the 'todays job' thread

[AHPP]

You must have tied into some absolute nothingness on your various tip expeditions. Ever bundled regrowth together?

[5thelement]

Been helping another Arborist this week on this veteran tree reduction. This Holm Oak is estimated to be 350 years old and on the remarkable tree register. It has some significant stress fractures in the main stem and scaffold limbs, some previous historic hat racking, and some old and super tight cobra bracing. 
The crown of this tree is far bigger than the photos suggest, when the reduction is complete the bracing will be replaced with a new boa system ( 8 and 4 tonne).

The lawn immediately within the drip line was scarified and the area has been fed with a home made magic potion prior to, and throughout the work, finally being covered with a 4” layer of woodchip. 
The photos are of the mostly finished job, they are back to do a few final touches today/tomorrow, then they will install the sign. 

[peds]

22 minutes ago, 5thelement said:

...the area has been fed with a home made magic potion prior to, and throughout the work, ...

IMG_5209.mov

 

Go on, spill the beans on the magic potion...

 

(A well-aerated compost tea?)

Edited June 20 by peds

[5thelement]

3 minutes ago, peds said:

 

Go on, spill the beans on the magic potion...

 

(A well-aerated compost tea?)

Pretty much, well rotted woodchip compost, algae/seaweed extract,  organic fish/blood and bone, molasses and apple juice, then aerated and applied mainly around the drip line.

[peds]

Nice. Love the apple juice and molasses, that'll wake everything up. 

[sime42]

Probably makes it smell slightly more pleasant too.

 

What's the function of the apple and molasses exactly? Presumably the sugar is the active ingredient.

 

The seaweed fertiliser that I use smells good enough to eat, I have to refrain from trying a teaspoon, like it's got molasses or something similar in it as well.

[peds]

Same as sugar on yeast when baking, just readily available fuel for whatever organisms want to eat it. Explosive growth and a kick-start into action for the soil biota. 

 

Try sugar water on a hot compost heap sometime 🚀

[Stere]

Sounds like a  biodynamic idea no cow horns ?

 

Cow Horn Manure Preparation 500: How To Prepare? - Biodynamic Trainee

BIODYNAMICTRAINEE.COM

---

Filling cow horns will fresh cow manure is one of the preparations in biodynamic agriculture as indicated by Rudolf...

 

[peds]

See, if you ignore whatever biodynamics says about the phases of the moon or only stirring your preparations clockwise (counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere,  obviously) or a few other choice bits of comedy, there are some decent ideas in there. 

The cow horn thing is a great way of transferring any number of beneficial organisms from one soil biota to another, if you bury the horns in the right place (a healthy forest or an established organic growing space, that sort of thing), and then you sprinkle the resulting preparation around wherever it needs it... a newly-created growspace with imported soil, anywhere with shagged-out soil, somewhere recovering from chemical pollution etc.

 

But yeah, you really have to cherry pick the worthwhile bits of the biodynamic thing. 

 

[Mick Dempsey]

Biggish oak removal. 
Not normally worried about taking old veterans out, but this one made me a bit sad.

Rotten at the bottom though so no regrets.

Yesterday brushing it out, today was the wood.

Really loving my 572, poky enough for the big stuff, light enough for aerial cutting.