"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Robert E A Harvey" wrote in message
I've got a couple of oak trees in the garden, and I have been
researching
this because I'd hate to see them go, and worse I'd hate to harbour it
unwittingly if my trees get it.

But on reading http://www.defra.gov.uk/planth/pestnote/newram.pdf I was
suprised to see that it can affect more than just oaks, something that
was
not at all clear from the BBC/newspaper stories that started me on this
search. Googling the group shows that there are people here less
ignorant
than I.

That's quite a useful document from defra and I commend it to anyone who
is
growing, or particularly thnking of buying, trees or broadleaf shrubs.


Having just purchased 1200 young trees for our new local Park it makes
rather sombre reading.

--
Regards
Bob

Use a useful Screen Saver...
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
and find intelligent life amongst the stars



hello,

Ah yes, but things could be worse. (depending on who's doing the planting)

I once worked for an industrial landscape firm. i.e., they catered for
businesses, councils, etc and not private customers.

Many sites were huge. One was approx 4 miles across, as the crow flies.
Actually it was a small mountain, or very big hill depending on how tired
you might me after trekking across it.

Now, as it happened, forepersons were not chosen for their horticultural
qualifications, great knowledge or skills. Authority was gained through
ownership of a vehicle. The larger the car, the more able it might be to
transport a team of burly workers over long distances, whilst drawing a
large, robust and over laden trailer full of materials and equipment. And
therefore, the larger the car, the more authority imbued on it's owner,
albeit that one such foreman seemed so dim as to make us wonder how ever did
he get a drivers licence in the first place.

However, unlike him, most other forepersons were not inclined to make the
horrendously expensive mistake of assuming full unquestionable control,
whilst reading the plans upside down on projects so large as to need the car
to get from one end to the other.

To emphasis his incompetence there maybe nothing that a nervous first-time
gardener's nightmare might include, that he didn't manage to do in reality
and on a Grande scale, but that wasn't the problem.

The real problem was for the poor souls trying to work under his charge. If
they failed to alert him of an error, his (and therefore their bosses) would
not lay the blame with him. It would be deemed his team's fault and it was
only on such occasions that they would be recognised as being the more
competent. They should have known better, that sort of thing.

Sadly for them, if they tried to alert him, irrespective of how, he would
immediately exploit his rank to bellow his defence by further diminishing
their value to the project, whilst digging his heels in, not only to
continue with the mistakes without a fraction of positive alteration, but
add to them as well.

On that hilly mountain he lead his team throughout the planting of many
thousands of broad leaf saplings. Unfortunately, it being winter an all, the
broad-leafed saplings were inconveniently thoughtless enough to be without
those nice leaf thingies and so he had trouble knowing which way was up. But
still, he was in charge and his choices were rule.

When I came a visiting one midweek afternoon, I noticed the upside down
planting. It turned out to be in the region of 2700 saplings.

He probably runs the firm now.

Now I know Tommy Walsh (Groundforce) once rhetorically asked how difficult
can it be to plant something in a hole leaf-end up. but Tommy, if you're
reading this. you aint seen the half of it (-:



Patrick