Giles Hill

Why aren't they suited to that kind of work Lee? I'd been told they were good for this kind of thing, because you can loosen the whole soil profile, whereas a terravent just lifts the ground up in big lumps, which thent fall back in place, filling the gaps up. I've not used either, so it be good to hear from a man who has used both.

You can certainly decompact the ground with an airspade, but you'll need to then protect the ground, if cars are going to park on it again. 'Cellular confinement systems' are the most usually specified way of dealing with this. They are basically a gridwork sytem that are available in various thickness - you lay them on the ground and fill them with small loose aggregate to create a porous load-bearing surface.

Yes, sorry... I originally thought it was one of those foreign ladybirds being ravished by a a local, but thanks to Google, I've now learned that some species of ladybird come in black and red. In this case, the red ones coming in the black one.

If it's primarily weed control and it needs to be long term and low maintenace, you could use woven polypropelene, covered with wood chip. The wood chip is not in contact with the soil, so it lasts a long time. You need to herbicide or dig out all the existing grass and recess the edge of the area to stop the woodchip from falling off. It's no good for suckering plants and best avoided on wet sites, but it does the job if you want to keep the base of the plant clear and tidy. You can also get bioderadeable mulch mats, which don't look so bad if they get uncovered, but they don't last for a long time.

Please feel free to criticise the above.

I'm in the same boat as you Sean, so I've taken the opportunity to attempt an answer in full. I do work for myself, but most of the following is me trying to guess what an examiner is after rather than what is the definitive answer -and it's certainly not what I practice! It might not score maximum points, but I reckon it'd pass. 1. Invest in kit 2. Invest in technology 3. Invest in staff 4. Invest in advertising & corporate image 5. Pay off existing debt 1. Invest in kit - The kit would allow you to charge a premium hourly rate on certain jobs where the kit is essential and you're the only contractor with the kit. (did I mention 'kit' enough times?) Increase efficiency on site, less time would be required to do work so you can charge a higher hourly rate and remain competitive with firms that are taking longer because they don't have the kit. You'd be able to take on larger contracts and compete with larger firms and as such your hourly rate might increase and remain competitive with the larger firms 2. Invest in technology - Office based tech - Make the office more efficient, to improve cash flow by staying on top of financial management and general admin, this would save time, meaning output would go up, and you wouldn't need to increase your hourly rate to increase your profit. Site based tech - expand your range of services by investing in hi-tech kit such as air spades, tomograph, tree spades. You would increase your hourly charge because you're providing specialist services and also because your staff costs would be higher because your staff would be more speicialist. It would increase output of the business by allowing you to take on more varied work 3. Invest in staff - to operate and manage the above. Good management would increase efficiency and maintain staff morale . This would increase output and would allow and require an increased hourly rate to be charged. 4. Invest in advertising and corporate image - advertising would allow you to incrrease output by getting more work in. Corporate image would allow you to charge more. 5. Pay off existing debt - no direct effect on output, but would increase your profit without needing to increase your hourly rate.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. I quite like the way the three trees in this picture seem to be showing the three stages of death. Ok that is nonsense, but I think the fallen tree could prove to be a point of interest over the years. The limbs touching the ground might root and the canopy adaption might develop into something... Or it might just give up and die, but I think it's worth giving it some time to see what happens, it's not doing any harm and it'd leave a big gap if it's removed. In the meantime, I agree it would be worth getting another tree established nearby, to continue the line in the longer term, only I'd try and find a seedling from nearby - I think it'd be a bit of a job keeping an EHS alive and it'd be a few years before it puts on any useful growth, particularly in this weather.

Just remembered... Not exactly local but this company should be able to help you out - they're a friendly lot, very capable and will do what you ask them. They've made a couple of things for us including a 'thing' that's being supplied / installed in N London. Welcome to Alpha Rail

I haven't seen anything 'off the peg' but you should be able to find a local blacksmith or fabricator that will make up whatevever you want. Just show them the picture and give them some dimensions. A fabricator specialising in railings would probably give you the best deal.

I'm getting quite confident with the past questions - hopefully they'll use those, rather than asking about something I haven't studied properly.

I know what Monkeyd's first one is and think I know the 2nd... It is a honeysuckle. I'd like to know what Tim's pine is. I would have guessed at Austrian from the form, but the bark's all wrong.

That's reassuring, thanks. As for b) I think it'd be worth mentioning the use of different pruning techniques for different species - target prune species that compartmentalise well and leave stubs on species that don't. Also reduction work on overmature trees to encourage retrenchment and reduce risk of failure

What would you say for part 'c'? Veteranisation and habitat creation, or something else?

I like the adaptive growth there Steve, it looks like it might eventually compartmentalise itself into some kind of weird multi-stem! I don't know how relevant the t/R calculation would be with that one...

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPWFnti4pas&feature=related]YouTube - ****** Up - "Crooked Head" video[/ame]

I reckon Andy has got it right: Images of the bug Woolly Aphid (Eriosoma sp.)

A small poodle?

I should think that in a moment of pure visionary genius, someone came up with a cutting-edge concept to incorporate a biblical theme to the planting. After extensive research, involving putting the kettle on and typing 'bible plants' into Google, they arrived somewhere like this: List of plants in the Bible - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I think he dosen't have much idea about trees. Assuming it's not TPO'd or in a Conservation Area then I think it's up to the owner if he wants to retain a tree, but remove most of it's roots... Given that he's not familiar with trees and their need for roots, I'd try to inform him as best I could. I'd point out that the tree might not survive and if it does, it'll look a little sparse for a while and it's likely to be vulnerable to fungal attack. Also I'd suggest that it might fall over, because a high percentage of its support roots have been cut - obviously a particular concern if its got a full canopy. I'd probably suggest that he considers removing the tree now because it does look very close to that nice old wall, not to mention the new structure that's being built on top of the roots. I'd be concerned about secondary thickening of the stem and butress roots on the old wall. I'd suggest he plants a new tree a little further away, where it could be retained in the longer term. He'd either be sensible / interested enough to take the advice, or he'd ignore it, either way it's his tree and wall.

Have you seen this thread regarding young FBs of I. dryadeus v G. resinaceum? - http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/fungi-pictures/7649-fungi.html My money is on the Ganoderma too, I'll look forward to an update once it's developed a bit more. What's the story with the slight incursion into the root protection area of the lime?

That first pic of yours David, looks just like a nice fresh bread roll, which is exactly what I thought when I found the one above - my picture is a bit over-exposed though, so the colours don't come out.

I made the same mistake, I identified these as young I. dyadeus fruit bodies: Largely because of these 2 amber coloured drips on the bottom of one bracket: But they turned into these: I think your's is a proper I. dryadeus because it's got the classic 'lots of drips' from the top, whereas my G. resinaceum (assuming that's what it is!) only had a few drops from the underneath and none from the top. But I might be wrong...

Paperclips

Ah, I've found it in the book now - I've not seen that one before. I was thinking from the first leaf pic it might be some kind of maple, so I'm glad I didn't admit that in public.