# Blackberries are 'noxious weeds' **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 19, 2015, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609 "2015-07-19T14:09:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/21 "2015-07-19T21:00:03Z")
> [@Honey](#): > > Pick a whole lot more, and make blackberry wine. Mmm. I can’t be arsed to go out and find more bushes, as plentiful as they are, and pick them. I got the ones that are handily by the property line. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/22 "2015-07-19T22:04:16Z")
Thanks, **Your Great Darsh Face**! I may try that next year. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/23 "2015-07-19T22:53:34Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > Wash your blackberries, making sure you get rid of any animal life clinging to them, having picked them over and thrown out any mouldy ones - . . . How do you wash blackberries without squishing them? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/24 "2015-07-19T23:05:03Z")
The difference between an invasive alien and a desirable plant can be a fine (and subjective) line. They are both an invasive weed and also delicious. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/25 "2015-07-19T23:27:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > How do you wash blackberries without squishing them? Personally, I prefer to spend a little more care and effort picking them clean and intact, then thry don’t require washing (washing them destroys some of the aroma, imo) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/26 "2015-07-20T00:26:19Z")
Had no idea they were not native. They are a constant battle to keep back from the fence line. The runners grow feet in a day it seems like. Someone should make a movie! :eek: The kids like picking them in season. We make pies, eat them raw by the bowl full, and I may delve into jam and syrup. I still hate the damn things. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/27 "2015-07-20T00:59:13Z")
Make blackberries pancakes or just eat them plain but be sure to check for ants. I picked some in the woods once and when I got home I had a bag filled with tiny black ants too. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/28 "2015-07-20T01:21:56Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > We just moved from central Illinois to the PacNW (like, we arrived three days ago). We have decided to call our house The Brambles. In Illinois only honeysuckle grew with such wild, sprawling abandon. We are new enough to this to be delighted by the blackberries, but we’re shocked by how thick some of the runners get. I grew up and still live in the Chicago suburbs. When I was a kid, we had woods behind the house that were rampant with blackberries. I remember there was a creek in a shallow ravine and, at one point, the blackberry bushes grew over it into a big tunnel where you’d just walk along and pull them from all directions. Sadly, that patch of land is a subdivision now but it was great growing up. The other week I managed to collect a container full of them over lunch at in an undeveloped area out in the exurbs. I thought I’d missed my window since most of them seem to be done by Independence Day but I guess the wet summer has kept them producing. Also had to deal with a trillion mosquitoes but it was worth it for the treat. ---
**Author:** ![Hopeful\_Crow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/da6949/32.png) [@Hopeful\_Crow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hopeful_Crow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/29 "2015-07-20T01:53:11Z")
Ciscoe Morris is our go-to garden guy here in the Puget Sound area. There’s an amusing story about how he accidentally found out what kills blackberry vines [here.](http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/homegarden/article/Ciscoe-s-To-Do-List-1118412.php) Just scroll down a little. Also, goats lurrrve blackberry vines! Around here, you can sometimes see herds of them that the city has rented to clear out vacant lots. They do such a good job that sometimes the blackberries don’t come back. That said, I don’t begrudge blackberries. They’re mighty tasty in a cobbler, among other things. But then again, I don’t own land that’s overrun with 'em, which happens pretty darn easily in these parts. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/30 "2015-07-20T12:04:16Z")
Hmmm, I don’t remember the last time I saw a feral blackberry, and I’ve been all over the eastern U.S. If they were all over the place I probably would consider them a weed since the taste is too insipid for me versus black raspberries. Black raspberries on the other hand, I _have_ seen everywhere in the eastern U.S. Perhaps the black raspberries prevent the blackberries from taking hold? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/31 "2015-07-20T12:06:25Z")
Perhaps you’re confusing black raspberries (?) with blackberries? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/32 "2015-07-20T12:10:48Z")
Along Oregon’s Highway 20 between Corvallis and Newport, there is a twenty mile stretch of road with blackberries on both sides of the road. You can stop anywhere and pick gallons of them. I loved them while I was living there, but the locals despised them. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/33 "2015-07-20T12:36:22Z")
We have blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries strictly confined to one area. The trick is to be able to pick them before the birds feast. Early in the season we have a sour cherry tree that the birds prefer, but once the cherries are gone the berries get stolen. A few years ago I suggested bird netting. I covered the berries with netting, but a bird got stuck and died. My gf was sad. Since then we just share our bounty. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/34 "2015-07-20T13:13:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Early in the season we have a sour cherry tree that the birds prefer, but once the cherries are gone the berries get stolen. That’s interesting. I grew up on a rambling parcel that had been planted in fruit trees about 20 years earlier, so I had the unbelievable childhood luxury of a dozen kinds of fruit and nut trees in the prime of their productive years. (A luxury I had no appreciation for at the time, of course.) Between two eating-cherry trees, an apricot and a plum was what we called the “pie cherry” tree - little, sour cherries that in fact didn’t even make very good pies. (And they sure weren’t edible, which was frustrating because they always ripened a week or two ahead of everything else.) Your comment makes me think the “five acres and independence” type who built the house and property might have put it there specifically as a bird-distractor. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/35 "2015-07-20T13:19:02Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Between two eating-cherry trees, an apricot and a plum was what we called the “pie cherry” tree - little, sour cherries that in fact didn’t even make very good pies. (And they sure weren’t edible, which was frustrating because they always ripened a week or two ahead of everything else.) Your comment makes me think the “five acres and independence” type who built the house and property might have put it there specifically as a bird-distractor. That sounds like a wild-type cherry - it might just have been a seedling from one of the cultivated varieties. (Small, sour cherries are good for making liqueur - slit them, steep them in brandy and sugar for a couple of months, then strain off the liquid) ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/36 "2015-07-20T13:30:16Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Perhaps you’re confusing black raspberries (?) with blackberries? There’s a couple different species, _Rubus laciniatus_ which grows mainly in the Pacific Northwest with some scattered Midwestern and eastern locations and _Rubus argutus_ which grows in the South and along the Atlantic coast. Both are known as “blackberries” and I won’t worry much about which are more blackberry-ish. Interestingly, _R. argutus_ grows through most of Illinois but _R. lacinatus_ grows in the Chicago area and is the type I’m most familar with. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/37 "2015-07-20T13:33:18Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > That sounds like a wild-type cherry - it might just have been a seedling from one of the cultivated varieties. It was of a size and maturity with the other trees, and seemed deliberately placed. But I really have no idea. Family property, long gone. Probably cleared for a McMansion. ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/38 "2015-07-20T13:42:00Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I can’t be arsed to go out and find more bushes, as plentiful as they are, and pick them. I got the ones that are handily by the property line. Okay then, put them on top of ice cream, or in your cereal. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/39 "2015-07-21T06:56:13Z")
I always avoided blackberries because they just didn’t look very appetizing. Then, one time about 15 years ago when I was at a wine tasting, I decided to try some olallieberry jam, not realizing that olallieberries are close cousins of blackberries, and I liked it a lot. So now I’m all about the blackberries. The only thing that I find kind of annoying about them is that it seems like they rot SO fast. If I happen to pick some up at the grocery store, I usually try to make sure to eat them within a day or two. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609/40 "2015-07-21T11:36:22Z")
Gone, all gone. The vast acres of blackberry brambles (rubus fruticosus) all along the rivers and roads, overrunning farms, killing forests, totally inpenetrable to native vegitation and wildlife, all gone following the introduction of “Phragmidium violaceum” (leaf rust) They were certainly lovely to eat, but on balance, few people here miss them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blackberries-are-noxious-weeds/725609.md?page=3)