gibbon

Is the oil low? They have an automatic shut down when its down. Can effect it if there is oil left but the machine isn't on the level

We reduced it to around 4m a few shy of the wall incase it fails. It had a cavity up to 2m and we managed to bore into the cavity a few times. That tree is the one in the corner of the 1st shot and would be too decayed and exposed once the other 2 had gone. I did try to upload more but I gave up cos it wasn't working. The big beech has a lot of ustulina on the tension side and the Sycy is "on the move" apparantly. The main target is that garage which was built to house an Aston Matin. The last tree felled in this garden was milled and sent to Aston Martin to be made into a car which the client is now building.

3 trees to take down. Got the standing dead wood done by 10 then started on the big beech. Starting on the Sycy tomorrow. We were slowed down a little as there are 2 bt lines right in the drop zone. Still good going for 3 of us as its a 125 mile round trip to this job.

All I said was that I thought you had taken more off than I would have in one hit. There was never the question of whether or not too reduce, rather by how much.

Yes, not every week but due to the nature of my clients we work with a lot of big and old trees. Of out now but this is one I posted before xmas http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/picture-forum/9860-100foot-plus-reduction.html

I think epicormic growth following pruning has a lot to do with a the reduction in growth regulating hormones which had been released by the removed material. Dormant buds are no longer being supressed by dominant buds. I'm sure light also plays a part too. This is something I'm interested in as I suspect that it might be possible to use semi ring barking of limbs as a tool in retrenchment pruning in some circumstances.

You've taken too much off!

Do you still have the greenmech grinder?

Maybe being in a more urban environment you have different requirements from your clients than I do. I don't mean to imply you don't know what your doing. The majority (by no means all) of our reductions are carried out on mature trees to reduce the size/weight of crowns or limbs rather than controlling the size of potentially big Beech (or LIME) in gardens. We seem to have a differing client base and perhaps thats why we have different approaches to pruning.

Is that a Beech between the 2 blue transits? Thats a bit too hard for my taste.

I agree, but if I'm giving advice I generally wouldn't hit them so hard in one prune. With mature trees its often done over a couple of seasons. Don't take this as a criticism, I'm interested to see your approach.

Good work. Your style of pruning is a little heavier in terms of leaf area than mine. Not saying its wrong, just different. The Cedar is very good

10 minutes for my and my guys. I did have a guy this winter who had an hour and a half each way!

Sorry to hear of your loss. I have grown up with rescue dogs and have one now, I know how you must feel.

Excellent work

I hope my comment didn't come across as critical as it was'nt meant to be. I like the job, my meaning was that as a cutter we spend years refining our "shaping" of trees and with this type of work its not always necessary to do this. Its harder than you think not to "shape" them, I find myself doing it and have to remind myself not too at times!

Ceiba, Poro, Fence post tree, go by many names it does, Did you rig it? They are terrifing to rig down.

Good job, the only thing I would say is that doesn't always have to be a "shaped over" shape, it can look more natural when its left more jagged. The cuts are good though and its a good overall effect. I think its what we should all be doing, lose all the loose crumbly dead and keep the rest where we can

Click where it says gibbon, should give you an option.

What do you consider short term? I can supply a team of guys at a good rate for upto 2 weeks at a time. We undertake a lot of big tree work and have carried out short contracts worldwide. Please send me a private message and I can give you further details.

I'm sure it would, but the aaac has been around for a long time and the majority of contractors haven't got behind the scheme. Chas for instance took us a few hours to sort out, no big deal just a few bits of paper work and no specific relavants to arb. Theres no assesment of quality of work. We have chas but I think its a load of twoddle, I could give someone a load of our forms, they could stick their logo on it and hey presto you can go out and tender for council contracts. Why don't we all (including more of our clients) support a scheme that examines all parts of our business including (and most importantly) the quality of our finished work? There is only one scheme that does this but why are so few of us willing invite our peers in to scrutinize what we do and how we do it? If more of us did then the scheme would gain momentum. Selling the logo for use on trucks and stationary for the cost of the membership is a step backwards for the aa imo.

I think its a great idea if its similar to the isa schemes which seem widely accepted in the states. It means everyone has a workable progression to follow for their business, I'm sure this would reduce the us and them mentality between aaac and non aaac. The only reason I can see someone wanting to use the aa logo is to try to promote their business by implying they have official accreditaion, ie pay some money to get a logo to try to impress potential clients. The thing that bugs me about aaac gripes is that people say its for big co's. All the scheme is, is an assesment of the companys comitment to working to best practice. I had 1 employee and 1 part timer when we went for it. It took less time to work towards than most of us spend on this forum and the assesment fee was less than my yellow pages bill. All the stuff you are assesed on is the stuff we ought to do anyway. The assesment criteria looks daunting to someone whos office system needs work so that puts most people off. When Paul comes to do the assesment you recieve a lot of guidance so I think a tiered scheme would not only be benificial for the industry but help us all to comply with all the legislation imposed on us. The problem is when all these other schemes like chas appear and different clients support different schemes. This does not help anyone as we can't afford to do it all so will select those that bring in the work.

It sounds like a good idea, but I think the use of the logo could futher confuse clients as its so similar to the aaac logo. Mrs miggins may see the logo but not understand the difference between member and aaac. I'm an aaac and would rather not see a/the logo available to all. If your just after a sticker than you can already get that by joining the isa

I thought about growing containerised instant hedging, ie trimming containerised trees to hedge shape so you can suppy and plant an instant hedge. I'm sure theres money in that.

Certainly. May even produce more new shoots than a standard pruning cut.