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Paul in the woods

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Everything posted by Paul in the woods

  1. Paul in the woods
    Did it have any smell? Closest I can think of is a deformed Clathrus ruber, basket stinkhorn.
  2. Paul in the woods
    This might be worth a read, go down to the bottom and it covers nitrogen robbing. Basically unlikely unless the plants are shallow rooted. https://www.rhs.org.uk/soil-composts-mulches/woody-waste-using-as-mulch
  3. Paul in the woods
    My seed came from Chiltern Seeds, sadly they dont seem to have any mixed hardy seed but they stock a few others.
  4. Paul in the woods
    @sandspider have any of your Eucs flowered? I've grown a packet of mixed hardy eucalyptus and was surprised to see many flower within a few years. We've not lost any to frost but they get their tops burnt off by the wind as we're exposed. They've grown ok for our soil and would probably do much better elsewhere, I've just no idea what varieties we've ended up with.
  5. Paul in the woods
    I thought motomix does use ultra: "MotoMix uses STIHL HP ultra-premium oil for exceptional engine lubrication and extreme cleanliness. It’s fully synthetic and biodegradable for optimal performance and long service life. MotoMix is user- and engine-friendly thanks to fewer emissions (free from ethanol; almost no olefins and aromatic compounds)."
  6. Paul in the woods
    That doesn't look like wind scorch to me. Mine got badly a scorched by the wind last year and the tips went brown and the leaves at the end of the branches went brown and blew off but the large mature leaves remained green. They recovered well. To my uneducated eye that looks like the tree has died, possibly too much of too little water? I wouldn't rule out herbicides either. As others have said though, if that tree had established well you'd need to cut it back every year, they can be rather rampant and not ideal as a small tree. It might be worth talking to the nursery you bought it from to get their opinion?
  7. Paul in the woods
    Do you have a photo of the tree? I'm curious about its history, was it pot grown or rootballed at all? I've grown quite a few types of euc from seed and they all seem to have very vigorous roots that seem to want to get out of their pots and establish. I would have thought a large pot grown tree would need care to establish and last year was very dry. It might also grow from the base, I gather gunni can be coppiced when young and it will throw out juvenile foliage.
  8. Paul in the woods
    That's interesting, I planted some in my woodland between some Scots in acidic soil and they've done very well. Don't get much fruit though as the birds love them. Ones at home are growing in large pots with acidic soil and chipped Scots as a mulch and they do well with a good harvest when netted.
  9. Paul in the woods
    I agree now, I meant when the questions were first raised so around the 1980s ? Or investing in our own gas supplies rather than relying on imports whilst renewables become more reliable. The current prices are hardly a surprise and we've been very lucky to have such a mild winter far.
  10. Paul in the woods
    I can see a ban on the legal installation of efficient wood burners but not much done to stop the installation of something dodgy or the use of open fires, bonfires etc. I can't help wondering if the successive governments had done a better job then energy costs would be much cheaper and the need for stoves much reduced. By that I mean things like investing in nuclear much sooner if you're going to stop using our own gas and actively encouraging energy efficient buildings rather than paying people to waste energy like they are doing now.
  11. Paul in the woods
    I thought it was to allow some movement so the tree develops a stronger root structure.
  12. Paul in the woods
    Out of curiosity Are we talking about the dead nettle relative, Glechoma hederacea, or the ground dwelling variant of common ivy, Hedera helix ?
  13. Paul in the woods
    I think people are looking at the fact sheep love to escape the wrong way. If it's anything like here just leave your gate open and within a few days your field will be full of someone else's sheep. Or cows. On a more serious note is there a small holders association near you? Our county has one and they run courses on sheep keeping, boat keeping etc and have wanted and sales.
  14. Paul in the woods
    You can these days.... plenty of vegan pancake mixes out there.
  15. Paul in the woods
    Single shot and 2 1/2" cartridges? A section 1 would be fun although I don't need another 410....
  16. Paul in the woods
    This supplier of pop cuttings and plants lists Beaupre as a pop with a parentage of P. trichocarpa x P. deltoides. See this page: https://www.bowhayestrees.co.uk/willow-and-poplus-varieties
  17. Paul in the woods
    If a 5 year warranty is important to a new purchaser I'd check, it still says "Registration of ECHO products and servicing are necessary to validate the warranty" on Echo UKs site.
  18. Paul in the woods
    A few more crumbs of thought for you. I have an Echo 352ES and use it as my main saw for firewood for 7/8 years. The ES makes it very easy to start and I've never had a problem starting it. I've not had a problem with vibes on the saw but it is sold with a VXL chain which I find can be a bit catchy and adds vibration. It did have a 5 year warranty but then I needed to pay £100 for a 2 year service which I could have done myself. The main downside is getting hold of parts online and the lack of a good local dealer.
  19. Paul in the woods
    If I had a picture I would try an bring the thread back on track with a photo my 303 SMLE. It's newish to me but well over a century old and I often wonder what it got up to in its earlier years. It's also good fun to shoot, if a little expensive these days.
  20. Paul in the woods
    Yes, lime bast is still used by some for cord and rope making, some examples here: https://bushcraftuk.com/community/threads/twisting-in-the-sun.88894/ I've planted some large and small leaf lime on my wood, mainly for their edible leaves. Last year was the first year the ones I grew from seed started to flower which was quite pleasing. Not the easiest plant to grow from seed.
  21. Paul in the woods
    I'm not sure what you mean, I'm not aware feeding sugar has anything to do with varroa. If anything removing all their honey makes it easier to treat. Also some of the more drastic bee keeping methods can lead to less varroa. I think you could get less If you allow a 'wild' colony to frequently swarm (which they are very likely to do if they don't have a large amount of room to expand) but you're unlikely to get much honey.
  22. Paul in the woods
    I have a similar view, I'd much rather not have to treat for varroa. The numbers don't sound like others I've seen though. I am aware of reports that treating for varroa can be harmful and can kill queens, and as you often treat in winter it's not surprising to see reports of killed colonies. However, a high varroa load can kill colonies through the year so you want to see numbers for the whole year. I don't have a strong view on then matter, I've not lost a colony through treating so far.
  23. Paul in the woods
    Sounds about right, on a good year I would expect you could take more than two thirds but we have had a bad year (two winters ago, a very long and wet autumn) when I took nothing and had to feed some fondant. One of the reasons I like ivy is it's a very good late.season nectar supply which helps the bees stuff their hives just before the winter. Having said that our bees were out in good numbers today on the gorse so it could be a short winter here.
  24. Paul in the woods
    I would tend to regard farmed bees as honey bees selected to produce large amounts of honey which is then stripped off and the bees overwintered on some form of man made fondant. Queens are often imported from abroad which will produce more productive colonies, which some argue are less suited to the UK. Some would also argue this leads to the importation of pests and diseases like varroa and possible small give beetle in the future. Personally I've stuck to my locally reared queens and I over winter our bees on their own honey. I'm more of a bee small holder than farmer...
  25. Paul in the woods
    Going a bit off topic but do you live remotely? If not aren't you just going to get a domesticated swarm of bees that will become overrun with varroa and die out? I'm just a hobby bee keeper, so I don't farm ours, but if they were not treated for varroa I doubt they would last long.

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