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["Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>]

 I have personal experience with Himalayan blackberry and have seen it take over acres with SOLID tangles of vines over ten feet  high.  The canes easily go 20 feet or more and tip layer wherever they touch.  Any piece of root left in the soil will sprout.  And the vines go UP into trees, and can totally bury trees that are less than 20 feet  tall.  Kill them off with herbicide and a lawn of seedlings sprouts where the old vines were.  
Yes, the fruit is good, but I'd  prefer something less invasive.  The irony is that there's a disease that might control the Himalaya berry, but it hasn't  been released here  in the NW because of the commercial caneberry industry here.
-Lon Rombough
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Grapes, writing, consulting, my book, The Grape Grower, at http://www.bunchgrapes.com  Winner of the Garden Writers Association "Best Talent in Writing" award for 2003. 
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On May 24, 2009, at 5:55 PM, Ginda Fisher wrote:

It's invasive and vigorous, but the fruit is supposed to be very  
tasty.  And I don't think you need to feel guilty about allowing an  
invasive alien that's already well established to grow on your  
property.  On the other hand, it might be hard to keep in check.

Ginda
eastern MA, zone 6


On May 24, 2009, at 5:46 PM, Betty Mayfield wrote:

> Andrew,
>
> If you have Himalayan blackberries, the canes will get much taller
> and reproduce as the tips of trailing canes hit the ground. An escape
> from garden plants imported in 1885, it is considered a noxious weed
> in the Pacific Northwest. What part of the country are you in?
>
> A good description and history from a professor at Oregon State
> University can be found at:
> <http://www.ars-grin.gov/ars/PacWest/Corvallis/ncgr/cool/rub.aliens.html 
> >
>
> News from California is at:
> <http://www.nps.gov/archive/seki/snrm/nnp/html/badrudi.htm>
>
> A noxious weed alert from King County, Washington, is at:
> <http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification/blackberry.aspx 
> >