• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

British tree roots ok?

T

Tucker90

Member
Joined
28 Feb 2016
Messages
358
Location
Derby
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?

fea3a52b6360a8865ff01c5f83496384.jpg
fe9712179e0c1f2776636340953b57ae.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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/
 
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. :)
 
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.
 
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?
 
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:wave::wave:
 
Hi all,
tiger15 said:
burning bush
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
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
 
tiger15 said:
Too bad that yew, juniper and Rhododendron are no good
Click to expand...

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.
 
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.
 
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Hi I have rinsed off various beech branches that have fell and are dead with lectins on will these be ok
 
zozo said:
can be anything hard enough to survive that long burried in the peatswamps.
Click to expand...
it''s not the hardness, it''s the peat acids which conserve, most dutch ''kienhout'' is vliegden.(lower quality quite soft wood originally)
 
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)
Click to expand...

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..
 
Hi all,
zozo said:
Interesting that it is mainly Pinewood.. I made an assumption it must be hardwood..
Click to expand...
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
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top