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Calling everyone with experience of wild plants & bunnies

thumps_

Wise Old Thumper
Some of us would like to form a group to help those who want to use wild plants for their bunnies. Many bunnies have already benefitted & there is much interest. There is a problem that some plants can be easily confused with others, which are either dangerous to buns or not known to be safe. This hasn't been done before, & is so important if we're to be safe.

We want to make an indexed referenced thread for the UK without having to pan through lots of cultivated plants.

We would like to produce a list with photos showing the difference between safe plants & those easily confused, side by side.

I would like to produce a list of plants which can't be easily confused too.

I envisage us going off forum to the pm system, & using multiple pm's if possible to contact all members of the group for their opinions & input. It would be like sitting round a cyber table together. We'd need a decision about who will undertake to contribute which plants.

Please will you post if you can join & help us. Some idea of time available - 1/2 hour daily, 1/2 hour x1 per week plus an indication of your plant background would be really helpful.
I'm very much an amateur & only know my local chalk downland plants well. There are so many people who know more than I do!

thank you so much Judy
 
I don't know if this will help you but you can make your own wiki. So have a page per plant. I use this site to host a wiki of Lush products http://lush.pbworks.com/ and it's really simple to use.

That's a really good idea. :wave:
I can help with techie stuff if you need me to. I can write a bit of HTML and CSS if you get as far as making a website. :)
 
I will help. Hard to say exactly how much time I can give but as much as possible.

I'm a professional gardener so have extensive experience of weeds :lol: and live in the countryside so have lots of access to wild plants, and could easily take photos if needed.
 
That's a really good idea. :wave:
I can help with techie stuff if you need me to. I can write a bit of HTML and CSS if you get as far as making a website. :)

I'm a total technological imbecile. I don't know how to begin making a web site, but it sounds a possible way to do it.

I think that the advantage of getting a group together on here, is that there is very little general information specifically about bunnies, & a lot of disagreement beween internet sites.

Just because a plant gives a problem to a tortoise or guinea pig doesn't mean it does the same thing to a rabbit, but rabbits get included. Similarly sometimes a whole plant is banned when the leaves are good for rabbits but the seeds aren't. So I see a need for discussion.
We've got some very knowledgable people indeed on here. I hope they'll help.
 
thumps that wiki site is really easy to use, you don't need any coding knowledge, it's a lot like using a forum tbh. And you can add editors so have a variety of people able to edit the pages and add stuff.
 
i'll help in any way i can - when stupid health allows:evil: (so long as i have specific instructions:oops:)

best make the most of the all the green areas surronding me:wave:
 
I will do as much as I possibly can, I can get some photos and dont mind doing any organising, pairing up of pictures, labeling ect :wave:
 
A big thank you everyone.
Help with the techi stuff will be fantastic, I'd forgotten about that. :oops:
I'm having difficulty getting onto RU some evenings. Are other folks finding the same or is it my computer?
 
I think it was down last night again. Seems to struggle in the evenings when lots of people online.
 
I could give some help and advice and am happy to do so BUT my time is very limited as I have to balance 23 buns, hens, tortoises, cat, full time self employment with urgent need to gain more money , house recovering from re-building still (lots still needs doing), spring time digging and planting of two allotments, 3 lodgers, and a variety of other interests more or less pressing

The spirit is willing but the time is very short . . .

May I suggest as a starting point that we ALWAYS use the Latin as well as the common name for everything we discuss . . many many mistakes are made by people who do not realise that several plants may have the same common name or that one plant will have many common names (especially in different parts of the country). For example the common term 'bindweed' can include about 5 different species.

To be at all useful we have to include the Latin name so that people can cross check - even if we index by all the common names and include those as well.
 
I could give some help and advice and am happy to do so BUT my time is very limited as I have to balance 23 buns, hens, tortoises, cat, full time self employment with urgent need to gain more money , house recovering from re-building still (lots still needs doing), spring time digging and planting of two allotments, 3 lodgers, and a variety of other interests more or less pressing

The spirit is willing but the time is very short . . .

May I suggest as a starting point that we ALWAYS use the Latin as well as the common name for everything we discuss . . many many mistakes are made by people who do not realise that several plants may have the same common name or that one plant will have many common names (especially in different parts of the country). For example the common term 'bindweed' can include about 5 different species.

To be at all useful we have to include the Latin name so that people can cross check - even if we index by all the common names and include those as well.

Thank you so much parsnipbun. Yes I think that is a superb suggestion, & easy to implement because most wild plant books give both names.
I'm very aware of the demands on your time.

When we get together it was on my mind for those like myself to do the "ground work" & present it to those like yourself with much wider knowledge, for correction & further suggestions, so you can return it to us for completion. I can think of 2 other people with an extensive knowledge of botany. It's an idea I hoped to put to the group when we get together.
 
why not kick off - so to speak - with each of us just brain storming some things we do feed to our buns and some plus and minus points we think we know about their possible medicinal and nutritional effects and then someone can start putting these in list form that we can circulate for further comment around the group and then go from there.

That way the input can be as short or long as circumstances allow each of us!
 
why not kick off - so to speak - with each of us just brain storming some things we do feed to our buns and some plus and minus points we think we know about their possible medicinal and nutritional effects and then someone can start putting these in list form that we can circulate for further comment around the group and then go from there.

That way the input can be as short or long as circumstances allow each of us!

Excellent idea Parsnip bun. We'd need to form our own list from what we use because we'll be most familiar with those plants, which will save a lot of research, & time.
Please will everyone continue their suggestions.

Just for the present I'm personally looking at how many people will come forward to help & how we can organise ourselves the best so no one is overloaded, & we can all communicate effectively.
Perhaps when we know all the participants I could draw up a cascade system for lists. I person starts with their list pm's it to a designated next who adds to it etc. It might end with me & I'd post the final list on here for general appraisal.
We might eventually use this thread for "group discussions". How does that sound?
 
WOW fantastic idea guys :thumb:

As there is a lot of hard work going to go into this, could you possibly add a voluntary donation page so that those using it can show their appreciation of the effort that has gone into it by donating a small fee. Maybe any monies could be added to PAP to benefit all rescues. If it's voluntary those that cant afford a donation can also access this fantastic wealth of knowledge.
 
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