Topping Conifers

[Mesterh]

H8 doing them god knows how many miles I've topped over the years.

[garth mc garth]

whats the access like mark??? i can reach 36ft with tractor and saw blade!!!!

[Jason James Gairn]

the ones you are doing sound horrific however (i will wait for the shocked comments) i enjoy working on conifer and get a weird satisfaction from doing a good reduction with a great rounded shoulder using my flecks:001_smile:

 

You have the budget on conifers to round the corners with a pair of secateurs? Either you work for the queen or your super insane. Rounded corner? bananas in pajamas!!!

 

Pictures of you and your felco's next time Jimmy.

[Mark Bolam]

whats the access like mark??? i can reach 36ft with tractor and saw blade!!!!

 

Thanks Garth, but forgot to mention the drag right round the house and down two sets of steps! Aaah the bliss....

[Dean Lofthouse]

I enjoy doing them if I have got the price right, when I have cocked up and misquoted, which is now very rare, I don't enjoy doing them.

 

If you misquote you are just knocking your pan out for nothing.

 

I used the mewp on the last job which was more or less identical to the job you described, I had to work from both sides and still had to exit the basket occassionally to get the bits in the middle.

 

But like I say, a job is a job if it's priced correctly

[Mark Bolam]

Therein lies the problem, Dean.

 

I inherited the job from a bloke I sub for, and I reckon he got Stevie Wonder to look at it for him.

 

I don't like doing it now at all, but if I do quote for any I turn up dirty and climb into them to see what the crack is. Avoids finding any nasty surprises the gypo's have left when they did them the time before!

 

The point is, Leylands are fine as a standalone 100' tree or maintained as a hedge. It's this constant topping/forget about it for 15 years/topping/wider and wider/topping malarky that I can't be doing with any more.

 

At least we got to fell a few of them today, which was actually deeply pleasurable!

[Mick Stockbridge]

At least its in a nice part of Kent. Just imagine if it were in Chatham, you,d be seriously gutted then.

[Stephen Blair]

Therein lies the problem, Dean.

 

I inherited the job from a bloke I sub for, and I reckon he got Stevie Wonder to look at it for him.

 

I don't like doing it now at all, but if I do quote for any I turn up dirty and climb into them to see what the crack is. Avoids finding any nasty surprises the gypo's have left when they did them the time before!

 

The point is, Leylands are fine as a standalone 100' tree or maintained as a hedge. It's this constant topping/forget about it for 15 years/topping/wider and wider/topping malarky that I can't be doing with any more.

 

At least we got to fell a few of them today, which was actually deeply pleasurable!

 

have you found any good stuff yet mark, you cant beat a kids den you dont know is in there, tied up with 50feet of stolen close line. you have to do some pretty dodgy 12stem fell combo, that usually requires you to cut and duck:scared1:or a bt pole is always good, getting stuck in blind until you get a whiff of creozote.aahhh!!

[Tom D]

There's quite a few conifer hedges that I trim regularly, having seen one with a kids den in it I noticed how easy it was to cut with a nice platform to stand on. I wondered if it would be worth carefullu cutting all the old stubs in the centre to the same height and attaching scafold boards along the length of the hedge. from then on trimming would take a quarter of the time. Problem is after you'd done it they'd get some one else in and they'd get the benefit of your hard work. I'd definately do it on my own hedge if i had one, set down so you were cutting at waist height.

[Mark Bolam]

After 6 tons of the f**ckers I was happy every time I found a big ball of pigeon sh**e to break the monotony. Excuse my French, but this is clearly an emotive subject for me.

 

Mick - you're right. If the job had been for slobs in a less salubrious environment the only thing I would have topped would have been myself!