Graham

Papyrifera.

Sycamore.

Pyracantha.

I can't recollect ever seeing thorn root from pleachers in a hedge. maybe they can as hazel certainly will. I had to lay some thorn very low a few years ago to fill a few gaps as there was no other way around it without dead wood. I do know the regrowth in the few low sections of 300m of hedge was very poor. Better to put in dead wood and keep a good build with the addition of a few transplants to fill any gaps.

Thanks David. Good luck with match.

Sounds good. Just not too flat for good regrowth.

The matches are under way. A bit of practice before the start proper. Saturday and Sunday's hedges.

Looks like fireblight.

I've done it on and off for 35 years. Concentrated more on it in the last three years and into the competition side too. Some people pick it up really quickly and can be making a reasonable job on easy hedges in no time at all. Others can do it for years and still be like a pig with a shovel

Just about sums me up too

There are plenty of decent lads and gals out there. My son wasn't academic but followed school advice doing some useless course at college. He needed money so worked on a local farm starting at 3.30am feeding, moving milkers around the yard and keeping everything clean. He got a full time job shepherding and living on site with the sheep for twelve months before moving back full time to the first farm. He's now in plant hire, HGV and farm contracting. Learned to lay a hedge and fell trees from me. He'll work 16 hour days if he needs to and lives comfortably with his girlfriend. He's 23 and his mates are all workers too. My daughter, who's 21, funded her own trips to Asia by working and saving since she was 14. She's studying French and Spanish at Uni. This summer she took herself off to Mexico and Central America. Last week I took her to the airport as she's studying in Quebec until Christmas and then on to Uni in Valencia. Neither of them have ever asked for money or expected it. Proud of them both.

Stronger attachment than it looks. It's a balance really. Leave too much attached and the pleacher (laid stem) will produce too much growth. You need the pleacher to live and the stool to produce lots of coppice growth. Many people are afraid to cut too much and you end up with a poor hedge that won't lay well in twenty years time.

Personally I've not found it creates a flat spot and if it does it can be tuned out anyway. If you replace the accelerator pump it will only wear out again fairly quickly. The nature of the saw's use ie constant on/off throttle sees to that. This mod is a one off fix unlike a pump repair.

This pic shows a carb cut in half which is of no consequence. The aluminium welch plug shown is removed and the small chamber is filled with epoxy putty or glue. Leave it 24hrs to cure and make sure it's not proud. It blocks off the leaky pump which causes the problems. Saws run just as well after but you'll need to alter carb settings to suit.

You can do a repair to the original carb by blocking off the accelerator pump. Fixed all the issues on two of mine.

Pyrus prob Salix caprea and the holly is perhaps altclarensis.

Thank you.

Not very clear photos but looks like Parrotia persica in some ways.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Love it, done it for thirty odd years and as long as I breathe hope to continue :-) Quality hedge laying in Staffordshire, Stafford and surrounding counties.

Lay it and do the job right. This one was at the height of the ivy on the lime and up to 12" diameter.

Looks like something they knock up in India.

You might just squeeze a secondhand Panasonic FZ1000 into the top of your budget. Bigger sensor which counts for a lot.

Same here last few years. Pretty sure you can't get Bordeaux mixture now so if you've got some eke it out! Spraying after the blossom won't be effective. Start as soon as buds break until the blossom fall.