Tom Joye

Reduced the Robinia a couple of weeks ago and promised to post pics here. It was a strong reduction, I'm eager to see how the tree will respond. The abundance of new sprouts in the lower crown gave me a good feeling about it. We'll see... Installed a new cobra bracing between the two main stems after the pics were taken. And the steel cable around the stem is still there. The plan is to reduce it further down in a couple of years i(f the tree responds well). Any feedback is welcome.

Hi, heard once that Ginkgo would be susceptible to dieback after pruning. Is this true or can a slight reduction be done without any problem? Any experiences?

I use rapeseed oil from the supermarket. Has the good viscosity, even in cold weather. Wouldn't use the other kinds of vegetable oil though. Only con is that it polymerizes after a while and gets 'sticky'. So if your chainsaw won't run for a while, you'll need to clean it well.

Hi all, didn't check the forum for some time and wow... didn't know my post would go on and live its own life like this I've heard a lot of interesting thoughts, but I agree with Paul, I'm a big fan of the Precautionary principal. I NEVER use any pesticides/herbicides, not in the root zone of trees, nor anywhere else. As Paul, I'm not working in woodlands, but in gardens and there, IMO, it is perfectly possible to avoid them. I never sprayed a tree after planting, no matter which size and most of them survived. Even this meant I had to crawl on my knees with a sickle all day, it worked. Back here in Belgium, it is forbidden for public services to use any pesticides or herbicides, including roundup. Not in their plantations, not on any hard surface, nowhere (I have to say some minor exceptions are possible, but this is negligible). All the public services were shouting this was impossible, but in the meanwhile, the city of Ghent, where I live (3rd city of Belgium, 240.000 inhabitants) has reduced its use of pesticides/herbicides to only 4 kg active ingredient per year! So it is possible, we only have to tolerate a little bit more weeds in the city and city planners are designing and thinking in a whole different way than before. And that's what we all have to do. To end, just think about the following situation: a street tree where weed control on the pavement is carried out with roundup, twice a year. All the runoff goes to the planting pit and it may take 20 years, but byebye big London plane. This is a real situation, the trees I think about are gone and they won't come back. Thanks for the great thread and the tonnes of info (alltough it took me some time) Tom

Thanks Nomad, Great info!

Well, it was developed as a foliar herbicide, but I know some street trees that died because of herbicide accumulation in the soil and in the plant. Two herbicides were identified: amytrol and glyphosate. So I'm pretty sure it might actually kill a tree, even without foliar contact, with only soil accumulation. And that's why IMO no herbicides should be used in the root zone of trees (or at all actually). But up until now it's more a gut feeling than based on scientific data. So that's what I was looking for.

Hi, anybody has got any information on the effect of using glyphosate in the root zone of trees? In contradiction to common beliefs, glyphosate apparently does accumulate in the soil and in the tree, but I do not find much (scientific) information on this topic. Thanks in advance, Tom

You're right, I didn't notice you were only talking about the bleutooth headsets. My mistake ...

Here's a link to the Peltor website, with the lite-com as their 'top of the bill' communication headset. Range is 1 to 2km! http://www.peltor.se/int/Product.asp?PageNumber=149&ProductCategory_Id=35&Product_Id=44

As far as I know, Peltor already has this multi set technology. We use those in our arboricultural training. I'll try to find some more info.

Hi all, any experiences with burning western redcedar (Thuja plicata)? Thanks, Tom

Hé guys, thanks for worrying about me, but I'm in Belgium and not in the UK. Over here legislation on trees is crap. We don't have a law that specifies that I would be responsible in case of an accident, in fact we nearly have no laws on trees at all. Over here you don't need any 'tickets' to juggle chainsaws, climb trees or whatever. If my grandmother shouts out she's an arborist, well... she IS an arborist in Belgium. I think it's crap, but that the way it is and we are sure working on those issues. In the meantime, if this client comes to me to 'save' his tree, I try to help him as good as I can, by making it as safe as possible in the given circumstances instead of getting him to listen to a nitwit that thinks he knows a lot about trees but who is actually a gardener or a landscaping architect (with all do respect for gardeners or landscaping architects, but they got to stick to their jobs). I assess this tree every 6 months or so, so I'll keep an eye on it. And in the meantime, it might fall. But so does the healthy oak tree just next to it.

I sure would like to post the smell of it ... it really stinks!

Yep, the road passes right underneath the tree. Not that much traffic though. Just want to point out that I'm not a fan of rod bracing and the whole steel cable thing, but really: felling is not an option! So a strong reduction will have to do.

I couldn't agree more! Fiskars is great, I have two Fiskars axes and I wouldn't trade them with any other make. They are indeed razor sharp and stay that way.

ok, just visited the mystery fungus again. Here's some answers to your questions, Tony: No evidence of the rot, no spores visible, no tubes visible (I couldn't even identify a spore layer), the fruiting body is soft, no crust, I don't know if it's perennial, since it's the first year it's there, it doesnt' melt in a flame (it's very moist), the aroma is like rotten nuts or pig's manure. As you can see in the picture, it is on a dead standing stem of Quercus rubra (in the red circle) that has 5 or 6 fungi on it, Tremella mesenterica, Trametes spp., etc, but also Laetiporus sulphureus. So over here we're thinking it might be some freak-mode Laetiporus, it has the same type of cheesy flesh and the same lumpy form. Nothin there that reminded me of Ganoderma. So, what do you think?

yep, the foto is taken in the park where I work, near Brussels. I will take some close-ups tomorrow, maybe that will help to ID it.

LOL Now that you mention it, it was a rough night yesterday

felling is not an option, te owner is very emotional about his tree, wouldn't even dare to mention that

Hi all, some pics from a tree I worked on this weekend. It is a 90 year old Robinia that is split all the way down. The stem is hollow, Laetiporus sulfureus all over the place (bad combination, those two). Some years ago a Cobra system was installed (not by me) and recently I noticed the two halves were moving apart, so now the cobra system is holding the tree together. Since the owner does not want to fell the tree, I will reduce it (will do it i February and will post pictures later). This weekend I installed a steel cable around the stem, to take the stress off the cobra. Any experiences with this? How long do you think the tree can go on like this?

Anybody? Host is a standing dead stem of Quercus rubra

I actually don't remember. I have to admit that at that specific moment, I was more interested in getting on top of that mother of a mountain ahead of me Corsica is a great place to see fantastic trees, I can recommend it.

col saint-pierre in Corsica, last june

Phellinus pomaceus is listed in Tree Doctor and on some mainly Dutch websites. It certainly looks like Phellinus pomaceus, but I thought that one only grew on Rosaceae, so manly fruit trees like apple, pear and cherry. I certainly haven't seen it on any other species. I also find that is resembles Phellinus torulosus, which is seen on more deciduous tree species. But here, in Belgium, P. torulosus is apparently very rare. I've never seen one, but hé, who am I? If anybody has more info on that one, it's more than welcome.

Phellinus tuberculosis is indeed the 'old' synonym for Phellinus pomaceus. But horse chestnut is a bit an un usual host for it, no?