sandspider

Hi all As above really. I've got a shed and some decking that I'd like to coat with something this summer to keep them going. Shed is fairly old and the wood is dry, so I'll just sand it back and brush something on it. Osmo stuff? Or is that really paying for the name? I don't mind paying a bit more if it'll last longer, but not if it won't! Ducksback? Rustins? Think I've got some creocote somewhere, but IIRC it's watery and rubbish. It needs to look reasonably nice so real creosote is out! Might also have some 5 star anti woodworm stuff, but imagine this is more to kill beasties than to protect the wood? It's the latter I need. Second task is some aged decking, wet and mossy, bit rotten in places. Once it's dry I'll give it a scrub and brush something on it. I'd like it to last a few more years if possible and I don't want to have to dismantle it to patch it up before I have to! Decking oil? Or are there better things these days? (Anti algae would be nice as the decking gets soggy in November ish and stays soggy until March). Chances are I won't have much time for really good prep work, so something that doesn't require really good preparation would help... Thanks for any thoughts.

Your oil bills must have been horrendous! Our house is 5 bed and old, but 24k would keep us in oil for 20 years or more, and I don't grow enough wood of my own yet to feed a boiler. Even the wood burners can get through a fair amount.

How much wood do you get through a year? I'd consider a biomass plant of some sort (we currently have two wood burners), but the cost and complexity to install makes the wood burners a lot easier and cheaper in the short term at least.

Another nice one. Do you have any pics of them once the growth starts again? I'd be interested to see how they fill out again.

Thanks gents. No drainage issues, they're on a slope. It is fairly windy, so that could be it. But it seems that the shorter plants are more affected than the taller ones. Oh well, fingers crossed they come back OK. Will give them a water with something nourishing anyway.

Could be, but they're supposed to be hardy down to -15C ish, and it's not been that cold here - snow, but not really hard deep frosts. I'm hoping they'll bounce back, yes. Even the neglecta stems still feel springy and green, not dry and dead. Though there's time for that I'm sure!

Hi all Just wondering if anyone has any idea what might be doing this to my eucalyptus saplings? (Hoping to be a firewood coppice, hence firewood area of forum!) These were grown from seed last year and planted out in a paddock in April or May. They grew well for the first year, but this year seem to be suffering from leaf browning. Two different species, E. nitens and E. neglecta. The neglecta (skinny leaves) seem to be worse (possibly totally dead?) but the nitens are affected too. Is it worth giving them a feed of some sort or are they gonners? I suspect the neglecta probably are, but hope I'm wrong... Thanks.

From what I hear, one chap is definitely leaving with the urine. I can't speak for the rest, but it does look like hard and stressful work on the front lines.

Hmm. That figure seems to be from 2009 and doesn't include "many clinical managers" apparently, so not sure how accurate it is. A quick Google finds a more recent article (30/10/17) here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/30/number-nhs-managers-recruited-soars-shortage-nurses-grows/ I checked with my friend, and there were 15 managers in a total department of 150 - 10%. However, she did say that a bigger problem was useless employees and people extracting the Michael with long term sick leave. (Though she can't speak for clinical staff). Also she thinks that wastage in support services is the worst.

Do you have a source for 4% management? As it sounds like more to me. A friend of mine used to work for the NHS in IT / admin. There were 4 or so people in her team who did actual work (two good, two useless - but couldn't be fired), an immediate manager who was on permanent sick leave, his manager who left early every day, had an affair with his secretary and promoted her but was actually good at his job, and his manager - who I didn't hear much about so s/he was probably OK. Three managers (at least) in a total of 8 or 10 people? (I will double check these figures when I have a minute).

Did you find anything else Steve? Quite annoying as I miss responses and things... Cheers.

What do you oil them with? Looks good.

No probs! There's some good stuff on there. Mainly older works due to copyright expiration, but lots of worthwhile reads.

Most of Richard J's output (including The Story of My Heart) are available as free ebooks on Project Gutenberg if anyone so wishes... http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2317

Just to add, I get emails if people quote my posts, no problems. And I get daily digest emails (not instant notifications) from topics I subscribed to before the problem started. But not for anything I subscribe to afterwards? (Neither daily digests nor instants). In case that helps diagnose the problem?

My glass was dirty after the first couple of fires when the stove was new, and that took serious scrubbing with the supplied glass cleaner to get off. But after that (once the glass had cured I suppose) a wipe over is all that's needed and it doesn't seem to be "sticking" so far. Glad it's not just me, don't think this stove has done it before. I empty mine once every couple of months! (Also used every day, but it's a big firebox). Good to know, thanks. Not seen it on a woodburner before. Just burning normal logs, but quite a lot of them!

Mine's a Burley Brampton, and I find the airwash doesn't work very well - glass fogs up quite quickly. But a wipe with a damp cloth gets it off, nothing seems to be sinking into the glass - yet. One thing I have noticed recently is that the ash in the bottom of the stove is forming into solid lumps in parts - like lava, or boiler slag! It takes the poker to get it out of the stove (in lumps) at emptying time. Does this mean I'm over firing it or something? Too much moisture in the wood? Burley suggest wood less than 14% moisture, but that's quite hard to come by in Wales in winter, even kiln dried!

I bought some eucalyptus seeds from jungleseeds.co.uk and they germinated well.

Thanks, I'll give you a ring tomorrow.

Just an estate car, so possibly not worth it? Also I'm processing by hand, so big lumps might be more trouble than they're worth. Thanks though.

Thanks Squaredy. Looking more for unprocessed at the moment, but will bear you in mind. Do you only sell processed and kiln dried?

Interesting question. The moles in my garden seem to be spreading closer to the house, where I empty the (cold) stove ash... Maybe coincidence?

Does anyone have anything now the snow's receding?

Strange. I thought you'd not replied as I hadn't got an email! Might have been longer than a couple of weeks, possibly as much as a month?

Yes, nothing in spam. Emails from Arbtalk get through fine, but it seems like they're not being sent?