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sandspider

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Everything posted by sandspider

  1. Still see regular handful of foxes round me. One fat grey squirrel. Several sets of buzzards, the odd red kite. Barely seen a rabbit here in the 6 or so years we've been here. Never seen a hedgehog, which surprises me as we have lots of wild ground, woodland etc. around. I even made a hedgehog house. Already a few butterflies, bumblebees and wasps this year, when the sun comes out. Handfuls of moths on the doors at night.
  2. If you don't have a manual look for one online? Even if not for the exact model of mower, it should give you an idea?
  3. Euc is supposed to be hard to split when seasoned, but I've not found it too hard when I've had to split a while after felling. Maybe as I'm not splitting anything bigger than 20cm or so.
  4. Seems like most places are out of stock of E. gunnii plugs now, maybe I've left it too late. Next year perhaps...
  5. Not that I've noticed, though the bigger ones have had little buds on them which may have become flowers in time. Tbh, I'm no longer completely sure which of mine are nitens and which are neglecta... Where did you get your seed from?
  6. Interesting. I'm sure when I looked into it years ago, the consensus was it that nitens did coppice, or I'd have gone for something else. Think I rejected gunnii as too slow growing compared to nitens, but might plant a few out anyway.
  7. There's this place too, selling larger eucs and offering some advice. Very expensive compared to seed though. Buy Hardy Eucalyptus Trees Online Directly from the Grower WWW.HARDY-EUCALYPTUS.COM At Grafton Nursery we grow all of our Eucalyptus trees in Air-Pot Containers using Peat Free Compost. Free advise...
  8. It's definitely not as dense / long lasting on the fire as oak. But it grows so much quicker! I'd say it's a bit less dense than ash? Still longer lasting / denser than softwoods. Very fibrous wood.
  9. Think my seeds came from here: Eucalyptus Seeds from JungleSeeds JUNGLESEEDS.CO.UK For Koala Bear lovers The seeds were easy to grow, especially if you have a propagator. Though as above, they're not frost tolerant when young, and JS don't make that clear. (Though I see they no longer sell E. neglecta seeds, maybe that's why...) I have no experience of plugs, but seeds worked well for me with fairly minimal effort.
  10. Interesting thought. The eucs grow much faster than native species, but coppicing success hasn't been great so far. I've planted about 20 eucs out so far, though some only this month. Still have a few small ones in pots to put out somewhere. I've coppiced 5 now, but one only a week or so ago. Of the 4 coppiced last year, only 1 is still showing growth (and that's a bit brown towards the centre). Though all showed regrowth initially. As said, this may be due to my technique not the fault of the trees... I'm hoping the one I cut most recently will do better - I did coppice it later in the year after all frosts which is supposed to help. And I've not lost hope that one or two of the older ones may still come back. I've coppiced one willow that was here when we moved in - it's a huge multi stemmed beast next to a stream and it just keeps on growing. Having said that, it's probably 20 years old, and still the coppice wood is mainly good for kindling and small logs, only a few bits as big as the smaller euc logs.
  11. I did some watering of newly planted trees with the watering can, not the big ones in the pic! Once the eucs are about 3 foot tall they generally look after themselves with minimal effort on my part, even in the very hot dry summer we had a couple of years back, and in the frosts. The neglecta (slower growing of the two species) seem to make denser wood, unsurprisingly. The euc wood does burn nicely, not quite as long as ash perhaps, but still a decent log. I don't burn just euc though, I haven't planted enough - yet. Plenty of ash dieback round here. I've also planted a few hundred willow over the past 6 years - in the same way as you! Most have taken, but none are big enough to harvest yet. They are easier than euc to propagate though - chop off & stick in the ground! (Or just leave cut stems on damp ground!)
  12. I've put up a post on my eucalyptus experiment here:
