janey

I was unlucky enough to be shackled to the office PC yesteday going through our enquiries (I'm LA...). I am resigned to the fact that we tend to get dumped with the world's general moans, but this was a good 'un. Resident had seen a snake on their driveway. It was grey. ??? Can someone please give me an insight as to why the eff that comes under the heading of TREES?

We've got the man himselff coming to have a look at a couple of our trees next week. All very interesting stuff, but I'm not sure how much of a future thermal imaging of trees has got because, to me, it seems overly dependant on user interpretation.

Loads of 'em. Complete Tree Care is probably the best known and so you won't get a particularly good deal working for them. I'm with Eden Brown at the Moment and I have had work through Hays Montrose in the past. All worth checking out

Hands and knees? In a tree pit?? In London??? I think swine 'flu would be the least of my worries if I started doing that . No, they are not great pics, but such are the joys of camera 'phones. And some of us don't have proper jobs and don't have time to dawdle . LoL. I attacked the brackets - for want of a better word - with a combi and they black all the way through and friable. That's still not a lot of help, is it?

The first three piccies are of what I think may be Ustlina (no new fangled names here!) on an Ulmus lobellii. I have never - knowingly - come across this in the field before and I have only ever seen it from photos. The black, crumbly mass that I found doesn't really match anything I have seen before, so Ustilina is my best guess. Enlightenment, please? And no, definately ISN'T dog poo . And the fourth piccy? Haven't the foggiest . It's on a hybrid black poplar and wasn't there last week!

Sunday. Day of rest and all that. So I have been ferretting about in the undergrowth to answer my curiosity. And trying not to get arrested for carrying an offensive veggie parer. And I'm still not sure which it is. Help!!!

I saw this and thought a couple of the ad's might be of interest to peoples here: Classified Adverts

Looks like I'm going back to site with my Kitchen Devil .

Going back to the original post: Nice job. The site looks awkward for your chater 8 stuff with a junction / roundabout in the work zone. Well set out . OK, that's my sensible comment over with.

Goat willows are pretty bomb proof. I think you'd have to try really hard to do any long term damage to them. Beeches can be a bit tempermental. If you're doing a heavy thin, bare in mind that at this time of year when the sun is very strong, there is a theoretical risk of sun scorch to the newly exposed bark in the inner crown. It wouldn't stop me from doing the work though.

What??? And risk contamination by operatives??? LoL.

Brown Tail Moth is UK wide on Roseacea, especially Crataegus. The over use of acronyms may be a predominently Southern problem, though

See them now?

Well posted

Sorry, I keep on forgetting there's a whole, big world outside of London . OPM - Oak processionary moth, Thaumetopoea processionea. Arrived from the Continent about four years ago on imported Quercus that were then planted at a site in South West London. Since then they have been spreading rapidly and can be found at multiple sites in South and West London. They can cause total defoliation on oaks (and occasionally other Fagales when food is scarce), but the main concern from them is to human health. They are covered in urticating (irritating) hairs from about the third instar which can cause extreme reactions in mammals. I think that includes most of us... They are a bit like BTM, but a much, much worse. You don't even need to be in contact with them, just being down wind is enough to get asthma like symtoms and irritated eyes, nose etc. They really are nasty wee buggers. The nests are very hard to spot, even when you are specifically looking for them. That's what the pictures above are. They look just light dappled light or occluded wounds on the underside of limbs. Should've got my photoshop skills brushed off and put some arrows in or somethin'. See Forest Research - Oak processionary moth - Thaumetopoea processionea

They have been in Ealing for a couple of years now. It was initially a small, isolated outbreak that was unfortunately near to the overground sections of two tube lines. So guess where the new sites are occuring? Yep, along and adjacent to the embankments. The speed at which these things are spreading is frightening. Unfortunely, there is still no joined up thinking with how to deal with them . We know where they are and their consequenses, but we don't know how to effectively get rid of them. One poor householder in the Borough has been served notice (not sure under which Regs...) to remove them and / or their oak tree, yet no one has told them how to do it!!! And yes, they really are THAT BAD. A couple of years ago I was left with a very painfull, tight chest just from getting cloes enough to a small nest to take photos and a large colony can easily defoliate a mature oak. So keep 'em peeled.

See if you can spot them (three normal res' piccies the three close ups):

Right you ident Gods out there, which of the above is this? My informed guess is that it's Rigidoporus, but I'm not 100% sure . It's on a large (DBH 90cm +) hybrid black poplar. I didn't get a sample so I don't know what the tube colour is - hence me asking fo help here!!! The decay stratagies are very different for the two fungi, but it won't make any difference to the tree's outcome. I just would like to know for sure what it is. The tree's growing along a well used public footway (and no, that can't be moved ) with 25 more similarly sized pops. This one is going to be left as a 6-7m pollard while the others are HEAVILY reduced.

Extensive bark necrosis then delamination. When this starts to effect enough of the circunference then you will see crown decline. Caused mainly by Pseudomonas. Though I have seen some tough old trees with literally no live bark up to about a metre above ground with a healthy looking crown.

Sorry, I didn't realise you worked in my area . LoL.

Sounds like some of the cards you see in 'phone boxes . Have you tried all the usual suspects: Hort Week, Arb Jobs, Landforce, Jobcentre Plus and some of the agencies like CTC, Hays Montrose etc?

I have the ''pleasure'' of having this godawful example of dodgy tree work within a few metres of my house. I reckon it's a good contender for the crappest work I have seen this week . Lazyness? Ignorance? Tighteness? Who knows, but it sure is uuuugly .

Giving up drinking and excepting being a social outcast has worked wonders for my hangovers

Mmmm, dinner

I like the idea, and I would like it even more if it was administered by another LA department, such as enforcement .