalayan blackberries are not native, they don’t play nice, and they grow back faster than most people expect. A cane that gets cut to the ground in spring can be six feet tall by midsummer if the roots are still intact. This is a real problem in the Pacific Northwest, where the climate is basically custom-made for them.
This is what actually works, in order of how most jobs go.
Step 1: Cut everything down first
Before you do anything with the roots, cut all the canes back as low as you can get them. Use loppers for anything pencil-thick or smaller, a pruning saw for bigger canes. Heavy gloves are not optional — the thorns go through regular garden gloves. Cut everything into lengths short enough to bundle or bag.
Do not try to pull canes out from a standing thicket. You will just tangle everything and exhaust yourself. Cut first, then deal with what’s left.
Step 2: Dig the crowns and root balls
The real problem with blackberries is the root system. The crown — the woody mass at the base of the canes — can be several inches across on an established plant. If you leave it, it will send up new growth. If you only cut it and don’t disturb the soil, it will send up new growth even faster.
Use a mattock or a heavy grubbing hoe. Dig around the crown and lever it out. On good soil this is manageable. On compacted clay (common in Vancouver) it is hard work. For a small patch you can do this by hand over a weekend. For anything more than about 100 square feet it gets tedious fast.
Step 3: Follow-up cuts for the first season
Even after digging, you will get regrowth from roots you missed. Small sprouts are easy — cut them at the base when they appear. Do not let them get established. The first summer after clearing is the critical window. If you stay on top of it, the root system runs out of energy and dies back. If you let the regrowth go, you’re basically back to square one.
When to hire someone
A small patch along a fence line — say, 20–30 feet — is doable as a weekend project if you have the tools and the time. Larger areas, steep slopes, or anything with years of established growth is a different story. The canes get woody and thick, the crowns are massive, and hauling all of it away is its own job.
I work on blackberry removal jobs in Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and around Clark County. Send photos of the area and I can usually give you a rough price without coming out first. Most jobs include hauling the debris away, which is often the part people underestimate.
Text photos to 971-277-1032 and I’ll give you a price the same day. Covering Vancouver, Camas, Washougal, and Clark County.
What about herbicide?
It works, but it’s slower and has more caveats than most YouTube videos will admit. The usual recommendation is something with triclopyr, applied to cut stems right after cutting. Foliar spraying is less reliable because the waxy leaves shed a lot of it. Near water or on slopes you need to be careful about what you use.
Herbicide is often better as a follow-up tool after physical removal, not a replacement for it. For a heavily overgrown area, cutting and digging first is going to get you further faster.
The short version
- Cut all canes low before anything else
- Dig the crowns and root balls out — don’t just cut at ground level
- Cut any regrowth immediately for the rest of the season
- Haul everything off-site or it will re-root
- For large areas or if you’d rather not do it yourself, it’s a reasonable job to hire out