Crown Cleaning and BS3998 - A Disgrace

[scotspine1]

The new BS3998 does not include the term 'Crown Cleaning'

 

Has it been been banned by the over zealous arbor ecology lobby? political correctness gone mad? They dont like the term 'Crown Cleaning' so they've removed it completely, trying to brainwash us all into focussing on deadwood as habitat rather than hazard?

 

 

Could it be they've removed Crown Cleaning because none of them has ever climbed a tree in their lives and fails to understand the significance of the term for thousands of arborists/climbers in the UK?

 

Can someone please explain why we (the industry) are losing one of the few tree care specifications that actually makes a whole lot of sense?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Edited April 13, 2011 by Steve Bullman

[Rupe]

Crown cleaning is great, we use it as a term when we cant think of anything better to do with the tree, its very non specific, but it does mean you can make it up as you go along which is great for switched on arb types, but i guess it cant be described well enough to be BS.

[Amelanchier]

Its a crap term. Good for lazy arbos and bad for trees.

 

If you want the deadwood out - specify it. If you want the crossing branches out - specify it. If you want the damaged branches out - specify it. If you want to faff around doing nothing useful and get paid for it - tough.

 

Loving the fact you've only just noticed this Tim. Good job you complained about the americanized grammer when the draft was under consultation. Its so much better to leave these smaller issues til later...

[Johny Walker]

in what respect is it a "crap term" ,explain

[Amelanchier]

The entire point of a specification is that it is specific. Crown clean is a generic term that encompasses a range of specific activities - some of which may not be appropriate to the tree. It therefore does not belong in a tree work specification. In that context, it is a crap term.

[Lorry thompson]

I don't understand either maybe me and johnny are "lazy arbs" but I think a crown clean is removing deadwood, crossing branches and anything dangerous! Which is good practice, What is wrong with that? If I get asked to carry out a crown thin I remove these factors first instead of just taking a percentage of each branch to comply with the thin.

[Lorry thompson]

The entire point of a specification is that it is specific. Crown clean is a generic term that encompasses a range of specific activities - some of which may not be appropriate to the tree. It therefore does not belong in a tree work specification. In that context, it is a crap term.

 

Is it a crap term or is it that different people have a different view of what a crown clean is?

[Amelanchier]

If you've ever had to undertake a crown clean on a mature beech, i'd guess that you didn't remove ALL the crossing branches. If so, then why use the term crown clean? This is about professionals using precise langage (its lazy not to), not treeworkers removing dangerous branches.

[Stephen Blair]

There goes my pressure washing job on a big Oak next week

[scotspine1]

If you want the deadwood out - specify it. If you want the crossing branches out - specify it. If you want the damaged branches out - specify it.

 

I do specify all of the above, its called crown cleaning. The last thing the industry needs is the arbor ecologists dictating how we specify our work.

 

The majority of arborists work on trees that are grown in an artificial environment. Explain why crown cleaning is bad for a tree if the tree is grown in an artificial environment ie a town or city?

 

The removal of the term crown cleaning is good for the arbor ecologists with their excessively enthusiastic quest for creating habitat for invertibrates,fungi and bats on every last tree in Britain regardless of the situation or wether the tree grows in a city, town or a rural woodland. The retainment of deadwood where applicable should've been a footnote at best....an add-on to the description of crown cleaning.

 

I suspect most working arborists will feel the removal of the term crown cleaning from BS3998 is a step backwards for the UK arb industry. Why not remove the term, 'crown reduction'? one of the most pointless things that can be done to a tree.