I can remember what the country side looked like before Elm diseases !

[MattyF]

Unfortunately, it will also be an opportunity for unscrupulous types to kill off a lot of healthy ash trees claiming that they are dangerous/diseased.

Aye sitting in a local pub and one of the big forestry guys was saying how many ash there was between here and a local town and how he was going to fell them all..
I thought a few things...
You ignorant $€\>>.......
Felling hardwoods is nothing like sitting in your air con cab felling Sitka even the lads he uses for doing the outside trees his harvesters can’t do will struggle on with some of these gnarly superb examples of ancient ash.
I can not genuinely believe people’s selfishness for money at times especially when they consider them selfs country men who’s all pursuits out side of work , fishing and shooting involve being surrounded by these trees.

[Peasgood]

7 hours ago, Stere said:

Also  best practice is to flail hedge every 3 yrs not every year or even several times a year which seems common....so you get more hawthorn berries etc for wildlife etc

Best practice for what? It’s not best for the hedge in my opinion, you certainly wouldn’t be only cutting your garden hedge every three years because it would be a right mess.

It might be best practice for berry production but that’s not what they are there for, a point often forgotten or ignored. Birds living and feeding in them is purely a byproduct, it is not their purpose.

Historically they would have been cut annually by hand and no higher than a mans chest. At least modern machinery allows them to be higher, whether this is good or bad is debatable. 

The picture posted is a pic of a badly maintained hedge, bad maintenance has likely always occurred to some degree. The purpose of the hedge is to define boundaries and maybe to keep stock in too. The hedge pictured is still defining the boundary, wire is a lot cheaper and quicker than hedgelaying.

[Rough Hewn]

Don’t forget.........1987 hurricane brighton. i remember it and it was carnage 
 
we still have lots but lose many every yr due to DED 

 
Edit all these trees are elm 

Shit!
I know those trees!
That's the level!
I'd heard it was bad in 87 in Brighton, but I'd never seen the photos.
Nice one Sean.
[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]

[Mark2]

We’er a big industry, some massive company’s at the top of the pile, taking up the lion share of the over one million pound contracts, and yet the majority of us are small firms !

in this national emergency, and with the Brixit timing.

where is all the grant money? We need that?

where are the industry lobbyists in the news connecting these to dots?

after ‘ded’ We did have a huge tree planting campaign! !

we need that now, we need financial help in training. 

Or are we going to get cought with our pants down as an industry over Brixit!  

[roseyweb]

Without starting a Brexit debate the future will be what CAP will bring

it maybe farmers get grants for work and trees 

or that theres so much else to get sorted, fixed conservation is left to the wayside.

 

[Stere]

There are ways to better flail hegdes that don't produce a knuckle/stresses the plants so much. Cutting every year at same height stresses the hedge.

 

Varying the height cut, not cutting so low, cutting a V shaped top....

 

http://nigeladamscountrysidemanagement.co.uk/pdf/hedgelink-hedgerow-management.pdf

 

Quote

Best practice for what? It’s not best for the hedge in my opinion, you certainly wouldn’t be only cutting your garden hedge every three years because it would be a right mess.

 

I actually do cut a  section of roadside native hedge row on 3yrs cycle in the garden. It looks  untidy but since I stopped the yearly cuts & started doing it every 3 yrs  hedge is alot healthier than before. Previously I cut it the same height every year for so long then the hedge started to look like the picture I posted...

 

Now it looks untidy but  healthier. Neighbouring farmers probably think im just to lazy to cut it. Some are cutting there hedgerows 2 or even 3 times in 1 year? Whilst others are never cut at all for decades then they sometimes eventually  flail it when its this stage:

 

 

 

 

 

Why do hedges have to look tidy its still doing its job marking boaundary if it looks untidy or tidy. Allowing 3yrs or 2ys growth won't encroach on fields much & is only a problem on very narrow lanes with no verge.

 

 

 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Stere

[Mark2]

If you cut a hedge square it has 3 sides to cut! Cut it A shaped ya got 2 sides to cut!

the bottoms don’t get gappy from lack of light (better stock proof) the critters love it to.

also google—  ‘adventous bud ‘ and consider it’s implacation to hedges !!

Edited January 7, 2019 by Mark2

[Mark2]

If your a tree surgeon, keep a bed of young nursery trees in the corner of your yard !!

when coffee and biscuits arrive ! Persuade your customer to replace the tree felled with a young tree, better still several ! That way we can all sleep with a clear mind, and when in the future the fingers point! We will have done our bit.

plus value/profit added to that job !