# British tree roots ok?



## Tucker90 (1 Nov 2018)

Found a dead ash tree while walking the dogs,  trees come down but roots are still there and sit in the river! 

because they already submerged in the river, would these be ok for a scape? Would they take much soaking? If they’ve been soaking for the last 20 or so years? 









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## Tim Harrison (1 Nov 2018)

Yes British tree roots are okay, especially hardwood species. However, be careful not to destroy any habitat when collecting hardscape. Even a single branch could potentially be home to many insects, arthropods, and fungi etc, a community called the saproxylic complex.

Many ecologically sensitive sites are protected by statutory designations, or bylaws which can impose hefty fines for removal of material. Check this thread out https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/man-forced-to-return-pebbles-to-avoid-£1-000-fine.53839/


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## Tucker90 (1 Nov 2018)

Tim Harrison said:


> Many ecologically sensitive sites are protected by statutory designations, or bylaws which can impose hefty fines for removal of material. Check this thread out https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/man-forced-to-return-pebbles-to-avoid-£1-000-fine.53839/



Thanks bud! Don’t fancy any fines! This set ups costing me enough! 

Food for thought! It’s the back of a farm i shoot for so should be alright! 




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## Tommy (1 Nov 2018)

Hi everyone, so you can use any hardwood tree roots in the UK? My friend has his own land so could get some no problem, and it would save me quite a bit money on my next scape.


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## Barbara Turner (23 Dec 2018)

I would be a bit careful on the species of tree. I'd be happy to use oak and beech. Wouldn't go near yew  if the berries and leaves can kill you I doubt the roots will do your fish tank any favours.


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## dw1305 (23 Dec 2018)

Hi all, 





Tommy said:


> so you can use any hardwood tree roots in the UK?


I'd keep away from Willow or Poplar, Walnut, Laburnum and Rhododendron, and any Conifers (like @Barbara Turner mentions), but after that you should be OK. 

Have a look at <"this thread">. 

cheers Darrel


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## tiger15 (23 Dec 2018)

Too bad that yew, juniper and Rhododendron are no good as most bonsai tree were carved from conifer.  How about burning bush or holly that offer good branching.  I have plenty of them in my backyard and can I cut a piece to make drift wood?


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## Keith GH (23 Dec 2018)

Tucker

Its not only the species of tree its the soil they grew in and, were they sprayed with any nasties.    Collecting wood can always be risking at any time.  You might save a little $$$ at first but and a massive but it could be  extremely expensive if illegal to collect or a danger to your tank.

Keith


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## dw1305 (24 Dec 2018)

Hi all, 





tiger15 said:


> burning bush


If that is _Cotinus coggygria _I'd probably give it a miss because it belongs to the same family as "Poison Ivy". Holly (_Ilex _spp.) are fine. 





tiger15 said:


> can I cut a piece to make drift wood?


You really want wood that was already dead, because it won't have any sap in it.

If the sap wood has already rotted away even better. Juniper wood would be OK if it was really long dead. I've used old Douglas Fir roots (<"_Pseudotsuga menziesii">_) and I've seen <"bits of Juniper"> that would have been ideal.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (24 Dec 2018)

tiger15 said:


> Too bad that yew, juniper and Rhododendron are no good



https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/4-river-shore.38047/


The common available spiderwood is Rhododenron root usualy imported from China.. Yet not found out which Rhododendron sp. it is.. It's a rather large genus about 1000 sp. and indeed not all are suitable. Thus just go with the name is a big risk.. I thought it actualy shouldn't be that hard to find out since it is probably harvested as a by-product from commercial rhododendron nurseries. But till now i searched to no avail to find out.  It might be the <Rhododendron anthopogon> or <Rhododendron arboreum or Rhododendron lepidotum>  since it is cultivated in asia for its medicinal properties.


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## tiger15 (24 Dec 2018)

Is there a treatment to get rid of the sap to make fresh cut wood safe?  I can’t imagine commercially available drift wood were collected from natural drift wood in the wild.


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## zozo (24 Dec 2018)

tiger15 said:


> Is there a treatment to get rid of the sap to make fresh cut wood safe?  I can’t imagine commercially available drift wood were collected from natural drift wood in the wild.



