ScottF

Excellent approach to dealing with sticky-fingered so-and-so's: "Stop!" BANG!!! "Or I'll shoot!"

Replace young man! Every one dropped is an opportunity to plant a new one

Brown Datsun 210. Automatic. With orange tartan seats. I didn't modify it, lower it, lift or improve it. I think I changed one of the windscreen wipers once. awesome

Indeed. Then again, Oxbridge folks often let the secret of their schooling slip out at the strangest times. You should have said: "Bene, cum Latine nescias, nolo manus meas in te maculare"! That would have showed her.

Anybody seen the new IML "Micro Hammer" that just been released? The info is here: Sorbus International Ltd Apparently it's a reworking of the old impulse hammer thing they used to make (I used one years ago). Looks like a compact bit of kit, you don't need to hook it up to a laptop on site, doesn't cost the earth and you don't have to pay any licencing fees. Anyone seen one or had a go on one yet?

There a sycamore that's done this not far from me and the offspring tree is now larger than the collapsed mother limb. Great pictures, MonkeyD. Keep 'em coming.

Just had a look at your website, and it looks like you're doing pretty well to me. By the way, having had a look at your gallery I was just wondering what all that blue stuff is where the clouds should be? Very odd. Best of luck. S

Spot on Tony, I'd say...

This is "blue steel". See what I mean?

Maybe I'm thinking of a different kind of "facial", but I'd advise against booking one. Just voted for you. Some of the other stiffs on there are classic! I'm sure I saw one or two trying to pull off "blue steel". Smashing stuff.

I'd love to see it working, Lee. Let us know if you're ever working in Mid or North Wales. Sounds interesting. I've used Terravent machines in Canada for years and found them very effective, used correctly.

I'm still chuckling about the "Swedish Continental Breakfast Tree"...

How's about Cornus controversa 'Variegata' (I've planted loads of these beauties) and Alnus glutinosa 'Imperialis' for the second? It is early, though...

That's the worst knock-off I've seen yet. You'll probably get it home and find out it runs on kerosene or some such...terrible. Wonder how many of these he's sold to Joe Public?

Two midgets riding a large owl-dog (one of the midgets is in the middle of taking her jumper off- little minx)

Yes, QTRA isn't perfect, but the thing I like about it is that it's constantly evolving from the feedback the system designers get from users. The user's forum is very active with feedback (too active for me- I initially subscribed to the forum and it clogged up my inbox), thoughts and field experiences and this all feeds back into the system from revision to revision. Also, it's increasingly being specified as the "preferred method" of hazard tree assessment in management tenders. I've done 3 large projects this year alone where QTRA has been specified by the client and it's being adopted by more bodies all the time. I trained in it last autumn and was very sceptical at first but found using it, particularly with other people within a team, made it much less risk averse and probably made me consider strategies for retaining trees I might have had dropped previously. My two pee's worth.

It might be S x latifolia, but I think the leaf's too broad. The trouble with this little group of beam trees (S. bristoliensis, S. subcuneata, S. devoniensis etc) is that they're practically identical. There's also the possibility that this is a naturally-occurring, native hybrid between S. aria and S. torminalis. Either way this is from a rare group and it's a whopper. I'd love to have a look at it meself. I love 'em.

Quercus acuta?

Sorbus bristoliensis, I reckons

It should work. You'd be surprised what can grated onot what. I know a guy here in Wales who's grafted a selected of tree fruit- apples, pears, plums etc- onto a hawthorn hedge. Looks mad, but grows fine. You can buy rootstocks to suit your site, so if the trees are to go into a smallish garden, get semi-dwarfing, or get a more vigourous stock if you've got more space. Try to find someone who can show you how to graft. Looking for a local estate with an old-school gardener might be a good place to start, or try local nurseries or gardening clubs. Best of luck. S

Graft it or get someone to graft it for you onto an appropriate root stock. Pick a root stock that will produce a tree which will suit the confines of your site. Is there any particular reason why you want to propagate the tree in the first place? Is it a nice eater, a rare breed, one of personal significance, or did you just fancy having a go?

Comes up as a malicious site on a Mac with Firefox for me

Yep, we found these and a load of other fungal taxa in a range of hard and softwood samples (temperate and tropical). I seem to remember (this is 10 years ago now) that many of the genera following the "infect from outside", anthropomorphic model were saproxylic. All interesting stuff, eh?

Snow loading?

I'm with Tony on the exudate. I've seen fruit trees do this one year and then seem none the worse for wear the next- even older, more senescent trees. Always be wary of getting too worried about foliar disease, too. Quite often, provided the tree is otherwise healthy, it can shrug off a foliar attack. It really may be something of nothing, particularly this ealry in spring where the tree could make a second flush even if it was heaviliy defoliated. Also, early mildew attack can give leaves a silvery sheen, and I've had to advise against felling a nice fruit tree with "Silverleaf" before now as it just had a bit of mildew which a light thin helped relieve. If it is silverleaf, there's very little to be done with it unless it's a very localised attack (ie you can track back a branch or a couple of branches which are affected), and cut those branches out back to the stem. Now's a good time to prune anyway as the good sap pressure will form an antibacterial layer on the wound. Please do not do what the all-knowing RHS advises and slap loads of wound paint on (yes, this is current RHS guidance). Good luck! S