countrytalkandtips.myfreeforum.org

admin · Site Admin Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 227

Ok , since I have been so publicly outed as a strimmaholic I will give you lots of tips you really won't need , being normal people who will resort to chemicals or even alpaccas when faced with more than an acre of thicket and rushes Laughing

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But it is getting a bit late just now so I will do that tomorrow . This is just to give you a bit of warning .

Who is the current Social Secretary ? I think we should have a strimming championship .

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we need more people to say something .

keithrawlins · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: banbridge

i got a new strimmer this week end ! has any one seen the ones that come with attacchments (sorry blowin im not takling about seats) , imean rotavters ,headgeclipers and such like.

squirrel01 · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 90 Location: co. roscommon

i had a husqvarna for 4 years now, and has given me nothing but trouble, great when working but getting it going was a nightmare, so i thought sod it and went to woodies and got a pro-cut, only 99 euro, 30 off.
i now pull the cord and it runs, i got a new gear head for the husky last year and that was 95 euro.....

blowin · Posted: Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:20 am Post subject:

keithrawlins · Joined: 18 Feb 2007 Posts: 152 Location: banbridge

i got one but it was more so that it tok less room when stored in the shed it hangs on 2 hooks side by side.

FerretLady · Joined: 14 Oct 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Ballymoney (ni)

why do you guys want to strim everything and cut hedges?

lots of hedgehogs are hurt every year by strimmers and the person not seeing the hedgehog in long grass.

blowin · Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2007 10:06 pm Post subject:

quarryman · Joined: 14 Dec 2006 Posts: 417 Location: Sligo

Don't listen to him Ferret Lady, Blowin just loves strimming...........

blowin · Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2007 12:12 am Post subject:

Got nothing better to do Wink

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Been too busy strimming to say any more about the techniques I mentioned but since I doubt that anyone actually wants or needs them I will take that as ok .
Aww , what the heck , I am a lonely insomniac so here goes anyway :-
- DO take note of the comment in the manual which says that you should wear cushioned gloves and should take a break if your hands start to tingle . The result of failing to do this is definitely to be avoided ! You get a condition commonly called " white finger disease " . The vibration detroys the tiny blood vessels and the affected area goes white and numb . It is irreversible . While it isn't painful or particularly inconvenient along the bit between your thumb and index finger , where you get it from this job , the ongoing risk is that you will pick up infection from thorns or minor cuts which you don't notice .
- And the bit about always wearing safety goggles seems a bit OTT too , so is easily ignored . All I can say is that I never bothered with them during 4 yrs of professional gardening in the UK but would have lost my eyesight more than once if I didn't use them over here . There is something different about the land and the vegetation . The very fine , wet grit together with chunky iris stems can really hurt your face if you get the cutting angle wrong . Not to mention all the different kinds of poo you find in the grass !
- If rushes and iris are tall , start by strimming vertically down from the top . This shreds the veg into a kind of mulch which grass can grow thru . If you begin at the base the stems fall like roofing thatch and smother all the delicate stuff .
- In the winter it is easier to strim during a hard frost than when the growth is defrosted and wet . ( But you can leave semi-permanent footprints ) .
- If your m/c begins to lose power and / or becomes difficult to start , check your air filter . If not visibly dirty it may be damp from sap spray . This also happens late afternoon , when the air cools and becomes moister . Wash and dry ( if you can "borrow" a hair-dryer this takes just the same amount of time as making a cup of tea . Wink

)
- For really dense , tall thickets of brambles + bracken + ivy or honeysuckle a proper hedgecutter is better than a strimmer , whatever attachment you use ( line / steel blade / brushcutter with teeth -- an expensive waste of time IMHO ) .
- if long scutch or rushes have fallen over it is usually easier to cut along the direction of fall , starting from the rooted end . If it is all a big tangle , slice it up , like a cake , before cutting horizontally .
Well , that should have sent you all to sleep .

FerretLady · Joined: 14 Oct 2007 Posts: 27 Location: Ballymoney (ni)

i guessed he did, yes hedgehogs often wander about under hedges in gardens early morning etc so ive herd of quite a few being badly hurt with them.

heres and idea...... get a goat and give up the strimmer.