"Charlie Pridham" wrote in news:426b348d$1_3
@mk-nntp-1.news.uk.worldonline.com:


"Dave Poole" wrote in message
...
Whilst termites aren't exactly public enemy no. 1 here in the UK, this
thread reminds me of the immense concern caused by termite
infestations in properties in north Devon a few years back. It
shouldn't happen here because of our relatively cool climate.
However, with each summer proving to be marginally warmer than the
previous and almost every winter showing an increase in mean minimum
temperatures, termites will become a problem sooner or later. And a
serious one at that.

I'm not sure how effective the control program was, but there's no
certainty that they haven't managed to spread quietly.

Happy to say the termites have been officially declared eradicated on our
local news a week or two back :~)
and as an aside I don't care where anyone is posting from so long as they
make it clear (makes any suggestions pointless otherwise)

I believe that the North Devon termites were a strictly house-based problem
- they were able to get out and about a bit in the summer, but were reliant
on central heating to survive the winter. I think they travelled to North
Devon inside some sort of large wooden souvenir.

Victoria

But the topic of the newsgroup
is gardening in the UK, so questions about things that don't form part
of gardening in the UK are off topic, and are unlikely to get an
answer.//////////////not even of those questions/answers would also be of
benefit to UK gardeners!!!!!!!!!HW

--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Harold Walker wrote:
But the topic of the newsgroup
is gardening in the UK, so questions about things that don't form
part of gardening in the UK are off topic, and are unlikely to get
an
answer.//////////////not even of those questions/answers would
also
be of benefit to UK gardeners!!!!!!!!!HW

Depends, though. Many European enquiries can sensibly be answered
from a UK and Ireland perspective; quite a few Australian questions
can be answered by simply changing any months referred to; many
enquiries about container or under glass work don't depend on
geography; and there are plenty of questions about general
principles, such as all those ones on lawns or cuttings. It's often
extremely relevant and valuable for Br Is gardeners to get an idea of
the conditions a particular exotic plant faces on its home ground,
too.

And, personally, I'd love the excuse to dig out my tropical gardening
books if I knew which box they were in!

--
Mike.

In article , Harold Walker
writes

But the topic of the newsgroup
is gardening in the UK, so questions about things that don't form part
of gardening in the UK are off topic, and are unlikely to get an
answer.//////////////


not even of those questions/answers would also be of
benefit to UK gardeners!!!!!!!!!HW

If the questions/answers are of benefit to UK gardeners in their
gardening in the UK, then they are on topic. I'm not sure what point you
are trying to make.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no problem.
Sorry.
I also know that this list isn't comprised of just UK gardeners, but
mostly. With all that wealth of knowledge I had figured I'd get a wide
variety of answers... more than I would have gotten from here, in the
US.
And I am slowly realising that the British sense of humour is sometimes
far different than my own...so I'll try, in the future, to remember not
to jump, but look and think first. If in doubt, I'll check with hubby!

Thank you all again... and just to pass on the info - I was told to 1)
use a bit of boric acid in the soil, 2) water the soil heavily, or 3)
put cheyenne pepper of the actual termites themselves... the only one
that sounds reasonable is the boric acid, but is it still ok to eat the
veggies that come from the treated area?? The answers are varied on
that one too...

Erin

wrote:
I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in
the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are
made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no
problem.
Sorry.
I also know that this list isn't comprised of just UK gardeners,
but
mostly. With all that wealth of knowledge I had figured I'd get a
wide
variety of answers... more than I would have gotten from here, in
the
US.
And I am slowly realising that the British sense of humour is
sometimes far different than my own...so I'll try, in the future,
to
remember not to jump, but look and think first. If in doubt, I'll
check with hubby!

Thank you all again... and just to pass on the info - I was told to
1)
use a bit of boric acid in the soil, 2) water the soil heavily, or
3)
put cheyenne pepper of the actual termites themselves... the only
one
that sounds reasonable is the boric acid, but is it still ok to eat
the veggies that come from the treated area?? The answers are
varied
on that one too...