It should be sufficiently dried as far as i know.. Driftwood is just a common collective name for a lot of available aquarium wood, such as the Spiderwood is commercialy harvested from Rhododendron shrubs and dried.. Mopani  and Opuwa also called Savanna wood also never have seen a drop of water in their life. It's collected in the dry african savannas. It is a type of extreme hard wood.. Mopani commonly called the Terpentine Tree, tho Opuwa i yet didn't find any references about the tree its from, it's a region in Africa.  Same as Talawa wood, it's etremely hard and heavy, no idea what it's from, but it most likely never seen water in its life.

Than there also is Jati wood, actualy it's Teak in its excotic name.. Not sure what's available ever was water logged before.

And Cholla is from a Cactus. 

Only a small collection is Bog wood or red moor wood and Mangrove that's harvested from wet places. Than the bog woods etc, can be anything hard enough to survive that long burried in the peatswamps.


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## hazeljane (18 Mar 2019)

Hi I have rinsed off various beech branches that have fell and are dead with lectins on will these be ok


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## Edvet (18 Mar 2019)

zozo said:


> can be anything hard enough to survive that long burried in the peatswamps.


it''s not the hardness, it''s the peat acids which conserve, most dutch ''kienhout'' is vliegden.(lower quality quite soft wood originally)


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## zozo (18 Mar 2019)

Edvet said:


> it''s not the hardness, it''s the peat acids which conserve, most dutch ''kienhout'' is vliegden.(lower quality quite soft wood originally)



Ok!..  I always wondered and searched to find out what kind of wood bogwood is.. And never found an anwser.. Where did you find it?.

Interesting that it is mainly Pinewood.. I made an assumption it must be hardwood..


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## Edvet (18 Mar 2019)

You can see it on the root shape too, superficial roots.


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## dw1305 (18 Mar 2019)

Hi all,





zozo said:


> Interesting that it is mainly Pinewood.. I made an assumption it must be hardwood..


In W. Ireland there used to be piles of it by the road-sides, where they were draining the bogs to plant Sitka spruce (_Picea sitchensis_). Someone told me that Bog Oak is jet black, but Bog Pine (_Pinus sylvestris_) is more reddish, I don't know the truth of this.

There is a paper <"Dendrochronologically dated pine stumps document phase wise bog expansion at a northwest German site between c. 6700 BC and c. 3400 BC"> looks at samples from a peat bog N. of Hanover and the trees were nearly all pine trees.

cheers Darrel


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## alto (18 Mar 2019)

dw1305 said:


> where they were draining the bogs to plant Sitka spruce


and then they all fall down in the wind    

(but as usual I took no photos )


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## dw1305 (18 Mar 2019)

Hi all,





alto said:


> and then they all fall down in the wind


Ireland <"hasn't got a great record on environmental  matters">.

cheers Darrel


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## zozo (19 Mar 2019)

dw1305 said:


> I don't know the truth of this.



It seems to be..  It never came to my mind to ever google Bog Oak. Doing so i find quite a lot.
http://www.teltinc.com/


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## chris521957 (21 Apr 2019)

Hi all. I have a queery about wood for my aquarium. Been gardening this weekend and cut down quite a large bush that was blocking light from my living room. Trimmed it all down to fit in sacks for the tip and found the twigs and small branches to be quite similar to finger wood. After a bit of research they turned out to be Elderberry bushes. If i dried these out would they be ok to use in the aquarium. I hope they are as they will save me a fortune. Cheers. Chris.


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## dw1305 (21 Apr 2019)

Hi all, 





chris521957 said:


> After a bit of research they turned out to be Elderberry bushes......If i dried these out would they be ok to use in the aquarium


You can only use the very hard dense wood from the base of the stems, and even then because the plant was growing you'll need to store them for a while.  

Have a look at <"Rootey wood"> 

The problem with Elder is that the new stems are <"very soft and pithy">, and contain a lot of green wood that will decompose readily, they are also unpalatable and possibly poisonous. As the bush gets older the wood gets harder and denser. 

cheers Darrel


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## chris521957 (22 Apr 2019)

Just had a read of that, looks like i will have to do a bit of o/t after all to pay for the wood for the tank. I will keep the elder wood and see how it dries out over the next few months. Thanks Darrel for the info.


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## dw1305 (22 Apr 2019)

Hi all, 





chris521957 said:


> pay for the wood for the tank


You may be able to get some PYO Oak. I  keep an eye out for any <"stag-headed Oaks"> that are reasonably accessible.

cheers Darrel


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## Tucker90 (16 Jul 2019)

enmanueljeffren said:


> Interesting that it is mainly Pinewood.. I made an assumption it must be hardwood..



I think you have added something to that quote 


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