Lee Winger

Ed did your father have something to do with setting up the AA approved contactors scheme? I seem to recall it being mentioned in the past? If you think the AA approved contractors scheme is so good [the impression I get from reading your views on the subject] how comes your not approved? Being a small contractor, i'd have thought you would have been opposed to more division and elitism within the industry, its hard a hard enough market now , we small contractors don't need more hurdles do we?

Like yorkshireman says, if a civil servent, sends in a press release ''That would be an abuse of position by a public servant imo tant amount to pre selection'' I cant for the life of me, understant why you don't come up with your own criteria? I'll be honest your select list of tree firms offends me to the pit, most firms aren't AA approved, or ISA certificated etc etc yet we are deemed thanks to your listing now as, for want of a better word cowboys! thats what your select list looks like to me!

go on hear and see what they have to say about them http://www.tractorbynet.com I bet you won't buy one after reading I'd say Logs client has a mahindra, another POS imo

I know you council guys consider it work, but us self employed types don't class sitting in the cab drinking tea work! we've all seen you council boys parked up in a layby, flasks steaming up the windscreen, scoffing sarnies and reading the paper.....

Could you elaborate mate...

I was going to post a similer thread, I was told last year they only insure landscapers, and tree work to X amount of meters, I was told as well they only insure up to 2mill, i'm not calling anyone a liar by the way, as during the insurance crisis the only firm who would insure me was the CIS, and my insurance cover was a one off

when i was buying a tractor i took a look at them, utter scrap imo, i'd rather a used kubota grey import any day

I always forget about JO-BO

Might have done steve , if i had a bit of steel mounted on the grapple where you said

cheers mate, the idea is Dan cuts it whilst I drag it out to the fire heap with the tractor and grab

I've heard about these ''any weather warriors'' so many times, the truth is they work for big firms and sit in the truck all day when it rains.. No way do I work in shite weather

Bang out of order imo, I bet trading standards would have someting to say about that!

Just as I thought..

7.30-4 as a rule, breaks when and if, we don't work in the dark if we can help it ,though this time of year, sometimes it just can't be helped

Farmi do one, my little tractor is only 30hp, and about 25hp at the pto, I wish i'd bought a 45-50 hp tractor, as chippers for 30 hp tractors are on the rare side

I own a bit of ground thats full of blackthorn roughly 15 years old, 1/4 of a mile of the stuff to be exact. I want to clear it , i'm thinking about cutting it down and pilling it up with a tractor. My question is do you think a Stihl FS 550 clearing saw/brush cutter will be up to my job of cutting/clearing, rough guess is the stems are 2'' diameter. I know a flail will be much faster, but we haven't much work on so i've got the time, and at the end of the day i'll have to pay someone to come in with a flail, at least if I do it myself i'll have a clearing saw at the end of the day Have any of you guys used a FS550 clearing saw, what do you think of them? The FS550 saw is the most powerfull clearing saw in the Stihl range

can you get a Honda engine option? still a good price

I was put off by the fact that most are on a slow tow axel , something like 30mph max or what they call yard speed.

Makita saws have the same bar fitments as Husky

good point, I though can get parts no probs, but more importantly I have'nt needed any ,unlike my stihl and husky saws ..

plenty more like that floating around on youtube, i'm sorry to say...

I'll vouch for Andy on that score....

Yes but have you ever used a Makita DCS5000?

Yes Tony I could quite easy carry out root work , the odd slab here and their would need taking up, but imo its got to be worth a try.. The options i'd reccomend are as follows and in that order.. 1,Verticle mulch, using air-spade, taking up as many slabs as possible. 2, Bring in the deep root fert rig and give the trees a good balanced fert, probably using Total Tree, this would involve removing a few slabs here and their. 3, The cheapest option , remove slabs here and their, bring in the compressed air decompactor [not terravent] and simply decompact where possible. My hunch is the council is using Phytophera as an excuse to fell the trees, in order to save on the arb budget in future years, I think this is going on right accross the country, if they truely wanted to save the trees the would explore all options available, well thats my opinion.. Saying all that they may well have already had a quote , for the above type work, from one or two of the lets say more profit minded companys, it may well be felling and reductions worked out cheaper

Why an earth didn't they spend a few quid on root treatments? I wish tree officers and contractors etc would open their eyes to alternatives, before condeming beutifull trees to the chop, at least give the trees a chance, ah what the hell it only took 100yrs for them to grow.. And why on earth waste money on phased removals? talk about a waste of rate payers money!