Steve Bullman

@justinkingwell would probably be a good man to ask Tractor Flair Hire

I thought I had some but can't find them. Mulching is a good idea. I'm of a similar mind that maybe its best to just get it done in one hit

Picture the scenario: mature Oak tree that has sustained lightning damage in the past. The tree has been reduced previously and now has approximately 3-4m regrowth. With the condition of the affect stem(basically the whole of one of the leaders is damaged) it has been recommended that the tree is reduced back to the previous points as ongoing maintenance. The result of this would be a loss of a considerable amount of foliage due to the crown being quite open and most of the growth being on the regrowth. With the dry year last year the vitality of the tree is questionable, and perhaps carry out the reduction in one hit might not be advisable. One suggestion thats been made is to carry out the works over 3 years. This would involve reducing a third of the canopy thus achieving the full reduction in the 3 years. I have issues with basically leaving a tree looking part finished over a 3 year period, although I can see the sense behind it. I am not involved in working on the tree(I hope), but am aware of the report (i wrote it) and suggested plan of action. Thought it would make for an interesting discussion.

That was in reference to pruning and deadwooding. Doesn’t change the fact that this is pretty impressive

You must have missed matelots confession?

I think you have the wrong end of the stick here Wayne!

Nope nothing. Even a google search doesn't return anything

Just saw this on facebook. Pretty impressive

What area? Get in touch if I can be of assistance

I recommended a little out of the top. All the upright regrowth around the crown was forming a secondary crown with the center stem poking above it by around 4 meters. Bit of weight out to help reduce the chance of failure. Also some of the heave over extended laterals to have a slight weight reduction. The testing is reasonably simple after you have got used to it. There are a lot of individual steps in the process, so long as they are all done properly everythings ok.

If they really don't want to remove it but make it safe, then despite all the answers above(which are all correct) then pollarding(topping) is the only viable option IMO. They would need to know that it would need redoing at very regular intervals afterwards to keep it 'safe'. Fell is ultimately the best long term option

You won't be disappointed with the 462. Arguably the best saw in Stihls entire range and should be a staple in every arborists arsenal IMO

Did the test just below where the hollow starts. Safe to safe it probably goes right to the bottom. In some circumstances i'd run a separate test at a different point, didn't feel it would have achieved anything in this case.

Exactly. In this case the blue area was pretty much hollowed and full of gunk

I believe you are correct

There was enough evidence without doing a picus to know it was severely compromised. Nice to have some extra evidence before condemning a prominent tree though

Easily would they? I’ve been ‘qualified’ to cut trees for 22 years and am ok at it as far as it goes. Have I ever wrote a method statement? Not once

Picus test on a beech tree with polyporous for a forum member a few weeks ago. Not a great outlook for this one unfortunately

Swear filters easy enough, shouldn’t really be necessary on a professionals forum but there ya go. Of most concern is the abuse

Well to be fair that’s more of an observation than abuse

The color on the first is more like Deodar for me

I'd agree that the second one doesn't look particularly Cedar like at all. Rubbish photo though

Welcome to the forum Ryan. As you can see, some of us are here to help, others just to throw a spanner in the works. Glad you have mostly come across the right ones.

Firstly my apologies to the upstanding members of this community who may feel let down by my seemingly more lenient approach to moderating of late. Truth is I just have a lot on my plate and things have suffered because of it. Unfortunately, an increasing amount of members persist on pushing the boundaries with not only the increased use of unnecessary profanity, but also in the trolling and abusive comments towards other members. They are doing neither themselves or the forum any favours. Members, by using the report post function it will make it far easier to draw my attention to these types of issues so I can take actions (as I already have done this morning) Thanks

Lot of needless comments here. Good luck finding work mate.