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Step-by-step tutorial on removing Japanese barberry. In the first clip, I show the needle sharp barbed thorns along the stem. In the next clip is a very of the base of the plant with no thorns. I grab this part . The next clip, I snip this part low to the ground with a pair of pruners. I gently lift the snipped end of the plant with my fingertips and turn it upside down and away from my body to prevent stabbing. I then carefully bag it up in a large black trash bag. In the next clip, I grab the trunk in the ground tightly with my hand and slide my fingers under the root crown to help lift it out of the ground. I give it a few tugs and the whole thing comes out nice and easily, including all the roots. I shake the dirt off of it. I demonstrate with my thumb which part is the taproot—it looks like a branch running under the trunk with roots running along it. I push the dirt back over the whole and brush the leaf litter back over the spot to try to keep the soil intact and back the way it was. Then I get distracting by a dancing crane fly fluttering around in the leaf litter. The next clip is a young sapling. I pinch the base with my finger tips and just lift it up with my palm. I follow the taproot underneath with my hands to feel where it goes, grab it tight, give it a hard tug and the whole thing comes right out.