Ty Korrigan

Aside from my local council work, larger jobs have generally been thin on the ground which also being down a climber suits me well enough as it has pushed me into climbing more. I was so low on April work that in March I canceled the next work experience lad. Then these last two weeks the enquiries have picked up. I've just won a €5k single tree job, I get one or two most years. A large dead purple beech. MEWP job this one. The client told me I wasn't the lowest quote but he felt I was the best man for the job. Frenchmen don't normally say nice things to Brits so that rather made my week.

That is how it works on the Brittany expat pages with the female partners pushing their handyman husband at anything going and for mere centimes.

Here in Brittany it can be pretty warm and wet with 70cm of rainfall in our area. Today I cleared up yew branches removed not by me but an agricultural contractor over a neighbourly dispute (another story) One small yew was also felled and from this I cut a disk which is sitting on my table having had it's rings counted, 42 of them. The diameter is 48cm having taken the circumference and divided by pi = 1.143 There is another yew, much larger whose DBH is 95cm and is still standing despite the neighbours complaints. So I am trying to calculate the age of this yew based on the growth of the younger felled tree. If I take the 95cm and divide by 1.143 = 80.5 years Is this a reasonable way to estimate the age? Seems very low for such a large yew but the climate here really is much warmer than say Sussex where yews are abundant. Now yews are very rare here and so I don't get to work on them often. This disk freshly cut had a strong acidic smell. Not too unpleasant though, more like stale cider vinegar. I had to drive with the window open it was so pungent. Reminded me of Lucky Elevens saw pants when wet... Just to be clear, I did not prune this yew. Stuart

5 years ago I was considering moving back to the UK (Hants,Sussex) from France but a deciding factor was that even with funds for a truck and chipper etc, I couldn't find anywhere reasonable to rent with garage and driveway or a safe yard such was the pressure on property and accomodation.

The worst thing about this was when I was told it was my fault somehow using dirty fuel despite the filter and tank being clean. Then the re-occurance of the issue which further undermined my credibility as a competant owner. (Some people shouldn't be allowed dogs was one comment fired across my bows) Total lack of any solid explaination from Briggs and their Efi dealers. Keeping my chipper first for month then 16 MONTHS! Incompetance, disinterest, aftersales from hell. A parts supply chain that belongs in the last century, no reactivity or appreciation of their customers needs. Covid, Briggs reorganisation of their E.U structure, closure of their Paris office. A total ****************-fest. It is a twin cylinder not a Rolls Royce Griffin after all. THEN... I contacted Briggs UK agent who organised an engine to be sent through Briggs E.U's convoluted supply chain. The Efi mechanic claimed it was his own efforts but still another 4 months to fit and deliver the chipper. Meanwhile to avoid going out of business l we used our house deposit to purchase a chipper powered by a Kubota diesel. Almost 200 trouble free hours...

https://arbtalk.co.uk/forums/topic/117152-vanguard-efi-fuel-pump/page/3/#comments

Three times the EFI Vanguard engine failed. Began with starting issues when hot so had to wait until cooled down 20+ min before restarting. Hunting, then began cold and hot starting THEN...THEN... it would hunt full time and wouldn't rise high enough to activate the rollers. Fuel pump twice then possibly fuel pump and ECU ensemble. First Efi mechanic found the pump pressure to be on the low side. GM factory opened the fuel pump to find a grey sludge in the internal filter as did the last Efi mechanic who was driven to despair by the episode. Pump fuel or clean Aspen containers but regardless nothing should get through the inline filter. Shonky electrical connections too not designed for the vibrations and heat of a chipper, wires rubbing through. I gave up on it and bought a diesel that can be repaired by any tractor mechanic. Eventually Briggs UK came through for me and shipped a new engine to France. I am grateful to them for stepping up to the mark when Briggs E.U based in Germany failed me badly. It was also a drinker of oil though nothing in the way of detectable exhaust fumes. I still own it and the machine runs sweet but as I've a reed bed sewage system to finance this Autumn so it must go. You're not alone, others too have moved their machines on rather than face painfull downtime and dealer denial as they drag out repairs.

I can still see some fat buds present despite the bark shedding in plaquettes. Whether they burst next month may decide whether or what may be climbed or 'cherry picked'....

Are there no nice trees to cut instead?

Great, I just visited this beech and came across this thread as I was cruising for advice. 25m+ in height with a 90cm dbh. Tree was 'protected' but has now had that lifted. The owner claims to be quite up on all matters arboricole so I am incredulous that they let this situation develop as far as it has. I questioned the client about whether any fruiting bodies had been seen and from his description and by showing him images we established that Meripilus has been present for at least 3 years or more. I think Kreutzmaria is also present but I didn't take any images close up. Crown is dead with bark flaking off. Client states the tree was quite healthy and in full leaf when the heat wave struck last Summer. The white stuff is limewash. I thought 2 days to strip it from a mewp in small lumps then a day to fell and cross cut the stem.

Bit of a trend with some surprisingly ordinary arb guys to think they are influencers and post footage of their opinions, bling gypsy lifestyles or rambling lectures of life as an arborisssstttttt... Apart from Reg of course.

Mick said it.

To add, I'd plant leylandii and Eucs if it was simply to create future business...

And where would we plant these trees? I normally remove a tree because it is not wanted.

In the last 2 months, I've had 7 clients ask or get back to me to ask that I just get the trees down and leave them to clear up as they percieve an economy. Some want it stacked for them to deal with (Bosch in the shed) so didn't believe me that it would cost more to stack where they wanted it than to chip given the proximity of the chipper and that I needed a clear site to work in for rigging. Clients also wanting to help out to make an economy so I politely tell them I don't operate that way and can't base my price on the unknown and untrained, clueless of what is involved, wandering around the site as though they own it (which they do of course) I'm sure they will find a local lone worker climber to smash it down but I'm not that guy especially after the loss of Ken Hogan last year. Even one of my local authority clients asked if we could cut and drop, leaving the arisings for their own teams to clear. 25% acceptance rate over the last 20 quotes. 80% of clients keeping the wood chip for gardening use and in 2 months I've only removed wood from 3 jobs.

Even here in Brittany I recieved a call from the dealer recently. I drove past the place Wednesday and saw the machine in their yard, thought it looked very Forst.

Engine now replaced. I'll sell it this Summer to finance a new sceptic tank, exchange one shit thing for another...

Rented a Rabaud drum chipper here in the same road I'm working in today during my GM150 crisis. Asked to check the blades before hiring, refused to open it up telling me they were changed one weekend hire previously. On site, nowt but long slow shreds dribbling out. Called the hire shop who sent out a mechanic, opened it up and VOILA! ****************ed blades. Mechanic then accused ME of said blade ****************. They have since then change the drum to one with hammers, more public resistant.

The dark side of Gregor Mendel and his pea breeding...

Bit sober tonight Mick? I guess I should have used a winking smiley...

I'm going to send a soil sample away for analysis which will give me more than just a pH reading. I can then fine tune an area for just for blueberrie. I noticed that during last years drought, the grass that was there browned off late compared to other areas and when I had a soil survey done for my sewage system, the report said the water table was fairly high. However, the soil itself is a sandy loam with no drainage issues and decent water retention, probably from years of sheep and I suspect vegetable cultivation.

I can't put my finger on how to hand pollinate this...

At least as far as France is concerned but those expat outfits in Germany were quite vocal in their insistence that Brexit was no barrier to employment in the Euro Zone. Not heard anything from them for months mind...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=R1x4JkZTfPs