Dean Lofthouse

Yes I have caught them live before by waiting patiently till the mound moved, then quickly sweeping the mound to one side. I was trying this to try and get them to surface where my two spaniels were waiting They are causing havoc on a grassed area I have down at my yard, so much so the ground is giving way when you walk across it. I might have to resort to trapping them. I want to catch some live ones to release in a garden of a customer that treated me like dirt last year

....and not the pop group

Those trees are starting to form heads and will "if managed" look well. But my point is.... why cut off one branch that is spoiling a view and let it be replaced by ten The key is management, but we all know that doesn't happen

If I lived long enough David, I would stake my life on the way that tree would fail

"The sawdust will enrich your soil missus, and make your plants grow like they do at the chelsea show, honest"

I think we are confusing a well managed pollarded tree with a butchered tree here chaps. A managed pollard, with good pollard heads are a sight to behold An unmanaged butchered tree with epicormic poles everywhere, some of which are growing from a 12" stub end, which trys to compartment off but fails is not. This ash was butchered many years ago, a branch failed with the niegbour underneath the tree one day, luckily it hung up and he was spared, you can see the hanger in the first pic, the second pic, is the reason why it failed Pic 3 is how it ended up The branch had an 8" dia stub, no-one died but the potential was there. I've never come across a death, but I have come across hundreds of death traps A pollard is an art form, a topping is not and is totally unacceptable in my view

Some trees tolerate pollarding, others don't. In general, butchers pollard any tree regardless, they only think of their pocket and not public safety or the customers best interest. I have come across many many examples of limb failures due to pollarding

......and then when the tree resprouts and they end up with 10 branches growing from one stub...blah blah blah. Short term fix.......long term problem...more often than not, the view would have been better leaving the tree alone or fell and replant a smaller species Now they will have an endless cycle of laying out money to maintain a clutter free view

Nice one Dilz, I understood every word you were saying, but couldn't understand the other bloke....was he a geordie or something ?

Short and to the point

Bad news Dave, but as you say not suprising looking at the extent of the damage. Good luck with it dude

It was a little harsh reading back, I didn't mean it to sound as bad as that bad and I apologise for that I also should have put "some trees can be a future hazard". I am quite an pratt for doing things right, to my detriment sometimes, but I personally would definately come out of tree work if the only work available was hacking trees. In a garden enviroment there's a lot more scope for heavily reducing trees with no risk to the public, but imo there is no excuse for hat racking a roadside tree. Most of the habitat trees you see done on here are properly assessed and there are plenty of examples such as Monkeyd's work, that are fenced off or brashed piled off to prevent public access. I could cope with hacking them, if there was risk managment in place, but as we all know, most customers have no intention of maintaining the tree, they just want a view, clean gutters or more light. Unless the tree is being reduced for a reason, ie, reduce wind loading or weight loading on a weakened or veteran tree to get a few more years out of it before it is downed, then I see heavy reductions as bad practice, it certainly isn't good practice and I don't want to be associated or have my name tarnished as such. I've been going ten years now and have not carried out such work, yet I have a thriving business and others I know round here don't. I have bought my own 1.6 acre yard and have some fancy big kit. I believe it is how you come across to your customer, how you present yourself and the advise you give that dictates what percentage of jobs you win and it is not just about price or giving in to the customer demands, which I am sure you already know. My formula for a successful business I have already outlined, but I have also found that the more desirable customer will listen to and respect your advise, the ones that don't are the customers that you really don't want to work for any way

Get the grease gun out and do the prop beofre they right it:thumbup:

Even if that means putting the public in danger ? Topped trees can create a future hazard, but hey ho, doesn't matter is someone dies in 10 years time, they'll have forgotton who did the job by then, as long as my mortgage is paid. If it come to lowering my standards to such an extent, then I'll get out of tree work. It's quite simple really. Why do you have to resort to using such low standards. If you are that bothered, buy a mower and cut grass or clean windows or numerous other unskilled jobs that you can set up as.

It's all in the up bringing

There's no hope

If refusing to butcher trees means you get behind with the mortgage then you are doing something wrong or you are not getting recommended. If this is the case then you need to look at how you work Most of my work is repeat or recommended It really isn't rocket science, do the job right, be polite, clean up spotlessly and dont trample their flowerbeds and work will increasingly come your way

I have never done it and never will. I am stacked out with work to the point I am doing 72 hour weeks. 1. Because we clean up till it's spotless 2. Because we respect the clients property including their gardens and flower beds 3. because I refuse to bodge in tree work, we never ever give in to what the client wants if they are wrong 4. if they are wrong and won't budge, we let someone else bodge, we have plenty of other jobs to do. There are plenty of reasons for not butchering trees, if you think one of them is your bills won't get paid if you don't, then you should get out of tree work

I think more to make the general aware that damaging a tree can be a criminal offence if it's not your tree and sometimes even if it is your tree

Here's a load index chart Mines 110, I wanted 120's but choice was very limited Tyre Load Rating | Blackcircles.com

You need to ring Trevor McDonald Dave... It's a perfect "Tonight" story

Retraining a dog not to bite trees is very easy Parting the dog from it's scumbag owner is more difficult. Somebody with photo's of damaged trees should get intouch with ITN who may run something on this new trend to highlight the problem and point out it is criminal damage ??

Plan b then.....shoot the owner I'm of the opinion that a dog that likes to chew trees should not be off the lead in public anyway and should not be a pet

Al, also make sure your tyres have a decent load rating. Load rating knocks down the numbers of tyres to choose from quite dramatically on a 130

It will be a daily occurance by the same dog Sean. That is easily solved....stand by the tree all day with a shotgun, if a dog even salivates at the thought of chewing on the tree...shoot it