Never used it, Erin; but I don't know any reason why they'd do you
any harm. (The British Isles aren't warm enough for termites -- yet!
The main insects which attack household wood here are woodworm,
properly called furniture beetle, though there are some others.)

--
Mike.

I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no problem.
Sorry.
I also know that this list isn't comprised of just UK gardeners, but
mostly. With all that wealth of knowledge I had figured I'd get a wide
variety of answers... more than I would have gotten from here, in the
US.
And I am slowly realising that the British sense of humour is sometimes
far different than my own...so I'll try, in the future, to remember not
to jump, but look and think first. If in doubt, I'll check with hubby!

Thank you all again... and just to pass on the info - I was told to 1)
use a bit of boric acid in the soil, 2) water the soil heavily, or 3)
put cheyenne pepper of the actual termites themselves... the only one
that sounds reasonable is the boric acid, but is it still ok to eat the
veggies that come from the treated area?? The answers are varied on
that one too...

Erin

wrote in message
oups.com...
I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no problem.


LOL. So you think the termites evolved to feed solely on wooden houses? I
think you'll find there are very few termites in New York either, and the
reason isnt the brownstone buildings, its the climate!

--
Tumbleweed

email replies not necessary but to contact use;
tumbleweednews at hotmail dot com

In article .com,
writes
I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no problem.

It's not that - it's the climatic conditions.
We do use a lot of wood in building, and over wide areas of the country
the traditional building material was timber framing.

Sorry.
I also know that this list isn't comprised of just UK gardeners, but
mostly. With all that wealth of knowledge I had figured I'd get a wide
variety of answers... more than I would have gotten from here, in the
US.

We get questions from people who just assume that this is a US group,
which is why we point out that it isn't. Some things, like termites and
racoons, we just don't have, other we do have but, because our
conditions are different, our solutions are different.


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

In article .com,
writes
I wasn't aware, until my post, that termites weren't an issue in the
UK. If I had thought about it though, seeing how your houses are made
of masonry and not wood, they have no food source... hence no problem.

Kay writes
It's not that - it's the climatic conditions.
We do use a lot of wood in building, and over wide areas of the country
the traditional building material was timber framing.

I live in one such, built on top of the sub-soil with a totally local
oak frame, incorporating several complete trunks and many others cut to
major and minor beams. Some of it has lasted 500 odd years so far
without problem, other parts suffered from dry rot, damp rot, fungal
spores and general decay.... so yes we do have problems with wood but
not through termites.

Sorry.
I also know that this list isn't comprised of just UK gardeners, but
mostly. With all that wealth of knowledge I had figured I'd get a wide
variety of answers... more than I would have gotten from here, in the
US.

We get questions from people who just assume that this is a US group,
which is why we point out that it isn't. Some things, like termites and
racoons, we just don't have, other we do have but, because our
conditions are different, our solutions are different.

Sometimes too we just have different names for household products, so we
just don't know what the equivalent is. I mean you'd probably use
something called Saran wrap, which we have not got here, but which I
think we'd call clingfilm. Complicated isn't it? As others have said,
its not that we don't help, or won't help, its just sometimes we are
assumed to be a fount of all knowledge and just occasionally the folk
asking do not appreciate the differences that make it difficult. But
mostly we do have a great sense of humour and can be pretty
accommodating as long as its appreciated that we are in fact based and
about our own gardens (back yard). The non-UK posters are in fact ex-UK
folk living in continental Europe, or occasionally folk in Vancouver who
share a similar climate. But we do not garden or relate to climate
zones.

Please don't think we're being exclusive or difficult, it is just that
the vast majority of English-speaking newsgroups are US-centric and Brit
needs are easily swamped, which is why we have our own set prefixed uk.*
Does that help?
--
David

Kay wrote:
::
:: We get questions from people who just assume that this is a US
:: group, which is why we point out that it isn't.

It's funny how they make the mistake of thinking it's a US group,
considering it starts with the letters UK.