  13. As mentioned in the past on here, I've been planting various tree species in South Wales with the aim of coppicing them for firewood. (Eucalyptus, poplar, willow, alder, sweet chestnut, ash...) Just a few of each at this stage, to see which do best, make the best logs, etc. I started this about 6 years ago, and of the various trees I planted, eucalyptus has grown the fastest, by miles. So, I planted E. neglecta and E. nitens seeds in Feb 2017. I chose these as they were supposed to grow quickly, be frost tolerant, and coppice well. Nitens is supposed to grow huge (~70m) and neglecta a fair big smaller - up to 10m ish. I wanted to plant the smaller ones close to a power line, where I didn't want the huge nitens to get too close as they grew. The seeds germinated quickly (in a heated propagator) and grew well. I potted them on once, then popped them outsite for a few days, and planted them out into a grass paddock, with minimal preparation - strimmed the grass off, put down weed membrane, and planted the small, semi hardened off eucs in holes in said membrane. This was in June 2017. They kept growing well - but though these species are supposedly cold hardy, the supplier didn't mention they were only hardy when semi mature - so I lost a few. April 2018. By November 2018 the survivors were maybe 2 - 4m tall. And thickening nicely. For comparison, this is an alder, planted as a whip in Feb 2017 at the same time: I felled the first euc in Jan 2022, so nearly 5 years old. Though I can only see 4 growth rings. Decent size anyway. Felled an even bigger one in Feb 2022, and thought I'd see if I could rive it. Answer yes, but it's hard work as the wood is so fibrous (see broken mallet!) and won't dry straight. Euc side branches as wedges, they take a good hammering surprisingly well. Surviving tallest eucs (E.nitens I think) now 8 - 10m tall. Felled the tallest, centre of pic above. Approx 25cm across the base, 10m long. still Feb 2022. So, did they resprout? Yes, they all resprouted, though one only weakly. Several resprouted then the new foliage died back. Of the 4 that I felled last year, only 1 still has regrowth - shame. Possibly because the new growth was frost nipped, or I cut them at the wrong time (too early), or I cut too high / too low, or didn't cast the right spells... I've cut another one or two earlier in April, and right down to the lignotuber - this is supposed to help, we'll see in a few months time. This one sprouted fairly well, but the growth died back: Survivor at top of pic: This was September 2022. Logs! I got a decent amount from the few trees I felled (not all the logs in the pic, maybe 1/2m3), plus lots of reasonable sized branch wood for early fire growth. Burns nicely (after ~9 months in the polytunnel), and smells of eucalyptus oil. The bark is quite thick and moisture tight, so worth striping / splitting. I planted out a few more small eucs this morning to fill gaps / make a bit of a windbreak / where the coppiced ones haven't come back. Watch this space to see if they survive! Supposed to be cold at night, but no frosts. 50 mph winds though, and loads of rain. Fingers crossed.
  14. I remember that post, was an interesting one. It would be good to have an update. @Marko, any news?
  15. If it burns like poplar it may not be worth the effort. I have poplar too, though none big enough to coppice or burn yet.
  16. True, but I thought the ones I chose were supposed to. I may have cut them at the wrong time of year, or too high perhaps. I have a few more to try when they're a bit bigger, and more to plant out when the frosts stop.
  17. I'll do a whole thread on it with pics when I have time. Do you grow eucalyptus?
  18. No, I planted neglecta under a power line as they were supposed to grow less tall, and nitens where there was more space. Or possibly the other way round, can't remember now. Just a few of each.
  19. I have alder and it coppices well. Grows well in damp patches, but nothing compared to eucalyptus. Will look into the other one, thanks.
  20. Euc neglecta and E nitens. These seemed to be the best compromise in terms of growth speed, cold tolerance and coppicing ability. Though they don't seem to have coppiced that well so far, maybe my fault.
  21. My eucs have survived several harsh winters, including -10c for several days. Having said that, frost did kill off some immature ones. I've got sweet chestnut and hornbeam too, and a few robinia pseudoacacias - though the latter aren't very cold hardy, at least when young. Always looking for other interesting trees to plant. Only some to be burnt, and they'll regrow as coppice with luck.
  22. Interesting, thanks. Good to see they've got sterile versions as Paulownia has become a problem in the US. That article also says the timber is fire resistant! Which is what I'd read too. Used for fire safes in Japan...
  23. So I read too. And given that my eucs have grown amazingly (10m tall, 30cm across at the base at least in about 4 years) I'm curious to see how fast it can go.
  24. I've got lots of eucs already, grown from seed and coppiced, burning it the winter just finished. Amazing growth, but apparently Paulownia is faster still.

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