Zenfordinner

A courtesy call will stand you in good stead with yourself, and your old boss. Well done, too.

I am amazed you are due a refund. Did you say you have just registered and are claiming vat back on last three years assets? If so, does that mean that your accountant has put purchases such as chippers and chainsaws are assets, and claimed the vat back? Or have you paid a load of vat on vehicles over the past three years? Or both, or something entirely different?

All wives, girlfriends and companions beware! Go climbing once and you may end up working with trees for a living! This leads to boring all friends and relatives by showing off pieces of wood brought home from a job, handsaws that you like to pretend are ninja tools or samurai swords,and insisting they admire your chainsaw trousers- especially when you (finally) get a pair that are as funky and hip as you like (so you think)! ; conversations about your favourite chainsaw, become as lary as you like, feel immense pride at being able to parallel park a transit and chipper and getting them into the narrowest of places without breaking a sweat. The list goes on. Ladies, life as you know ends: Beware, you were warned.

I liked it, it was worth a titter.

I would go so far to say I definitely think like an arborist, although in truth I am a bit of a zealot and would be a die-hard dead, dying, dangerous adherent left to my own devices. I have only worked with trees since the end of 2003, so I feel it is a bit pompous of me to say I am an arborist: I still have so much to learn. Without a doubt, though, I am a Tree Lady

Have you ever tried the man at the lawnmower shop in Letchworth? He is quite handy with hedgetrimmers, and reasonably priced.

Lol, first thing to make me laugh all morning!

No silky, only your teeth (after they are filed down into blunt stumps).

That's right: ain't no one wanna go to tree hell.

I am not an expert, but I would be inclined to give it a crown clean, lightly reduce the lateral aspect (to growth points of course) being mindful of direction of future growth; put a layer of mulch (about 4" deep), and not worry if it does not produce fruit the next year, but wait until the second year with my fingers crossed. Did you say there are other Pear trees nearby, for pollination? Are there bees around to pollinate? If not, I would pollinate it myself. The same with the apple trees. After the first summer, I would do some more light pruning- crown clean, a light thin if regrowth was quite busy- if the tree responded well to the first pruning. I enjoy pruning fruit trees. We have a number of Pear, and Apple trees- one of which might be a Bramley. I bit the bullet last year and removed quite a bit of its crown, as it is growing in a place where the light obliges it to grow mainly on one side, and the branches on the other half were almost bent in half trying to reach the light and presented with quite a bit of cracking, further encouraged by the weight of the apples. Poor tree looked quite unsightly after my brutality, but, to my joy, she put on quite a bit of growth and has produced plenty of delicious fruit this year, large good looking apples. I made an apple cobbler last week that was scrumptious. We have a very old Apple at the front with a large hollow in the main stem; it was severely topped at some point (long before we moved in) so has a fairly small crown considering its girth. Every year, she produces hundreds of Apples. I thought last year's crop would perhaps be her swansong, but, lo and behold, she is laden this year. I tend to target prune it lighty so we can pass under it, and remove any dead wood, other than that I do not touch it. It is a charming tree

Seven groundies! Wow, that definitely sounds a pig of a job. I am impressed. One of the things that I find curious when having to go through peoples garages is that they know we are going to bring their tree through the garage, yet they never (in my experience) move anything out of the way. I have dragged and carried brush through garages where the owners have so much stuff there is barely room to walk through empty handed.

A long standing client of ours had a landscaper in to plant a number of trees. The next time we arrived to tend her trees, quite a few of the recently planted ones had died with others showing restricted growth and signs of decline. Turns out the landscaper planted the trees without removing the wire containing the rootball. He charged her a pretty penny too.

Matty F, please say why you felled the Coriscan Pine: I ask as we have come across quite a few over the last year or so that have been in poor shape (standing dead, thin foliage, etc) and I was wondering if you have noticed anything similar.

lol:001_smile:

You might try Gordon Agri Ltd, (based in Scotland if I remember correctly).

Good for you!

Indeed not, for the financer anyway. The point I was making was that in some instances directors are not held accountable if a business fails (hence some being able to leave a bankrupt business and move into another the same immediately), whereas if one personally guarantees the finance they can be personally chased for monies owed, which if they own a house for example, will be seen as collaterol. I have no idea what form Steve's business runs, I was merely being cautious. Some finance does not require a personal backing, which means the business is accountable, not the individual ( I realise I am stating this rather simplistically, but it will suffice in this instance). Over many years I have spoken with people who, perhaps, too easily got themselves involved in borrowing money, only not to fully understand the terms and conditions, and had their fingers burnt because of this.

I concur with the accountant: if you can afford to buy a vehicle outright, do so; even if it means having to wait a bit longer. We have used finance companies, the important thing is to thoroughly read the fine print before signing, and making sure you can keep up with the payments, come rain, come shine, as the agreements tend to wholly side with the leaser/financer. The inter est on finance comes out of p&L aspect of accounts, but the added interest certainly beefs up the price. Some of the contracts/agreements that I have seen state the vehicle has to be sold to a third party at the end of the agreed term with a percentage going to the financer. This is alright if you are up for it. Depending on your financial status etc they may want a signature in the event that you cannot make the payments, in which case the signee can be held (personally)liable for payment should the agreed terms not be met. This means that should the business fail, then the backer can be chased for monies owed.

gotta love the bowline!

Or not using enough turns/wraps.

Poor Catalpa indeed.

The Walnut looks good. Why did you take down the Corsican Pine?

We tend to only prune Walnut tree between July & August.

Indeed!

"I can see from posts that there seems to be two sides to this sort of work people like myself who work for someone would save a tree everytime for as long as posible or SULE. but others who work for themselves would fell" I believe I have read many a post on this forum where people who work for themselves refuse to do awful, or unnecessary things to trees purely for the sake of moolah. "Also the self employed will I presume, more often than not see a tree as "one off" with not much thought to a given sites ecology, and past history." Who does the someone you work for work for? Who are these people/firms that are willing to 'save' trees, and seem to have the corner on the market, as it were, for integrity and creativity in tree work? Please forgive my grumpy tone: I admit I am a bit grumpy today. I am curious though about the criteria involved in this instance in separating those who work for someone and those who are self employed. For example, do the people/person you two work for have bills to pay? Are they non profit organisations, conservation companies; who decides on the final spec of a job; do they know about trees and tree work or do they merely run a company entrusting staff to decide on what to do for a tree or trees; do they have a free reign in what is decided to do (or not to do) on any given tree, or do they have to work within limits that often come with a client paying the bill?