Warwick scribbled:

In article , robert29
@btinternet.com says...

heckety snip

Why are you such a prat?

I'm afraid you've stumbled on soeone who I don't *quite* class as a
troll but only for the amusement factor. Following up all of his/her
posts with one liners isn't an endearing trait though.

I had a run in with him/her a couple of months ago with regard to some
maple seeds I'd picked up on the mountains in Japan.

My point was perfectly well mad if a little uninformed.

It accused me of theft and riskig the plant population of the UK by
bringing in such a dangerous alien plant form and ransacked the entire
discussion before posting a triumphant piece of information from Defra
that they considered maple seeds to be of no risk at all and asking
why had I bothered arguing at all with my discussions and why hadn't
*I* gone to Defra and asked them myself.

The point is that you didn't know one way or the other.


I still haven't worked out how seeds dropped by trees in public places
turned into theft yet. Maybe I should be drafting in the local police
to get them geared up for the en-masse arrest of the school children
guilty of the theft of all those conkers every year.

As you are not a Japanese citizen you had no right to remove from Japan that
which did not belong to you.

Roberto, this is a helpful post take note

Hussein M. scribbled:

On Wed, 9 Apr 2003 20:34:07 +0100, "Michael" wrote:

Help! I am being overrun by hundreds of grape hyacinths. I cannot
get rid of them by seperating them from the soil as it is lumpy
clay. Systemic weedkiller didn't do much to them. They are speading
and growing lots of new bulbs. Can anyone please tell me how I can
destroy them.

I've never known such a hoopla caused by a such small plant!

Anyway, for what it's worth I reckon that the greatest friend to
grape hyacinths in their imperative to survive is the garden fork.

I keep a large fork only to move large perennials and shrubs.
However, if I had a vegetable area, my practice may well turn out to
be different there.

If you would like a patch (or sward) of grape hyacinths and also
keep them under control, simply don't dig around the edges of their
patch and if you move any other plants from their patch, check to make
sure you're not to taking a load of little bulblets with them. They
are really easy to "head" before their seed ripens and they can
propagate that way. It's quite a pleasant task really . Bye bye, bye
bye.

Having said that I do realise that, if they have become more out of
control than is desired in a large garden with heavy clayey soil, it
is a little harder to dislodge them from any areas you don't want
them. In light soils, gently loosening the soil with a hand fork and
a giving them a tug removes the plant with ease - the foliage and bulb
don't part company as I expect they might in a heavy soil.

However if you want to rid an area of them, now is the time to do it
- whatever type of soil they are growing in.

Hussein

May you live an interesting life.

A.Malhotra wrote:

swroot wrote:

A.Malhotra wrote:

swroot wrote:

Michael wrote:

Help! I am being overrun by hundreds of grape hyacinths. I cannot
get rid of them by seperating them from the soil as it is lumpy clay.
Systemic weedkiller didn't do much to them. They are speading and
growing lots of new bulbs. Can anyone please tell me how I can destroy
them.

I had that problem once. They make good compost: show them no mercy!

Yes, they're a gorgeous blue. But if they like your garden, what starts
as a scattering of gorgeous blue flowers in spring becomes a solid mat
of bulbs and juicy green leaves smothering everything else in the garden
later in the year. To add insult to injury, nothing eats them, not
slugs, not snails, not mice, *nothing*!


Why not just cut the leaves off. Don't they die backlater in the year
anyway?

After they've smothered everything, yes. Cutting the leaves off defeats
the purpose of having the bulbs, as if they don't feed they won't flower
the next year.


If you kept cutting them off year after year would it kill them? Just that
the original poster was looking for ways of getting rif of them without
digging them up?

I think the bulbs would send up new leaves after the trim, so one would
have to keep cutting the leaves through the growing season, every year.
In theory this would kill them, but not until the bulb was exhausted (it
might outlast the gardener). If it's chalky clay it's almost as good as
lime in the compost heap, so just add bulbs and adherent soil.

regards
sarah


--
"Great is truth, but still greater, from a practical point of view,
is silence about truth." Aldous Huxley

Thank you!

