General Protection of Willow Cuttings.
Our customers buy thousands of willow cuttings off us every year. In many cases, the cuttings will require no protection as these are planted in domestic gardens, but at times either weather or wildlife may pose a risk to the new plants.
The winter of 2020 has been unseasonably warm which has caused new growth to appear on many newly planted cuttings. This will not be a problem if the weather continues to be warm until spring, but if we get a cold snap, the new growth will be at risk of dying back. The cuttings will undoubtedly shoot again, but not from the top of the cutting, which is a criterion for a completely straight growing tree. Some simple countermeasures can alleviate this problem.
Spiral Guards
Our 60cm Tubex Spiral Guards are hard transparent plastic that can be put over cuttings of any size that we sell (10 - 24 inches). Often nicknamed rabbit guards, these were designed for protection against rabbits and hares, but also have a range of other features making them highly suitable for protection of willow cuttings.
Wildlife Protection:
As mentioned, the guards protect the cuttings by making it impossible for any wildlife to get to nibble on any plant growth, at least until the growth is more 60cm tall and peeks out of the top of the guards.
Weather Protection:
The Spiral Guards provides excellent protection against wind and frost in that it provides a greenhouse-like environment inside the tube. As the guard is transparent, the cuttings with new growth will get full sunlight, whilst the guard shelters for both wind and low temperatures, both being potentially killers of any new growth.
Strimmer/mower Protection:
The guards also provide robust protection against most garden machinery where such is in use. A knock from a mower or rake will not cause any damage to the cutting at all. It will also provide a level of protection for strimmers/brush cutters, but care must be taken as these eventually will cut through any plastic-based protection.
Herbicide Protection:
The Tubex Spiral Guards also provides protection where herbicides/weed-killers are being applied. Caution must be taken not to spray into the open top of the guard.
What we offer:
Although there are many types and sizes of Tubex Spiral Guards, we only offer the size and type most suitable for the protection of willow cuttings, being a clear transparent 600mm x 40mm spiral guard.
There are a number of so-called degradable/biodegradable guards on the market based on PLA plastics, but the jury is still out on the actual bio-credentials of this material. The conditions under which PLA will degrade are so specific, not easily obtainable, and the last thing we want to be involved in is the spread of more semi-dissolved plastic bits polluting the globe, so we will have nothing to do with these. Instead, we selected the tried and tested Tubex spiral guards which will NOT biodegrade, so these can be users for many years (10-20 years).
The quality and the material of the Spiral Guards assures many years of use. But as must willow growers only need the protection for the first growing season, we are now also offering a Tubex Spiral Guard BuyBack Program.
Guard BuyBack Program.
Where the typical grower of willow cuttings only will need a spiral guard for 1 or 2 seasons, quality guards such as Spiral Guard will last for much longer than that. For this reason, Rusper Farm Limited offers to buy back any number of spiral guards bought off us, over a period of 3 years after the purchase. There will be a collection, cleaning, restocking and admin fee associated with the buy-back, but it will be worthwhile financially, and we will guarantee that all returned Spiral Guards are being either reused as spiral guards or if damaged will be correctly recycled so the plastic do not end up in the wrong places. More precise terms and conditions to be released..
Postage:
As with everything else sold by Rusper farm Limited, there is no charge for postage in the UK.