Gutted but releaved !

[treelore]

Had a phone call from DEFRA the other day, to tell me thatthe Ash trees I purchased came from diseased stock (sudden Ash dieback), which originatedfrom the Netherlands. All 330 Ashes have just been destroyed which was a sadaffair due to all the hard work that’s went into planting them and losing aplanting/growing season. Just had conformation that the trees planted in thewood were clear of the disease, but the trees in the healing in bed werediseased. This was a blessing as thefungi had not spread to surrounding trees and become naturalised.
What a scary thought if it had spread from my trees and theother purchased…. The UK without ash trees is a horrid thought!!!
Why oh why do we have to import so many trees!!!

 

[demographic]

How do you go for compensation from that then?

Insured? Supplier pays?

 

[ged]

...The UK without ash trees is a horrid thought!!!
Why oh why do we have to import so many trees!!!

I can only echo those sentiments. It's stark raving barmy. It's not like ash don't produce many seeds, is it?

 

[Toddy]

Glad to hear they were pro-active about the problem; though a loss for all concerned
You're right, no Ash trees would be a very sad loss. I still miss the great big elms.

I don't know why we import so many trees. I howk out literally hundreds in a year from my garden. In fact if anyone wants tiny wee silver birch trees (less than 6" high) let me know before I weed around the pond this week. They're an ideal size to post.
There are two ash seedlings coming out too, but they're about 3' high and two Sycamores that have suddenly exploded upwards in the hedge and are at least a couple of metres. I don't think I can dig those out without damaging them.

If I get this lot from not trying why can't we do it commercially in this country and make a profit ?

cheers,
Toddy

 

[ged]

... two Sycamores that have suddenly exploded upwards in the hedge and are at least a couple of metres. I don't think I can dig those out without damaging them. ...

I don't think anyone will blame you for cutting them down, Mary, they're really just non-native, invasive weeds. Somehow I still don't like to gratuitously murder them though.

 

[Toddy]

Me neither Lovely timber though, and the seeds are a nice wee munchie, tbh I quite like sycamore trees.

Come to think on that actually, someone told me not so long ago that the pollen record was showing them here 'before' the Romans, so where do we start to do a cut off for 'native' species ?

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

I dredge out literally thousands of ash seedlings every year. I am truning a few ash into coppice and letting some more mature, but I have to drop a few big ones each year or we just get shaded out.

The little ones from the keys are a right chuffing nuisance!

 

[Harvestman]

Re: sycamores, they are now regarded as native for the purpose of determining the age of old hedgerows.

For every 30 yards of hedgerow 1 species of native woody plant = 100 years of age for the hedgerow. Repeat several times, and get and average figure. Not absolute, but a good guideline. Sycamore counts as a native for this.

 

[treelore]

Demographic we will be rebuses from the tree nursery that Igot the trees from, they were going to give me a credit, but because of so manyself-set saplings coming through I’m going to reduce my order and increase myhazel instead. Hasten to say I will be using another supplier due to poormanagement from the tree nursery (not receiving any information from them ininform us of a problem..DEFRA not happy!!)
Now I have some money to spend on other trees

 

[treelore]

Sycamore and horse chestnut will always in my eye and many of my fellow foresters be either fire wood or stuff for carving with

 

[Toddy]

I have a spinning wheel made from chestnut, and it's beautiful so is the matching chair; and sycamore is brilliant for kitchenware; clean, carves well, stable, doesn't taint food and scrubs very well indeed.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[treelore]

and fire wood for sycamore...... and chestnut for feeding fallow deer

 

[Toddy]

But Ash burns best of all

Toddy

 

[treelore]

oww I’d go with holly but as awoodsman, I’d never cut it down. I uselarch (ring barked in mid-summer to trap the sap) and Ash as my kindling, then blackthorn,hawthorn, oak and beech as my main burning wood J

 

[Toddy]

I cut down holly........the damned stuff has seeded into my hedges and it's lethal
Very pretty, very jaggy, lovely timber, but it takes ages to dry out without splitting.
Burns well when green though.
Hadn't thought of ring barking Larch, it's usually spitty stuff; fairly good heat though.

There's a rhyme somewhere......I'll find it.

cheers,
M

 

[Toddy]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]LOGS TO BURN[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Logs to burn, logs to burn,
Logs to save the coal a turn
Here's a word to make you wise,
When you hear the woodman's cries.
Never heed his usual tale,
That he has good logs for sale,
But read these lines and really learn,
the proper kind of logs to burn.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]OAK logs will warm you well,
If they're old and dry.
LARCH logs of pine wood smell,
But the sparks will fly.
BEECH logs for Christmas time,
YEW logs heat well.
SCOTCH logs it is a crime,
For anyone to sell.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]BIRCH logs will burn too fast,
CHESTNUT scarce at all
HAWTHORN logs are good to last,
If you cut them in the fall
HOLLY logs will burn like wax
You should burn them green
ELM logs like smouldering flax
No flame to be seen

PEAR logs and APPLE logs,
they will scent your room.
CHERRY logs across the dogs,
Smell like flowers in bloom
But ASH logs, all smooth and grey,
burn them green or old;
Buy up all that come your way,
They're worth their weight in gold.[/FONT]

 

[treelore]

love that rhyme !!! you can do the same with birch, a friend in sweeden does it for his timber

 

[Toddy]

So it's just the sap in the larch bark that makes it spit ? There's certainly plently of it about in some of the plantations.
We have a lot of birch around, it's kind of the weed tree of the area, but then it sends millions upon millions of those tiny wee seeds loose in a good Summer. They pile up in drifts in our gardens, in every crack in the paving stones. I weed out hundreds of seedlings in a year. Always seems such a shame, but if I don't I wouldn't get out the door in a year or two.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[treelore]

Yeah Birch is a pioneer speciesso you find it everywhere, nice tree though J…but I know what you mean with the catkins blowing seeds everywhere. You will find the sap in the heart wood too,mainly the outer rings, it’s different from hard woods as the hearth wood is deadreally and it is the cambium layer that transports the starch, water etc. forthe tree to live, the veins of the tree. I’ve been felling some Douglas firwhich at the moment is really heavy as the stems are full of sap, which is goodfor me as I’m being paid by the tonne J