What is best for this tree??

[Paul Cleaver]

12 minutes ago, Gary Prentice said:

And grind the stump so that no-one trips over it.

If I could add to this Gary - root kill the stump first and make the client aware of the damage that can happen from new shoots sprouting from the roots outside the influence of the stump killer

[Gary Prentice]

9 minutes ago, Paul Cleaver said:

If I could add to this Gary - root kill the stump first and make the client aware of the damage that can happen from new shoots sprouting from the roots outside the influence of the stump killer

I think that pretty much exhausts the money making opportunities for this one. 

 

Jokes aside, that's not a bad idea, to poison before felling. 

Edited February 27, 2019 by Gary Prentice

[Mark Bolam]

1 hour ago, Paul Cleaver said:

This tree is fully mature. I have often found them with moderate to advanced decay at the base of he trunk at this age. (especially when they have large basal flares).

Why don't you test bore the trunk at the base with a 660.

Now we’re talking!

[Dan Maynard]

Found a couple of pics of a poplar which had been topped a few years before. Nearly hollow 18" stems at top, soft spongy wood 3/4 of stem at bottom, roots decayed to hollow at the base. New people had bought the house so we weren't sure how long but counting rings about 10 years.

[Dan Maynard]

Having spent some time this evening writing an email to 'the neighbours want to reduce the horse chestnut next to the village hall by half as it's blocking their light, is this a good idea' - can we have a 'Why not to top trees' link at the top of arbtalk.co.uk with some photo examples that we can point customers to?

[tree-fancier123]

15 hours ago, Dan Maynard said:

can we have a 'Why not to top trees' link at the top of arbtalk.co.uk with some photo examples that we can point customers to?

if people become aware that topping is universally bad is there another term that I could use to sell my service? Lopping? Trimming? Surely a holm oak or sycamore wouldn't have rotted as bad if brutally topped by a non arb approved 'practitioner' like myself?

[Mick Dempsey]

Topping is not universally bad.

 

Or maybe a trees that love a good topping thread.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Mick Dempsey

[Mark Bolam]

My main problem with topping is the lack explanation of after effects, or of ongoing maintenance commitment by customers who have been told, but still want to go ahead.

 

'We'll keep on top of it from now on' = 'I'm a lying bastard'

 

I've had more pant-ruining moments up overstood previously topped trees than any other cause, I reckon.

[Dan Maynard]

Exactly, in the horse chestnut example above what took the time was explaining the long term effects and why the neighbours paying for the initial cut is all well and good but they are making you an ongoing liability.

Previously topped sycamore I've been in hasn't rotted as badly, only a couple of feet but long shoots sprung up then cracked off and landed on neighbours TV aerial so still ongoing maintenance issues for that tree. And it was just far too small a garden for a sycamore, remove and replace would have left them in a better situation at the seven year mark which is when I was up it.

[Mick Dempsey]

On 28/02/2019 at 16:38, Mark Bolam said:

My main problem with topping is the lack explanation of after effects, or of ongoing maintenance commitment by customers who have been told, but still want to go ahead.

 

'We'll keep on top of it from now on' = 'I'm a lying bastard'

 

I've had more pant-ruining moments up overstood previously topped trees than any other cause, I reckon.

I just can’t relate to this, countless thousands of topped plane trees are done again and again without any issue.

 

It feeds the “ticking time bomb” fallacy that people buy into these days.