Peasgood

The "bloke down the pub" is in serious doodoo then. He gives me all sorts of daft advice.

That reservoir must have been built on a fair old slope. The bottom is full up and the top is pretty empty. There is a sailing club there, I have a sneaking suspicion they won't be overly pleased to see you unfortunately.

I would be interested to hear how you get on.

My son has just picked up some second hand springs for his Navara. Apparently they came off a Nav that had a Luton body on the back. These springs did pretty much what you are asking for I guess, carrying more weight that is just over the rear axle. As far as I know the difference is just two extra "helper" leaves on the bottom. Sounds like they are available off the shelf, if not there are still people out there that can make springs as a one off. I had some made to my spec some years ago, just looked up "auto spring manufacturers" in yellow pages. Good luck

What the hell are you going to put on it? Mines outside with 2ton+ of wood on it and you can't tell its overweight. One thing I have noticed on mine is the silly little bump stops for the rear axle. I have no idea what weight you would have to put on it to get them anywhere near the axle. They are purely ornamental as far as I can tell. On my old cabstar (the twin headlight version) there were big chunky rubber bumpstops. Once you got her sitting on them you could put as much as you liked on, it made no difference. If I were going to try to make mine uprated that is where I would be looking to change things. Mines a LWB and I don't think I ever saw another one like it, so maybe the bumpstops on mine are different. As for changing springs, I have only ever replaced broken ones never uprated them.

Nice one

These little beggars bite me (anthocorids) They are very good predators to have in your crops, devils to have in your clothes!. I hate being bitten by anything, especially Horse flies.

If it has only "begun building a nest" I would take the "nest" out and carry on. The bird will just go and find a new place to build.

Click on their name next to their post. Pm option should come up

My understanding is that B.t is pretty much a there and then thing. It disappears harmlessly very quickly with no residual effect. (have to admit I am not 100% on that) Decis I do know about. It is very persistent after application and still has insecticidal properties upto 6 weeks later. For example, after a Decis application you must wait 6 weeks before introducing predatory mites into a fruit crop. Dimilin isn't so bad IMO. (unless you are a caterpillar) and is quite specific to caterpillars rather than a more general insecticide. It wouldn't kill aphids for example. I still say B.t is very much lower than one rung than Decis and Dimilin would be quite a bit below Decis on the ladder.

I think parakeets are on the General license. That means you can legally shoot them already.

I can't claim to be an expert in these matters but I think you must have a few rungs missing if B.t is only one rung down from pyrethroids. What are the alternative options then? It is probably too late but my personal opinion is it is worth a try but get on with it. I am probably not the best person to ask, I sprayed a much bigger area of mature trees today with chlorpyrifos.

Bacillus thuringiensis is a harmless thing to be using anyway. Well, I guess if you are a caterpillar you wouldn't agree but environmentally speaking it's as good as it gets. I do think someone is trying to dramatise things. To me it sounds a very sensible way to control what could well become a serious problem, hopefully before it is too late for a change.

25 acres isn't large scale though is it. Most rape fields you see will be bigger than that and will be sprayed with stuff far worse than B.thuringiensis. I agree it is drastic measures but it sounds very much like it is for the greater good. The arguments against it sound to be emotive rather than scientific.

They get in to eat the chicks.

Anti Monsanto headlines are ten a penny. I take most of them with a pinch of salt as there are some very fanatical anti Monsanto people out there that spout an awful lot of rubbish. I am not claiming monsanto are angels all the same. I can't think of a reason to breed Roundup resistant bees . What crops/situations are you going to want to kill off plants while in full flower? If the bees were relying on that crop for food they are knackered anyway.

Are bees not resistant to Roundup anyway? It's a herbicide not an insecticide but I guess you knew that.

As far as I know, neonicotinoids are used as seed dressings rather than actual sprays, so farmers do not constantly spray them. This "ban" doesn't come into effect until the end of this year (to allow stocks to be used up as is normal) so don't expect any rapid changes. I'm a farmer but I don't use these chemicals, mostly because I don't grow rape. I do grow apples and did suffer a poor crop last year, not through lack of bees but through lack of decent weather for pollination to take place. In fact I just don't see honey bees in my orchards, never have done. If honey bees were wiped out completely it would make zero difference to my apple crop. That doesn't mean I don't care about them, I very much do. Nor does it mean I have killed them all with my constant spraying every day. As it happens I have a thriving colony of solitary bees throughout my orchards (yes I know that is contradictory). Apparently they are pretty rare, well not here they're not! Some folk say I shouldn't be using any insecticides, well which ones of you would be happy to buy apples with maggots in them? I wouldn't, and nor does anyone else. I don't use chemicals for fun, they cost an awful lot of money. If I could put even one less spray on I would. Another thing that is contrary to popular belief is that I, along with many others do everything we can to look after the "wildlife" as in beneficial bugs including bees. I have changed my fungicide regime to be as insect friendly as possible. All sorts of reasons behind this but admittedly the main one is so the beneficial insects eat the baddies for me. By changing things to be as "friendly" as possible I no longer have to apply insecticides for rust mite, the "goodies" I am looking after eat them for me. I think that's pretty damned cool myself! I can tell you it was a very brave step when asked "what will you apply to control rust mite this year" and I replied "nothing". £50k mistake if I was wrong!

We have reduced hundreds of them from 90' down to 10'. I would say more than 95% survive, possibly more. Some do die. We have a particularly nice hedge where 70' trees were cut to as high as you could reach from the floor. Another where 70' trees were reduced to a single branch with greenery on it, none more than 6' high, came out very well. They will be fine.

Having a new saw tickover for its first tank of fuel is just about the worst thing you could do to run it in. I suppose running it without 2 stroke oil could be worse. You need to rev it hard to get the rings bedded in and giving a good seal. Very interesting article on running in a new engine (if you are into that sort of thing) Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

I like my Cabstar. Preferred the older twin headlight version but my latest one isn't bad. Bit thirsty at 20mpg, but to be expected for the type of vehicle. Easy to fix but genuine spares are rediculously expensive! I'm rapidly approaching 50 and starting to find driving any work vehicle is uncomfortable, Cabstar is no worse or better than similar type vehicles. I did 250k in my last one before it dissolved completely. Can't see this one going that far (or me) but I don't think it will dissolve. Can't tell you about the others as I haven't owned them. I do still just love the whistle of the turbo on mine and they do pull like a train. Mine can carry 1.4 tons legally, you don't notice that on it. Had 3 ton on my last one with no bother, but grown out of that one.

I work outdoors all day every day, the best waterproof trousers i have found are army surplus goretex. Plenty to choose from on ebay, around about £20. They will fit over your chainsaw trousers, lightweight, waterproof, reasonably tough etc. Worth a try at £20 anyway.

You live in a caravan, you've borrowed someones shotgun and you are posting it on the internet? Not the best of ideas.

I think we are in the nonsensical position where firewood often makes more than timber. Sad, but there you go.

In my student days a friend of mine lived just there while working at Notcutts on his sandwich year. I used to catch the train up from Kent (where I was working) and the pair of us would get completely wasted in that very pub. Happy days (30 years ago )