Teasels

[Harvestman]

Hi folks, I have access to an enormous quantity of last year's teasel, the dried stalks with the spiky head on the end. Obviously they will make great kindling as they have been dead since last summer, but is there anything else you can do with a teasel?

I dunno, they just look 'useful' somehow.

I have heard that they used to be used as combs/hair brushes, but to be honest that sounds painful - those things are spiky. They might end up more as a set of bushcraft hair curlers, and that somehow isn't quite my style.

Any suggestions?

 

[Toddy]

They used to be used to lift the nap on a cloth, not for carding, though there's always someone who insists they're good for it aye, if you want your wool full of wee broken jaggy bits

They make great wax dips for the core of torches for camp they also make good cores for dipping in a mixture of suet or lard and birdseed. Better than fat balls

I know someone who used to make them into wee ornaments....stick on scraps of cloth and eyes to make rustic mice and hedgehogs, a la Brambley Hedge, sort of thing.
Flower arrangers love them, they can be dyed to make Christmas ornaments, and added to Harvest decorations.

They're a pain in the garden and every year I think they look useful and gather and dry a load of them......and end up putting them onto a fire somewhere because they're so blasted prickly and I rarely get round to using them.


Best of luck with yours if you make anything good from them, it'd be interesting to hear about it....might encourage me to redd out the shed and find my bag load too

cheers,
M

 

[British Red]

If the seeds are still in, finches adore them!

 

[poddle]

Keep teasles away from your Swanndri, trust me... still picking the darned stuff out after three flippin years

 

[shaggystu]

.....they also make good cores for dipping in a mixture of suet or lard and birdseed. Better than fat balls.....

If the seeds are still in, finches adore them!

thanks for both of these tips, i've decided that the best way to get some life into my tiny little garden is to encourage the local birds to visit, i'll be trying out both these ideas

stuart

 

[British Red]

Try getting some Niger seed (fine black thistle seed - needs a specialist feeder). I got that tip from Jonny P a few years ago - goldfinces go mad for it (although it takes em a few weeks to find it)


goldfinch 3 by British Red, on Flickr

Red

 

[Harvestman]

The torches idea is a great one. I'm going to try that. Thanks. Where I work there is a bit of waste ground where the landowner dumps all his rubbish from site renovations. It has a few thousand teasels. The rubbish is worth picking over too - I got a nice set of stackable trays out of there last week. More wire than I know what to do with, even a perfectly intact padded jacket. The stuff some people throw away...

 

[Buckshot]

It's possible to use the stalks for hand drill too

 

[Bushwhacker]

As Red said, excellent attractors for finches.
When in flower the insects love them too.

 

[Galemys]

It's possible to use the stalks for hand drill too

Remove the spikes first !

Cheers,

Tom

 

[ol smokey]

As Toddy says flower arrangers love them, if there is a local craft or flower arranging group near you, you cpould probably sell them plenty, Worth a try. Stuart.