Robert from the English Riviera
http://www.nochex.com/payme.asap?ema...btinternet.com

Essjay001 wrote:
: Roberto, this is a helpful post take note
:
: Hussein M. scribbled:
:
:: On Wed, 9 Apr 2003 20:34:07 +0100, "Michael" wrote:
::
::: Help! I am being overrun by hundreds of grape hyacinths. I cannot
::: get rid of them by seperating them from the soil as it is lumpy
::: clay. Systemic weedkiller didn't do much to them. They are speading
::: and growing lots of new bulbs. Can anyone please tell me how I can
::: destroy them.
::
:: I've never known such a hoopla caused by a such small plant!
::
:: Anyway, for what it's worth I reckon that the greatest friend to
:: grape hyacinths in their imperative to survive is the garden fork.
::
:: I keep a large fork only to move large perennials and shrubs.
:: However, if I had a vegetable area, my practice may well turn out to
:: be different there.
::
:: If you would like a patch (or sward) of grape hyacinths and also
:: keep them under control, simply don't dig around the edges of their
:: patch and if you move any other plants from their patch, check to
:: make sure you're not to taking a load of little bulblets with them.
:: They are really easy to "head" before their seed ripens and they can
:: propagate that way. It's quite a pleasant task really . Bye bye, bye
:: bye.
::
:: Having said that I do realise that, if they have become more out of
:: control than is desired in a large garden with heavy clayey soil, it
:: is a little harder to dislodge them from any areas you don't want
:: them. In light soils, gently loosening the soil with a hand fork and
:: a giving them a tug removes the plant with ease - the foliage and
:: bulb don't part company as I expect they might in a heavy soil.
::
:: However if you want to rid an area of them, now is the time to do
:: it
:: - whatever type of soil they are growing in.
::
:: Hussein
::
:: May you live an interesting life.

Any spare Grape Hyacinths you may have; please let me have them, are you
close to Truro per chance. if so I could come and collect Leslie


"Roberto" wrote in message
...
Thank you!

Robert from the English Riviera
http://www.nochex.com/payme.asap?ema...btinternet.com

Essjay001 wrote:
: Roberto, this is a helpful post take note
:
: Hussein M. scribbled:
:
:: On Wed, 9 Apr 2003 20:34:07 +0100, "Michael" wrote:
::
::: Help! I am being overrun by hundreds of grape hyacinths. I cannot
::: get rid of them by seperating them from the soil as it is lumpy
::: clay. Systemic weedkiller didn't do much to them. They are speading
::: and growing lots of new bulbs. Can anyone please tell me how I can
::: destroy them.
::
:: I've never known such a hoopla caused by a such small plant!
::
:: Anyway, for what it's worth I reckon that the greatest friend to
:: grape hyacinths in their imperative to survive is the garden fork.
::
:: I keep a large fork only to move large perennials and shrubs.
:: However, if I had a vegetable area, my practice may well turn out to
:: be different there.
::
:: If you would like a patch (or sward) of grape hyacinths and also
:: keep them under control, simply don't dig around the edges of their
:: patch and if you move any other plants from their patch, check to
:: make sure you're not to taking a load of little bulblets with them.
:: They are really easy to "head" before their seed ripens and they can
:: propagate that way. It's quite a pleasant task really . Bye bye, bye
:: bye.
::
:: Having said that I do realise that, if they have become more out of
:: control than is desired in a large garden with heavy clayey soil, it
:: is a little harder to dislodge them from any areas you don't want
:: them. In light soils, gently loosening the soil with a hand fork and
:: a giving them a tug removes the plant with ease - the foliage and
:: bulb don't part company as I expect they might in a heavy soil.
::
:: However if you want to rid an area of them, now is the time to do
:: it
:: - whatever type of soil they are growing in.
::
:: Hussein
::
:: May you live an interesting life.

yes good idea I would always take more

Robert from the English Riviera
http://www.nochex.com/payme.asap?ema...btinternet.com
"Therefore" wrote in message
...
: Any spare Grape Hyacinths you may have; please let me have them, are you
: close to Truro per chance. if so I could come and collect Leslie
:
:
: "Roberto" wrote in message
: ...
: Thank you!
:
: Robert from the English Riviera
: http://www.nochex.com/payme.asap?ema...btinternet.com
:
: Essjay001 wrote:
: : Roberto, this is a helpful post take note
: :
: : Hussein M. scribbled:
: :
: :: On Wed, 9 Apr 2003 20:34:07 +0100, "Michael" wrote:
: ::
: ::: Help! I am being overrun by hundreds of grape hyacinths. I cannot
: ::: get rid of them by seperating them from the soil as it is lumpy
: ::: clay. Systemic weedkiller didn't do much to them. They are speading
: ::: and growing lots of new bulbs. Can anyone please tell me how I can
: ::: destroy them.
: ::
: :: I've never known such a hoopla caused by a such small plant!
: ::
: :: Anyway, for what it's worth I reckon that the greatest friend to
: :: grape hyacinths in their imperative to survive is the garden fork.
: ::
: :: I keep a large fork only to move large perennials and shrubs.
: :: However, if I had a vegetable area, my practice may well turn out to
: :: be different there.
: ::
: :: If you would like a patch (or sward) of grape hyacinths and also
: :: keep them under control, simply don't dig around the edges of their
: :: patch and if you move any other plants from their patch, check to
: :: make sure you're not to taking a load of little bulblets with them.
: :: They are really easy to "head" before their seed ripens and they can
: :: propagate that way. It's quite a pleasant task really . Bye bye, bye
: :: bye.
: ::
: :: Having said that I do realise that, if they have become more out of
: :: control than is desired in a large garden with heavy clayey soil, it
: :: is a little harder to dislodge them from any areas you don't want
: :: them. In light soils, gently loosening the soil with a hand fork and
: :: a giving them a tug removes the plant with ease - the foliage and
: :: bulb don't part company as I expect they might in a heavy soil.
: ::
: :: However if you want to rid an area of them, now is the time to do
: :: it
: :: - whatever type of soil they are growing in.
: ::
: :: Hussein
: ::
: :: May you live an interesting life.
:
:
:
:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 14:32:21 +0000 (UTC), "Essjay001"
wrote:

My point was perfectly well mad if a little uninformed.

giggle

Typos can be _so_ unfortunate.

Hussein
Grow a little garden

spam block - for real addy, reverse letters of second level domain.

In article ,
says...
Warwick scribbled:

Taking this to email since I doubt the rest of URG want to see a
bickering contest

Warwick

In article ,
says...
Warwick scribbled:

I had a run in with him/her a couple of months ago with regard to some
maple seeds I'd picked up on the mountains in Japan.

My point was perfectly well mad if a little uninformed.

And somewhat forthrightly put. It was written in such a way that it
didn't really bring the conversation or the debate along easily. It
*seemed* to me to be an attack rather than a suggestion and we all need
to tread warily when our only medium is plain text allowing little in
the way of grace for misreading.

It accused me of theft and riskig the plant population of the UK by
bringing in such a dangerous alien plant form and ransacked the entire
discussion before posting a triumphant piece of information from Defra
that they considered maple seeds to be of no risk at all and asking
why had I bothered arguing at all with my discussions and why hadn't
*I* gone to Defra and asked them myself.

The point is that you didn't know one way or the other.

I *did* concede at the time that you had a minor point and that it
wasn't an problem we'd considered. As someone of a scietific mind and
married to a scientist in biology it wasn't a risk factor we'd
considered. We knew how much cross traffic there was between the two
coutries with the two climates being similar enough that UK species can
flourish there and are imported and used with similar .jp stuff coming
our way. The chances of infection via our few seeds were so miniscule in
comparison that they should be ignored. That a *tree* species could be
an invader like knotweed was also to be ignored since, unless a wild
hybrid showed up looking spectacular, it too wouldn't be allowed to set
seed was also ignored since trees aren't a fast invader like russian
vine and knotweed.


I still haven't worked out how seeds dropped by trees in public places
turned into theft yet. Maybe I should be drafting in the local police
to get them geared up for the en-masse arrest of the school children
guilty of the theft of all those conkers every year.

As you are not a Japanese citizen you had no right to remove from Japan that
which did not belong to you.

Oh come off it. I probably brought more Japanese dirt back on my shoes
than the weight of those seeds. I *deliberately* brought back the seeds
of course and the dirt came along for the free airplane ride. I also
brought back a *lot* more in bought souvenirs including a camera that
cost less than £200 in Japan and sells for £800 here. As I paid Japanese
prices you want me to pay UK priced duty on it?

As I mentioned in the quoted section. Conkers. Most of them are gathered
from *privately* owned trees be it council owned or overhanging public
roads. There's a church in Byfleet that sheds hundreds of the things
every year and the entire tree and its droppings are eagerly scavenged
for destruction by the local children. The entire tree is on privately
owned land without any overhanging. Do you wnat to arrest the children
for theft?

The seeds I have were picked up on the public highways and byways of
Japan where some of them *may* have taken root if the conditions where
*just* right and the tree dropping them decided to die this winter gone.

But the ones on the mountains and hills? If you went walking in one of
the UK national parks and picked up say a pine cone and persuaded it to
give up seed and sprout would you be looking to pay the government for
the trees you acquired?

If one of these seeds turns out to be as lovely as something like
Garnet, I'll make sure the proceeds go to something like the JET
programme.

My problem isn't with the points you raised, but the way you chose to
raise them. I've been wandering around on usenet for 14 years and you've
manaaged a minor miracle in my books by being so abbrasive that I *want*
to killfile you, but being entertaining enough to not get there

Warwick

On Fri, 11 Apr 2003 08:11:11 +0200, "JennyC"
tippy-typed:

Dig them up, dispose of them, dig them up, dispose of them, dig them
up, dispose of them..............ad infinitum

Our next door neighbour's front garden is overrun with them, and
although I agree they look lovely, they were starting to encroach onto
our front garden and even pop up through concrete! (which we've now
gravelled over so let's hope that's the end of them on our side of the
fence).