Taupotreeman

No power no sewerage no water, liquifaction, more houses unstable and the earthquake upgraded to 6.3. Over 6000 quakes since the first one. I'm not sure how some people are still carrying on down there.

Actually saw a hydraulic electric chainsaw made for climbers today. Don't know if anyone has mentioned it already as I haven't read the whole thread (sorry) but the guy was hard on trying to sell me one. They might be old news to you guys but the company selling them is hydralada. I asked him to give me a buzz when he gets the lasers in that can be operated from the ground and burn off entire limbs.

Maybe there should be a sperate thread for god awful tree work. Pictures only no debate allowed. Oooo where do I start

Christchurch has been hit by a nother series of quakes. Checked my GNS this morning and there's been a couple of 6+ last night and quite shallow. Here's hoping that everybody is allright down there. Adam, hope you're sticking with it bro.

Valid point

I'd have that mounted on the wall above the front door just for those "unwanted guests".

As I say, it's ingrained in the area and the mindset. Still the topic is always likely to polarise people and there's nothing like a good feisty dicussion to start the day eh? Mind you, not sure what the wife will say when I tell her

Oh man! Hasn't arrived up here yet but hoping that we get some good sunrises for the next few days. Liking that new camera then Adam?

I can remember the free climbing days back in the 80's and early 90's and can also remember my first harness which was a rock climbing harness. I thought that in the UK nowadays though H&S wouldn't let you get away with that any more.

You'd want to hope it's a wind up.

Is free....is good. I'll burn almost anything. I find softwoods good for getting the fire going and then stick a good hunk of Gum or something on to keep it ticking over. Before I had chance to bring home the wood I was cutting at work I'd take a trailer down to the processing sites in the forsetry blocks around here and cut up all the left overs. Just needed to leave it under cover for a month or so to dry out and away it went. Like I say, if it's free it's good.

All I'm trying to say is that, while I don't disagree, some people just can't be told and when the local council is doing it then many people assume it's OK no matter how many times you explain to them about the bad bits. You know, I'm sure last time this topic was raised it ended up this way going backwards and forwards. The bonus point for me now is that I can start to change the councils thinking somewhat and plant the right tree species in the first place. Now if we all managed to do that I'm sure we could solve the bulk of the issues from the outset. Now there's a thought; proper planning leading to a mtually acceptable outcome, who'da thunk.

Haha I always tell em it's good muclh for the grass and any loose the mower will pick up. To be fair most customers are always to happy to offer to run the mower over it.

Holy heck! how is that supporting all that weight. Mighty impressive.

Unfortunately several of these council ones get hammered every year Monkey and don't look at all attractive. I'd prefer to take them out and put in a lower growing native that isn't going to get mangled every year for the sake of a view. Those ones in your pictures though look quite spectacular as they're allowed to reform and do their thing. Will the replacements survive? Good question. We've had several ripped out my the local youth who seem to find it funny. The plan is to take some of the Pin Oaks out a couple at a time and replant in stages (if we can talk the councillors into it) to see how they go. I'll take a couple of photos of some that have been allowed to grow out a little more. They look like mushrooms when they are done but still add something to the streetscape. As for the regrowth failure? I can't say that I see many and I haven't heard of one that has killed someone. In fact, we had a massive storm roll through here recently and it took out an entire road of mature standing trees. No damage to any trees that had been topped though. Funny that.

That one of the sunlight coming through the Gum is a cracker Adam. Nothing like having a decent camera to get the creative juices flowing eh? On another note; don't you just hate working around all the stringy crap in those types of Gums?

You said it bro. I'm hoping that now I'm working for them I might be able to remove some of the poorer specimens and replant with a few natives but I've already been toold that I might be pushing the proverbial up hill with a sharp stick because several of the councillors like them and one actually planted them. I have to do a full on plan and explanantion and then present it to council just to get them to even consider it!!!

Another one for you. The reason they are topped is to keep the afluent property owners behind them happy by retaining lake views. Current council tree and berm policy allows for trees to be topped for views when they have been topped before to retain views. I sat in on a councillors meeting the other day where a couple of millionaire landowners want trees topped so they have an uninterupted view of the lake. The likelihood is that the trees (some of them mature oaks) will be topped again and again to give those people those views. Unfortunately removal and replanting has not come in to the equation so far because council does not see anything wrong with topping. The resource management act had just been altered to allow pruning of trees on private property without gaining resource consent, including topping. And Rob D is bang on. You don't do what the customer wants (the customer always knows best) and you get a bad rep and no further work. Word of mouth works fast in a small town.

I am SOOOOO glad I wasn't eating when I saw that.

Heres one the local councillors had done about 3 years ago. It's right in front of the council buildings and blocks the view of the lake so they just had the tree whacked in half to give them their view back.

What did you end up talking me into buying?

Dean to be fair that's pretty harsh. I don't like to lower my standards and I sure as hec won't cut a tree like the one in the picture however I will top them if required. As for the comment about topped trees being dangerous; I'm sure we have seen plenty of Hama's posts where trees have been left with deadwood in them or reduced to allow them to regenerate and nobody seems to have an issue with that. Most of the topped trees are done every year or two for the reasons I stated....views.....so never usually have enough sizable growth on them to be an issue. I'm also a little upset by the fact you think I should be mowing lawns or cleaning windows. That would be just one less person in the industry trying his best to educate the public as I am currently trying to do with the local council. Would you really get out of tree work and go and clean windows if you had to top the odd tree or two or is that just your principles talking?

Hells bells, if you can remember Zamo you're older than I thought

Pete, you wanna tell me why I should be buying a 9 inch Greenmech instead of a 9 inch bandit?

1. key stress features? Dealing with idiots masquerading as the general public (not all but some). Phone calls at 9 Oclock at night to discuss the trimming of a camellia. Groundies who prefer to sit with their thumb up their backside while I do all the work but the worst of all? doing absolutely nothing like I am at the moment when I could be out trimming trees. That's the joys of working for a council for you. Why wouldn't I give up the profession? I don't know how to do anything else plus I love what I do. Who else gets to see the sun rise and then be 60 feet up a tree in the crisp air of a winter morning with nothing but bird song for company. There's so many positives it would be hard to list them all and they far outweigh the negatives.