--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

Phil L writes
Kay wrote:
::
:: We get questions from people who just assume that this is a US
:: group, which is why we point out that it isn't.

It's funny how they make the mistake of thinking it's a US group,
considering it starts with the letters UK.

Its mainly because all the US states are known by two-letter id's and
they think UK is just another one of the fifty or so they have....like
UT. But then given the way our govt has behaved they are probably more
right than we are..........

--
David

Dave wrote:
:: Phil L writes
::: Kay wrote:
:::::
::::: We get questions from people who just assume that this is a US
::::: group, which is why we point out that it isn't.
:::
::: It's funny how they make the mistake of thinking it's a US group,
::: considering it starts with the letters UK.
:::
:: Its mainly because all the US states are known by two-letter id's
:: and they think UK is just another one of the fifty or so they

What? - like Uklehoma? :-p - I suppose the governor is George Formby!


:: have....like UT. But then given the way our govt has behaved they
:: are probably more right than we are..........

I'm predicting that Tony Bliar and his cronies get the push next week, I
don't beleive the British people are ready for another Conservative
Government yet though, so I've put £50 on the LibDems, almost everyone I've
spoken to on usenet has said they are not voting for either of the big two.

--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

martin wrote:
:: On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 13:05:27 GMT, "Phil L"
:: wrote:
::
::: Dave wrote:
::::: Phil L writes
:::::: Kay wrote:
::::::::
:::::::: We get questions from people who just assume that this is a
:::::::: US group, which is why we point out that it isn't.
::::::
:::::: It's funny how they make the mistake of thinking it's a US
:::::: group, considering it starts with the letters UK.
::::::
::::: Its mainly because all the US states are known by two-letter
::::: id's and they think UK is just another one of the fifty or so
::::: they
:::
::: What? - like Uklehoma? :-p - I suppose the governor is George
::: Formby!
:::
:::
::::: have....like UT. But then given the way our govt has behaved
::::: they are probably more right than we are..........
:::
::: I'm predicting that Tony Bliar and his cronies get the push next
::: week, I don't beleive the British people are ready for another
::: Conservative Government yet though, so I've put £50 on the
::: LibDems, almost everyone I've spoken to on usenet has said they
::: are not voting for either of the big two.
::
:: There's only a few thousand posting to usenet. I bet you lose your
:: GBP50 :-)

I think it's not a bad bet @ 150/1 !....I live in a safe Labour
constituency, it's been a labour landslide every election for at least a
century....the last local elections a few years ago upset things a tad,
labour did remarkably badly and didn't get the usual 70%, they managed a
measly 45%, I'm confident that this trend must have occured elsewhere,
mainly in reaction to the Iraqi slaughter and that people will want a
change, I also think that the tories are wasting their time...the LD are 4%
up in two weeks and the other two are steadily going down too, according to
the latest polls, LD 24% C 32% La 36%.

I stand to lose £50, or win 7.5K!



--
If God had intended us to drink beer, He would have given us stomachs.

On 29/4/05 15:07, in article , "Janet
Baraclough" wrote:

The message
from martin contains these words:

On Fri, 29 Apr 2005 13:05:27 GMT, "Phil L"
wrote:

I'm predicting that Tony Bliar and his cronies get the push next week, I
don't beleive the British people are ready for another Conservative
Government yet though, so I've put £50 on the LibDems, almost everyone I've
spoken to on usenet has said they are not voting for either of the big two.

There's only a few thousand posting to usenet. I bet you lose your
GBP50 :-)

Maybe not. I live in a huge-majority labour constituency. Nobody I've
spoken to, will vote Labour this time, and Blair is the reason.


I agree. He may not lose but I wouldn't bet on it and I think he'll learn a
sharp lesson. Perhaps the best thing is for them *just* to hold onto power
to start keeping some of the promises they made and clear up all of the
messes. And the economy is just beginning a downturn which is NOT good for a
Labour party canvassing on its economic successes.
--

Sacha
(remove the weeds for email)