Amelanchier

I have a petzl rigging paw on my bridge so I'd clip back to that, cheap and cheerful. Jangles nicely when you're walking about as well. Like a bell on a cats collar, everyone hears it and starts working again!!!

The first trick is the SRT style pull rope technique, never even entered my head.

You don't need a hitch climber to do that though. I'm going to give it a bash on my VT if I ever get a chance...

That makes two sweet little tricks learnt off this forum.

As you've demonstrated, I'll have to start taking a proper camera into work!

Ah, I thought you meant you were planning to fell it. The resistograph can be used as an expensive way of working out if the hinge would be made of dust or rich tea biscuits.

Do you have an increment borer? Or a resistograph? Elm's usually pretty hardcore I suppose.

I've taken hundreds of photos like that, with great intentions of following them up at home. Nightmare!

I think we can rule out Armillaria spp. though, as they have a creamy-white mycelium.

I agree with Matty, probably secondary saprophyte infection. Some of the ink-cap species have self-dissolving caps with white stems, in which case probably not structurally problematic.

Nothing like the thrill of having your felling cuts reveal a hollow manky big ol' tree though... Good times.

Hi Linda, It'll have to be online I think, I've done my time in institutions!

Will we see you competing next year?

Tony

Well, I can't relocate at the moment so its probably going to be the three year top-up to full BSc Hons Arb or ditch Myerscough and do a Professional Diploma in Arb with Dave Dowson at Treelife. Its all money and time though. Still better now than 10 years down the line.

Are they just plain vanilla Catalpas or are they C. bignonoides 'Aurea'? I don't see many either way but the varient is susceptible to sun scorch...

I do agree that the grass looks way to nice to be 'natural'. Saw some Acer platanoides recently that had been shafted by the combined effects of aeration and scarification on shallow roots.

Then again, could be something like Verticillium wilt? Probably best all round treatment would be give it some nice mulch out to the dripline, lawnlovers go for that every time!!!

Yeah Steve, its deposits of melanin (the same stuff that makes skin and hair brown & black) formed at the boundary between different colonies of saprophytes. So different species or different strains.

I like that term 'zone of antagonism', gives a hint toward the whats going on. What really twists my melon is the fact that those lines are just a slice through a three dimensional 'sheet' of mycelium and hypae.

I have a photo somewhere of a beech stem slice with Ganoderma, Armillaria and Kretzschmaria at different points around the circumference with great 'zones of antagonism' between the lot. Think it was pre-digital though. Lovely tree right next to a main road in Holt.

I expect they can.

Fruiting bodies are only produced for reproduction so its possible (probable?)that decay could occur without their presence. The other problem with Ustulina / Kretzschmaria is the confirmation of visible fruiting bodies. I work a lot with beech and often see the teleomorph (black crusty lumps) after grinding out a stump buttress and spotting those nice reaction zones.

I believe you're right.

I try to communicate as much of the full "cost" of retention as possible in such cases. It's only fair to give the client the full information (even when it all goes right over their head!). The planned retention of hazardous trees needs to account for the logistics (and therefore financial expense!) of the eventual works necessary. Especially if I'm putting the harness on!

If you explain that an individual tree has less than 10 viable years and that at the end of that interval the tree will require a more costly and technical dismantle as opposed to felling it today. The client can then look at the financial options and then make their own mind up. Most of them fell it but hey...

Like the man said - "Touch trees" !!

That's quite a colony!

I'm of the opinion that many fungi are capable of changing modes of decay and vary highly between individual strains of the same species. There is evidence of O. mucida causing extensive soft rot with simultaneous degradation. So indeed not one to be relegated to the minor leagues without further attention. Especially when setting high anchor points in full leaf!

The orange reaction zones are the hyphal masses of O. mucida formed at the boundaries between regions of wood that are dessicated enough and chemically suitable for invasion and those that are not. These would as you say be mostly aligned with the strongest passive defence, wall 3 -the rays. Especially within Fagus spp. Pretty don'tcha think?

Surely the key point of saprophytic fungi is that they feed on dead and decaying wood. As such I'm not sure anyone would claim that an entire tree covered in fruting bodies would not be an indication of a hazard, even consultants !!!

I tend to go back to the access line to descend on a fig 8 anyway. Some thing that does cross my mind every now and again is what would happen during a rescue. If I've set my system up to hog the access line, what's my potential rescuer going to use? Another access line i suppose, but then if I've been doing my job right, I've nicked the good anchor point anyway. Hmmmmm...

I'm due to start the third year of the online FDSc Arboriculture at Myerscough. I've enjoyed it so far. Some modules have exceptional tutors who go far beyond any expectations of what their job requires, and some are just plain standard. Lot of money though and can be just another time pressure. Works well for me but I've the advantage that I don't have to do that much quoting.

I've used this setup (courtesy of Mark B) both in comps and in the big stuff at work. There's several different ways to achieve the same thing, which is basically not having to climb to set a high anchor point.