Beech trees and pruning.. opinions please

[James]

"I guess we don't really know within what context the 'other' arb made that statement... "

Very true Paul - and this is always worth remembering before criticizing another person's work.

[T & C Tree Services]

I've found from experience actually how resilient Beeches are when it comes to pruning wether it be a heavy weight reduction or crown raise. As long as each pruning cut is made to good points of growth and the finishing cut is good you will never have a problem. The lack of dormant buds makes this important. All trees we work on should be treated this way not just the thinking of "but it's a beech". There's a few trees which I have found don't react as well to pruning as the Beech. Oak being one.

[treeseer]

"I guess we don't really know within what context the 'other' arb made that statement... "

Very true Paul - and this is always worth remembering before criticizing another person's work.

It seems like that sentence, no matter the context, is undefendable, and careless at best. Trusting that Dom quoted accurately of course.

 

Without conditionals or qualifiers, it seems false in any context. Unless I am missing something?

[Tom10]

It seems like that sentence, no matter the context, is undefendable, and careless at best. Trusting that Dom quoted accurately of course.

 

Without conditionals or qualifiers, it seems false in any context. Unless I am missing something?

 

agree

[James]

"I guess we don't really know within what context the 'other' arb made that statement... "

Very true Paul - and this is always worth remembering before criticizing another person's work.

 

It seems like that sentence, no matter the context, is undefendable, and careless at best. Trusting that Dom quoted accurately of course.

 

Without conditionals or qualifiers, it seems false in any context. Unless I am missing something?

 

 

Treeseer, I have no idea what you are getting at, sorry. If you care to tell me why you feel my statement is careless and undefendable, I'll be happy to defend it.

 

Dom, this is an interesting thread, and I understand your frustration. I obviously agree with many others on here that the comment "Beech are intolerant of any work" is clearly incorrect. But I'm not going to second guess why it was said.

 

I suspect that, from what you have told us, your application will be accepted with no problem, irrespective of the letter your client has received. I'd suggest just waiting to see what comes back on your application, and then take it from there. Good luck with it btw

[Dom]

Thanks guys, very interesting useful responses, just what I was after.

 

As a couple of you asked, I did quote the chap correctly, and his statements are in supporting documentation for a mature beech that was felled very locally to the trees I am applying for. It was the local Residents Association who quoted him in their letter to my customer. I thought that it sounded quite an extreme quote, so I double checked myself that they had quoted him correctly!

 

I liked AA Teccie Pauls remark that I should state something similar to "...to a height/clearance above ground level not exceeding '5.0m' and by removal of secondary and tertiary (third order) branches only, no primary branches, and with final pruning cuts not exceeding 75mm dia." (or similar). If the application is refused I'll try and improve my wording a little!

 

 

On another slightly separate tangent, a couple of years ago I had a job where I applied to cut back some overhanging branches from scrappy boundary trees (sycamore, ash, and a many years previously butchered oak). The limbs were almost entirely across the customers gardens, (a row of terraced houses) almost touching the roof in a couple of places. My application came back with the conditions of cutting back by a maximum of 1.5m. There was no access for cherry pickers, and on some of the trees, there would have been no way for me to climb out far enough to cut back such a small amount.

 

The odd thing was that all 5 of the residents in the terraced row of houses disliked the trees, they weren't visible from the road or anywhere except the 5 resident's homes. So I didn't understand how they could have provided any amenity value.

 

I didn't fancy arguing the toss with the council and rocking the boat, so I told the customer to track down a consultant. Not sure what's happened since, they aren't the easiest trees for me to easily go and have a look at.

 

 

All the fun of the fair

[James]

Dom, I'm just wondering.... have you ever tried to have a friendly chat with your TO about these issue? It sometimes helps if you can

[Le Sanglier]

Dom, unfortunate that the spec was not written clearly enough for the arborist to follow. If the wording was clear about "lift to 5m" then no cuts would be made above that point...unless there was other wording somewhere heeded about removal cuts being better than reduction cuts, go to the collar when you can, etc etc perhaps? That tripe leaks into boilerplate templates here too--codswallop.

 

Beech are intolerant of any work.[/i]"

 

is indeed a reckless phrase--incorrect, flawed, shoddy, and all that. But let's look at the cultural context this attitude comes from. "Tree management intervention" is viewed with suspicion, somewhat scorned, something to be avoided. "Maiden" trees are revered like Santa Maria, their imaginary hymens guarded by the Gawains and Galahads of the arb consultant world. Shiny-pants consultants stand strong against the slings and arrows and saws brandished by the great unwashed, heathen tree cutters.

Add to that the hypothetical gyrations that are spun into the defensibility of proactive felling in the face of a weak and treatable parasite, DAFT though that may be. On a par with the smoke and mirrors, and banana peels and marbles cast before experts as they march toward desperate lawyers/barristers. They know their case is weak, hence the proactive attempt to fell the expert by contorting their record and their report.

 

With that context, it's no surprise that your client is now annoyed and believes the application won't be accepted. depends on the juice that exaggerating arb's got, the finesse of the other side, the known and unknown facts of the case, and the whistling winds of politics. It's a madhouse out there! But The Arborist formerly known as hamadryad brought in some sanity--excellent post!

 

Very very funny (in a good way!)

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Talking of beech pruning, heres one we will be discussing at arbfest in Leeds 7-8th July, be there or be square! lol

 

Had some VERY big cuts in the canopy, lots of language and much to discuss!

 

 

 

[David Humphries]

Talking of beech pruning, heres one we will be discussing at arbfest in Leeds 7-8th July, be there or be square! lol

 

Had some VERY big cuts in the canopy, lots of language and much to discuss!

 

 

 

 

G.p in attendance ?