Are Blackthorn Bushes Really Becoming Scarce?

[Kamilavalamp]

I read the other day in a advertisement for blackthorn walking sticks and Shillelaghs that blackthorn bushes were becoming scarce. Is this just a sales gimmick or is it true? If it's true I'm gonna go around like an Irish Johnny Appleseed and plant blackthorn bushes where'ere I go. I'll plant them on the beaches, I'll plant them in the streets, I'll plant them in my neighbor's front lawns when they're not home, I'll plant them in the parks, and the yards, and the pubs, in coffee cups, air ducts, and spare tires. I'll even plant one in me sporran!!! NoWhere you look will the sight of a blackthorn bush evade your vision!!!

Is the blackthorn bush getting scarce? I really do want to know.
If it is after I buy some land I'll plant an acre or so of them.

[GrainReaper]

I've no idea if it's true, I know it is scarcer now than it once was...

Here in the Midwest I make my walking sticks and canes from maple, it's plentiful on my acres so I make use of it, I've a pile drying in my basement to be made into fine accessories for going out and about

[Finistere]

Not in this part of France there everywhere, they use the leaves for an aperitif called epine here, I can't comment on the scarcity in your part of the woods. Kit

[Tarheel]

The only thing reducing our stock of Blackthorn is urban sprawl, kudzu and privet. Raising goats would take care of only two problems here.

[Kamilavalamp]

The only thing reducing our stock of Blackthorn is urban sprawl, kudzu and privet. Raising goats would take care of only two problems here.

That's a shame.

[MacGumerait]

The only thing reducing our stock of Blackthorn is urban sprawl, kudzu and privet. Raising goats would take care of only two problems here.

Tarheel , I assume the goats would take care of urban sprawl and privet ... it is thought that kudzu can survive a direct hit from an ICBM .

[Profane James]

... it is thought that kudzu can survive a direct hit from an ICBM .

I will agree! It has some evil aura attached to it - you can even dig it all up - next summer comes back...insanely resilient. I guess I need some goats.

[Kamilavalamp]

I will agree! It has some evil aura attached to it - you can even dig it all up - next summer comes back...insanely resilient. I guess I need some goats.

Try Napalm, If you scorch the earth nothing will grow in that spot for years. I had to "spot scotch" a 6 foot by 2 foot area to kill some bamboo that my neighbor planted and then spread over to my land. I think he wanted to use the bamboo to poach my property little by little. After it overtook the first foot of my land he tried to have the fence moved over past it. I had to run off his workers and then get a land essayer to mark the property line. After that I started scorching the land to keep the bamboo at bay.

[Finistere]

Try Napalm, If you scorch the earth nothing will grow in that spot for years. I had to "spot scotch" a 6 foot by 2 foot area to kill some bamboo that my neighbor planted and then spread over to my land. I think he wanted to use the bamboo to poach my property little by little. After it overtook the first foot of my land he tried to have the fence moved over past it. I had to run off his workers and then get a land essayer to mark the property line. After that I started scorching the land to keep the bamboo at bay.

Japanese knotweed (fallopia Japonica) will grow on scorched earth, we've got it here and its a nightmare to kill, some idiot decided to bring it here because it looked nice, its been known to destroy house foundations and roads!!!! Kit

[Tarheel]

Though Prunus Spinosa (Black Thorn) grows in higher elevations and colder temps than most places in Mississippi, there a few specimens in the "Pharma-labs" of Ole Miss. It seems someone still brews a fine Sloe Gin Fizz there, (strictly for medical research.)

A young lad found a few years ago that, he could eradicate kudzu by injecting the roots with nitros-oxide. The scientist laughed, at first, but it did work. The kid has had the last laugh with his patent. The kudzu could no longer had viable roots after the injections. (Much like my dentist visits).