[FERDY]

May be, but they don't 'arf work well                  

DIRTY

[SMD66]

we have had the same problem and succesfully burnt all sorts of green stuff. My OH is rubbish at getting fires going, I myself am an expert,    (a bit of a pyromaniac).
Like others have said the secret is to get the fire hot.  Start with paper, then dry twigs then some good dry wood, get the heat built up then you can add anything and it will burn, just add it relatively slowly.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE PETROL
not just because of residues but because it is so dangerous.  I knew someone who's husband died 3 weeks after getting 60% burns after trying to use petrol to get a fire going. 

[Rangerkris]

Pallet wood is good for starting a fire thin strips with some dry twigs or standing dead wood. Woo hoo a subject i know lots about hahahaha

Take dry wood split with a bill hook small axe and away you go 

[davethespread]

you could alwaysgive magnesium hydride a shot

[arugula]

you could alwaysgive magnesium hydride a shot

  Dave! 

[scabs]

I knew someone who's husband died 3 weeks after getting 60% burns after trying to use petrol to get a fire going. 

Jeez, sorry to hear that... 

[Babstreefern]

We had a great bonfire when I was young .  Lived in a small village called Carrington, where Shell was building a chemical plant .  It went on for years, and I remember that all of us kids asked the building contractors if they could send us over any old planks, and any other burnable stuff for Bonfire Night .  Added to this we used to go down by the River Mersey (at this point, the river, is about 100ft across), we chopped down hedgerows and threw the lot on the bonfire, and hey presto, a fantastic bonfire - one year, the police came and told us to demolish half of it because the heat would have cracked the glass in the houses - we kept that fire going for a week

[pumpkinpatch]

plenty of dry wood and a good slosh of sunflower oil or veg oil hey presto 

[johnfh]

Dry wood (put some inside somewhere to dry for a few days), a large cardboard box or two or a couple of domestic firelieghters - even better in combination.  The real essential though is to get a good heat source establised before you start trying to put the green stuff on.  Once established a weed fire can keep going for days - the neighbours willl just love it!

[MoreWhisky]

You cant beat a good fire ) post a pick if u like when u done.

[bigben]

Thanks for all the ideas guys. I just hope I get a bit of dry weather when I finally get my allotment to allow me to get started.
Cheers!

[aelf]

another idea is to tie it up into small bundles and stash it under the hedge. That fills gaps in the hedge and is a great place for friendly creepy-crawlies to hide over the winter.

If you do want to burn it, leave it stacked under the hedge for a few weeks first. The wind will dry it out, even in the rain.

[Faz]

I found my incinerator made from a washing machine drum quite good at burning the privet clippings - as long as there was a good fire going on in the bottom of it most things plonked in or on it burned eventually. Though my hedges are pretty big, they don't sound half as big as yours though, so it could take you a while!!

[chriscross1966]

I'm in sort of the same state here except I'm getting rid of a couple of small trees that were shading the back of the plot... they were weeds just left a few years apparently... also a lot of perrenial weed root and ivy ... what I've been doing is collecting pallets up and setting up the bottom third of the incinerator with pallet wood and the top two thirds with the rubbish. couple of bits of firelighter and a splash of lamp oil (long story but I've got loads of it) and it all goes up quickly enough... burns down in about 45 minutes, take top off, reload pallet wood and rubbish, top back on and squirt the lamp-oil though the side.... it all takes off again..... I hope to make a big dent on it all this weekend cos I should be able to spend the whole of saturday on the plot....

chrisc

[chriscross1966]

Or using tyres splashed with meths works