I planted two cherry trees two years ago, they are on dwarf rootstock so are not very tall, around five feet max.

Last year they had quite a bit of fruit on them, but got eaten by the birds, and we didn't end up with one cherry for ourselves. Also a couple of braches got broken where the birds (pigeon) had landed on them.  What's the best way to keep the birds off these trees?  I also have the same problem with a couple of small Victoria plum trees.

I've though about a makeshift frame covered in netting, but to be honest I haven't a clue. Any tip welcome.

I have three fairly big Buddleia bushes in our garden, and need to cut them back, they are getting out of hand.  How hard can I cut them back, and what's the best time to do this?

I'd be grateful for any advice.

Just curious if anyone has any tips on dealing with a neighbors hedge which is in dire need of trimming on our side. Is it my responsibility to cut it back, or should I approach them to do it? Also if I trim it back should I throw the cuttings back over their side into their garden?

It's a conifer hedge about 60ft in length, 8-9ft high. and probably over 4ft deep. Any advice would be appreciated.

Just fired my Harrier 56, 340 series up for the second time this year, cut my grass.  Still reckon this is one of the best Harrier 56 in the range. Shame they are making parts obsolete for some of the older Hayter machines now, because there's still a lot of good old mowers out there. 

Another one of these machines with a gearbox support bearing fallen out. Can't understand why it's designed quite the way it is tbh.  I've seen this happening on the 41, 48, and 56. 

Today it was a 2016 Harrier 48 Pro.  Each end of the gearbox output shaft runs through a bearing in a aluminium housing which are bolted on to the roller frame brackets.  As there's a bit of flex in these brackets or perhaps running very slightly out of line, those bearings start to walk their way out of the housing. The bearings are a press fit in the housings and have nothing else to hold them in place. 

The good bit is. they upgraded to a wider version of these bearings, but unfortunately they use the original housings which only grip two thirds of the bearing when pressed in. Totally pointless imo.

Hopefully this won't happen with the new range of Harrier's, but not having delved inside one yet I don't know if that's the case.

Anyway added a couple of pics of the said bearings and housings.

Paul. I've been repairing horticultural machinery for 40 years, and I'll be honest say nothing surprises me any more.  Some times when someone bring in a machine a thought goes through my mind instantly.  "It's a good job the machine won't start mate, because it shouldn't be used in that state" (I removed the expletives from my thoughts).

Like you said, Bar and chains and sprockets in a hell of a state, chains on backwards, neat fuel in tank, the list goes on tbh.  One thing that does P me off though is when they have fitted a new starter cord and not told you.  So you go for it, only to discover they've fitted a cord about a foot long. That really get my goat.

People who think they can repair stuff, but they clearly can't, when you discover they have had the carb apart.  And people who hand you the recoil starter in bits, spring like a birds nest because they tried to fit a cord.  Rant over. 

Hi Paul, and welcome to TGMF. 

I'm kind of doing the same as you. just including in the service, though if someone just brings a carb in on it's own they will get charged the labor for stripping cleaning and reassembly, probably.  I know some companies charge quite a bit on top of the service for sonic cleaning, but I'm not sure how they prove they actually done it.  Bit of a grey area imo.

Main candidates for sonic cleaning seem to be Honda carbs (the Chinese ones), and that's only if the thing isn't flooding like crazy, which a lot of them do.  And the chainsaw and strimmer carbs where people have left stale fuel in them.

Had another one this morning, not the worst one I've seen but definitely needed the float level sorting.  Grabbed before and after pics on my phone.

Before


After, with new needle and seat fitted

Has anyone switched from using a Petrol lawnmower to Cordless Battery powered machine? The Battery equipment certainly seems to be getting popular these days. Just wondered what you think of them.

Here's a scenario for you.  So for example you drag your Hayter Harrier fitted with a Briggs and Stratton engine out of the shed for the first cut of the season.  Engine starts hunting and surging like mad.  You clean the carb thoroughly, perhaps more than once, but still the damn thing keeps hunting.  Here's something you should check.  The float level. 

Best way to check it properly is to remove the carb from the engine, and take off the float bowl.  Then flip the carb upside down.  The float should be sitting parallel to the carb body, as shown in the first image below.

In the first image you can clearly see the float level is spot on and doesn't need any attention at all.



In the second image below, the float level is way out, the rubber seat has expanded and pushed the needle out further than it should, thus pushing the float out of level.  This  results in a low fuel level in the carburettor bowl, and will make the engine run weak. Often mean hunting / surging.  In some cases the rubber seats expand so much they restrict or even stop the flow of fuel completely, with obvious consequences. 



In this case you would replace simply buy a needle and seat kit from your Briggs dealer and replace them.  You'll be surprised just how many of these engines are running around with this problem, I've fitted hundreds of them over the last two or three years. 

Anyway, thanks for reading, and hope this helps someone.

Ok, so just about anyone thinks they can put a sharp edge on their mower blade using various methods, a Bench grinder, angle grinder or manually with a file, and any of those methods is fine if it give you a good edge.  But the important thing that gets overlooked by most people is the balancing of the blade.

Why you should always balance your mower blade

You've probably seen on youtube or read elsewhere that having a out of balance blade can damage or wear out the engine crankshaft bearings, but to be honest this is only part of the problem.  The vibration caused by a out of balance blade will effect every moving component on the machine, right down to parts inside the carburettor. 

Anything that moves will be subjected to wear, so I'll list a few of the effected parts, axles, levers, float pins, throttle shafts, throttle linkage, handles, drive parts, height adjusters. Anything that moves will wear prematurely because of vibration. 

Then there's some tin parts which don't move but bend and vibrate, such as tin mower decks, brackets, control plates handles, which could crack and fail due to excessive vibration.  So there you have it.  Don't just sharpen your mower blade make sure it's balanced, and get it checked properly. 

Please Note: If you think hanging the blade via the center hole, on a pencil or a nail on the wall that won't work, the blade has to be checked at the center of the hole. Anyone who say this does work is completely wrong, so save yourself some money and grief and get your blade sharpened and balanced professionally.

There was a bug when trying to type anything on here with a Android mobile, the keyboard would keep disappearing so you couldn't type anything.  Hopefully it's fixed now if anyone could confirm please. 

Hi Happy Mower, and welcome to TGMF.

Please to hear you're liking the Ariens Zoom, they seem like a decent machine.  Tried one myself last year, and was pretty impressed.  Very solidly built and as you said great fun to use.

Let us know how you get on with it as the season progresses. 

Wondered why the rear wheel wasn't straight on this Toro Recycler, Think it must have been a Friday afternoon one. 

In the second picture you can clearly see the threaded retainer-bushing has been screwed in on the piss. (excuse my French). 

Sorry for image quality> taken on my really cheap windows phone.

I sometimes wonder why you only need a certificate to purchase a tiny top handled chainsaw, but you don't need one to purchase a larger more powerful chainsaw with a massive bar and chain on it.  People could do some serious damage with a four foot bar, let alone nearly kill themselves trying to start the thing. 

Your thoughts?