Jump to content

Log in or register to remove this advert

Mark Bolam

Veteran Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    30,039

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    340

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Mark Bolam

  1. Mark Bolam
    Nor me! Bloody cedar phone....
  2. Mark Bolam
    As in base tie the retrieval leg Joe?
  3. Mark Bolam
    No mate, it’s a cedar.
  4. Mark Bolam
    Slight tangent but I heard my first Cuckoo yesterday. Quick diary check showed 3 weeks later than last year, to the day. Pretty much in line with the bluebell ‘show’. Still bloody cold at night.
  5. Mark Bolam
    Glad you get on with them Paddy. Same set up as mine. Pound for pound one of the best investments I’ve made.
  6. Mark Bolam
    Metasequoia?
  7. Mark Bolam
    Alec stop ruining this thread with your good sense. Thank you.
  8. Mark Bolam
    You’re forgetting my USP Mick, I speak Hindii and Urdu.
  9. Mark Bolam
    Define success? The companies that make most money aren’t run by arbs. The best arbs I know, genuinely, usually have next to nothing. I’m just aiming for some middle ground! I’m not a hippy, but for me being happy means you’re successful.
  10. Mark Bolam
    The truth of success is in between Mick. Some companies local to me are successful simply because their web presence is good. Their tree work is awful. Steve is redesigning my website as we speak because it’s so dated. I get by on word of mouth now, but missing creamy local jobs because of my lack of web presence annoys me. Incomers to the village want that shitty fir gone that old Maud who used to live there loved. 1 week in and a company from Maidstone rinse it in a day for £1100 with two blokes. Because their Google presence is good. I’d be mad to not want some of that action! Unfortunately some of my best customers prices are tricky to nudge upwards.
  11. Mark Bolam
    This is what I mean about RJ’s. Everyone with a brain knows m specs don’t work, especially on oaks. You might have an 11m limb with all the action at the end so you can’t drop crotch. Hence seeing so many shite ‘rollards’ about.
  12. Mark Bolam
    RC your weight increase reflects mine pretty much exactly through my climbing career. I generally think reductions are pointless though. Someone has just dropped over a grand on that tree Joe did (very well) just to make it look prettier. It hasn’t helped the tree at all. I know he would agree. Climbing in non-ppe with a silky is always fun, but the voice in your head telling you the physical graft involved just to please someone rich and ignorant whose house has been built in the wrong place isn’t.
  13. Mark Bolam
    That is nicely done Joe, although I can’t help but be thankful that climbs like that don’t feature in my life any more.
  14. Mark Bolam
    Chipper hire place might as well state that the blades will be blunt. I’ve yet to hear of anyone hiring a small gravity fed chipper and having a good result. Those little TW’s (13/75 G?) will definitely cope with conifer IF the blades are sharp. Which they won’t be.
  15. Mark Bolam
    Tree work that I’ve largely moved away from, thank fukk!
  16. Mark Bolam
    You’d hope so for £80 Mick. Stubby, you’re wasted on here mate!
  17. Mark Bolam
    In leaf the shape might look the same Mick, but the tree won’t. There won’t be any light getting through the canopy. I’m with jfc above, boundary trees are a pita and cause loads of issues. Anyone PLANTING a tree on a boundary is a bit of an arse really - ‘Here you go neighbour, have half of that!’ I do feel where the trees pre-date the houses they should be given due consideration, though.
  18. Mark Bolam
    Which oak looks better?
  19. Mark Bolam
    I do. It happens all the time. My mate has a big mature oak in his garden, 300+, and our estate was built less than 20 years ago. His neighbour is complaining it’s crowding a shitty little goat willow that she planted about 8 years ago. What should take precedence? Luckily the oak has a TPO on it, and the TO knows the tree very well. The other point is, contrary to popular public opinion, pruning doesn’t really make a toss of difference in controlling volume of leaves (and acorns). Heavy pruning ultimately results in a tree as dense as a bog brush and looks shite.
  20. Mark Bolam
    So it’s starving your trees of light? The trees that were planted long after the oak?
  21. Mark Bolam
    Nice work John.
  22. Mark Bolam
    Thanks Mick, it’s been grinding my spelling OCD beef all day!
  23. Mark Bolam
    Scissors being better than rams is exactly the opposite of what I’ve found. Every scissor tipper I’ve used has been weak.
  24. Mark Bolam
    Spot on mate, I wasn’t having a pop at Treeation really, just the ownership issue. If the neighbours love the tree and can’t see the future bother it will cause I would look at another house.
  25. Mark Bolam
    MI5, Arb Division. 🤫

About

Arbtalk.co.uk is a hub for the arboriculture industry in the UK.  
If you're just starting out and you need business, equipment, tech or training support you're in the right place.  If you've done it, made it, got a van load of oily t-shirts and have decided to give something back by sharing your knowledge or wisdom,  then you're welcome too.
If you would like to contribute to making this industry more effective and safe then welcome.
Just like a living tree, it'll always be a work in progress.
Please have a look around, sign up, share and contribute the best you have.

See you inside.

The Arbtalk Team

Follow us

Articles

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

  I accept