In article ,
Martin Brown wrote:
On 24/11/2010 14:15, Charlie Pridham wrote:
In ,
says...
Best strategy seems to be to open up the woodland getting rid of
understory and crown lifting the trees but it is hugely expensive and
some idiot then decided they could not burn the cut laural due to the
cyanide so we have huge piles of diseased wood lying around
That is totally silly. Burning it will destroy the cyanide containing
glycosides and whilst you should not stand in the smoke it would be far
more likely that you would die of carbon monoxide poisoning first.
It isn't like poison ivy or oak where the smoke can actually be almost
as bad as mustard gas. Cyanide is pretty easily broken down in a fire.
Yes. I posted a reference to its extreme flammability some time
ago, but do note that the OP said "some idiot then decided". And,
if there are any such idiots reading this, the 'poison' attaches
to both the 'ivy' and the 'oak' :-)
However, think of all of the ecological benefits of a large
amount of rotting wood!
Regards,
Nick Maclaren.