Badgerland

You can get them from most decent garden centres or on line. Usually get 2 types: one lot comes as a powder, which you can just dust over the roots with. The other sort is soluble and you water it on. I tend to use the powder.

As far as I am aware, the mycorrhizal fungi sets up a symbiotic relationship with the tree, helping the tree to take on more nutrients. It’s why it’s a good idea to reuse some of the original soil if you’re transplanting a tree into a larger container. The naturally occurring fungi is already in that soil, so all you doing is transplanting some of it with the tree. I’ve found it really helps with the shock of moving the tree or other garden plants as well.

For what it’s worth, and only based on my limited experience…… I’ve rescued a similar sized acer palmatum from my sister’s garden when she had it block-paved and it’s survived perfectly. The guys that “dug” it up were not gentle with how they did it. In fact in the end I think they dug around the edge of the root ball as best they could and then lifted it from the ground using chains tied onto the bucket of the mini digger. (Unfortunately marking the bark and snapping a couple of side branches off in the process.) The root ball ended up being about 4 foot across max, but only 8-10 inches deep. I simply tidied up the damaged roots and moved it to its new location with the help of a friend with a telehandler. From my years of growing bonsai, mostly from collected trees, the main thing is to add mycorrhizal fungi to the roots before backfilling with decent soil/sharp sand mix. I sprinkled 2 packets of Q4 rootmore (bought from local garden centre) over the roots and then carefully backfilled with the soil mix. Again having grown bonsaiI it’s essential to get the soil down between all the roots, so no air pockets are trapped. Best way to do this is get a pointy stick (technical jargon!) and poke it through the roots to work the new soil into all the gaps. Then give it a really good dowsing of water. Again it helps gets the soil in amongst the roots. For mine, I didn’t bother anchoring it in any way. As far as I was concerned it was a free tree and if it survived then great, but if not then I’d lost nowt. As others have said, if it’s got to come out anyway, then you might as well give it a bash. Incidentally, I didn’t bother reducing the top growth at all as it was going in a relatively sheltered spot. I have been amazed how it’s settled and given it’s only been in its new spot for 5 years, you’d never believe it’s been moved. Maybe I got lucky!? Good luck!

My usual supplier in West Sussex is having some health issues, so I’m desperately looking for some 8 foot long coppiced chestnut poles, between 7-8 inch top diameter. Clean as possible as I have to split them into at least quarters or preferably 16ths. Need about 25-30. Am based in mid-Wilts so West Sussex is about as far as I want to travel to collect. Anybody out there able to help please?

Don’t know if anybody’s mentioned it already - tbh I couldn’t be bothered to wade through 7 pages of posts as ironically I’m on a short tea break! - baking powder in hot/boiling water will remove all the crap I find. Might need to do it several times if it’s really bad. Bicarbonate just gets rid of the smell.

Thanks Squaredy Yeah. Took me 7-8 years to get around to working out the method through research and trial and error, but have been making small numbers of them for the past 5 or so years. They’re based on a traditional West Country splint baskets but modified to suit modern use. The old ones were 3-4 times the weight of one of mine for a similar size basket! I’ve tried various woods in the past mostly in an attempt to get the weight down. Surprisingly Wellingtonia works quite well, but does tend to be both soft and at the same time a little brittle. Western Red Cedar is also pretty good and gives off a lovely smell as you’d expect. Sweet chestnut makes a very durable basket but is a bit of a b…..r to work without it splitting. Cricket bat willow seems to be the near ideal material. Not really tried any other willow to be honest, but I suppose other types might work.

Thanks Stihl123 I think I might have sourced some now, but it’s good to have a backup plan. I’ll give them a ring to sound them out for the future to see what they’re able to supply.

pm sent.

As title says, I’m after a small amount of cricket bat willow for basket making. Can be flexible on the size, but preferably 4-5 foot long lengths x 12-24 inch diameter. Might consider other sizes - it just depends on what’s about. The sizes I’ve quoted allow me to break it down into smaller billets on my Logosol farmers chainsaw mill before it goes over the table saw. The finished splints are between 2.5-1 inch wide x 3/16 thick x 8 inches long once they’ve been machined down so the wood does need to be clean and free of major knots. (Smaller ones I can usually work around.) I’m based in mid-Wilts so local would be preferable, but appreciate I/the timber might have to travel. Thanks in advance Dave

I’ve been buying coppiced chestnut poles from a chap in West Sussex for the past 15 years or so, but of late the quality has been going down hill rapidly and the spec is often way off. So the time has come to try and find a new supplier. (I know it’s not a great time to do so as everyone I speak to seems to be inundated with orders!) Ideally what I need (about once a year depending on orders) is up to a lorry load of 12.5 foot long poles with a top diameter of about 5-6 inches. Alternatively I’m happy to take smaller numbers of poles cut to 8ft on an as-I-need-it basis if that helps cash flow and order turnover. Ideally the poles need to be as straight and clean of knots as possible (or as much as nature allows!) as a lot of my work is split by hand into as many as 16 pieces out of one round. If you want an idea of the sort of stuff I make visit www.greenmanwoodcrafts.co.uk I’m based in mid-Wilts so within 2 hours drive is worth considering.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll get in touch with them.

Fair enough. Good to know.

So do I take it spares are still available then? Must admit that's always at the back of my mind with regard to older machines.

Yeah, there are a few about on ebay I've been watching. Unfortunately I'm not very familiar with Multico or Sedgewick machines so not sure if they're any good or not, or what sort of money was realistic. Some seem very reasonably priced others pretty steep. Was hoping somebody on here might have had some experience over them and be able to advise on what's a sensible price. Yes. After experience with lighter machines I'm defo after a heavier type.

I've got one of those already that I use for mortising posts for cleft post n rail. Brilliant for what they do and if it died on me tomorrow I'd be out there getting a replacement without any hesitation. The problem i have with them is the risk of tear out and the lack of accuracy. I'm after something more precise.