Scouse Lee

pm sent

Where exactly are you, I'm a self employed Tree Surgeon down near Bude but may be moving further north soon. Cheers Lee

Cheers Alec, again much appreciated m8. Yep the Pears aren't going to amount to much this year but the clients ok with that as she likes the tree for itself rather than the fruit. I plan to spray with Bordeaux mixture at the end of the season,(been stocking up seeing as it's being taken off the shelves next February), so fingers crossed.

Cheers Goaty much appreciated, yes I looked at that defra info when I was 1st called round to see the tree, as I said in one of my posts I couldn't see any staining or 'shepherd's crook' but most other things pointed to fire blight although I have been telling the client that I had a little doubt about it, the wind/frost chill would make sense as we had that really nice week back in March followed by a couple of frosts then almost constant wind & rain, (lovely place Devon lol), all this after I'd pruned the tree in February so the wounds were still pretty fresh. I've also got a thread on here regarding a couple of Daimyo Oaks that have had problems, that too seems to be down to frost damage. I will continue to remove any blackened leaves/twigs & hope that the tree improves, (I gave it a feed of Growmore the other day to hopefully give it a little boost), but I have to say that I'm a bit more hopeful for it now, it would be a shame to lose such an old tree.

wow 206 views & just 2 replies!!! ok then does anyone know of another site where I might be able to get this & other questions answered by knowledgeable people

Cheers guys, can't say the terminals look that hooked tbh & haven't noticed any staining although I will have a proper look this week. Went round on Wednesday & removed all affected leaves/twigs plus I picked every old leaf I could find up off the ground & burned it all, had another look on Friday & it didn't look to bad,(although I knew I wouldn't have managed to get it all), just been round again & sure enough there are more areas with it, again spread out over the tree. Fire Blight is the only thing I can think of it being but has anyone got any other suggestions?, what do you recommend I do now, carry on pruning on a weekly basis & hope I can control it or go for broke & prune right back,(bad time to do it I know). Also I reckon I should feed some nutrients to the tree, what's the best stuff for a quick hit, sulphate of ammonia? While I'm here has anyone got any recommendations for a sterilising solution to spray on my pruning tools while I'm working, I've used isopropyl alcohol in the past but am having trouble finding it here in the outback lol.

Hi guys, just had a call to go round & look at this Pear Tree that is reputedly over 100 years old (this pics from last February) Apparently about 12 days ago some of the leaves started looking like this At the moment there's only about 15 or so clusters of leaves that are like this, all on the tips of branches & fairly well spread out over the tree, the owner said they started turning black from the edge in plus she also said that the blossom was very short lived this year. I suspect it's Fire Blight, would you agree. I am going to go round tomorrow & cut all the affected twigs off,(I'll burn them), then at the end of the season I'll spray as much of the tree as I can with Bordeaux fungicide. Do I need to inform DEFRA btw. Oh yes, you see that black part of the trunk just below the first branches, well that does indeed look like it's been set on fire at one time or another and the owner says it's been like that for years but doesn't remember it burning or anything, I don't think fire blight does this to the wood does it but can it be another problem? Cheers

Frost or Bacterial is what I was thinking, as said though one out of the 3 isn't doing too badly and is in a similar position to the others so I would think that if frost was the cause they would more than likely be in the same condition.

Not that I'm aware of but would that account for the leaf formation,(I presume the leaves shouldn't look like this at any stage, especially in mid June but then again I am unfamiliar with this particular species of Oak), or the fact that the one tree of the 3 that at least has fully formed leaves has what looks like leaf curl or some sort of bacterial infection.

Grass/Strimmer damage? sorry I'm missing something here

Bump

Grass

Hi guys, I look after a very large garden with a lot of trees in including 3 small Oaks which I think are possibly Daimyo, very large leaves. Anyway 2 of them aren't looking too clever & in fact haven't for the past year or so, here's a pic of one of them a lot of small twigs have died & I don't think those leaves are gonna do much The 3rd one is fairing better but is showing signs of a problem,(they are all planted close to each other btw), with leaves curling & eaten away I think the 2 worst ones need removing but I'm hoping the other one will be ok. Any ideas.

Hi guys, in-laws just moved into a house at Walmersley near Ramsbottom & are looking for a reliable supplier of wood for their burner, bit to far for me to deliver from Devon lol. You can pm me your details if you like along with prices. Cheers Lee:thumbup1:

Hi Stuart, yes it was the one near Holsworthy. I could try the pasty route I suppose, after all they do cost over £3 each,(mind you they're worth every penny the size of 'em lol).

Hi fellas sorry this is a long post but I need some advice. When I was operating out of Dorset I had loads of work including lots of regular customers, most of whom told me my prices were cheaper than others they'd used but over here in Devon things seem much different. I priced 2 jobs back in January, one involved dismantling a large Ash growing over a garage & road with telephone lines going through it, I proposed having a climber in the tree while & was on the ground lowering, all the wood was to be cut to 1m lengths & stacked & the brush burnt on site, I priced at £300 but someone came in lower. 2nd job was 8 conifers about 30' high sitting on an 8' high roadside bank, the road, which was out in the sticks and had no pavement, was quite busy rising up to the brow of a hill about 150m from the work site & while I was there vehicles were coming over the hill & down past the site very fast including a few big wagons. Everything had to come down roadside & the least I could have got away with was a climber, myself on the ground lowering and cutting & 2 guys on traffic duties. The client said he had had a few others price it up & not to bother if I was going to suggest anything over £500. I was then sidelined with a shoulder injury which had to be operated on but returned to work last week when I went to look at another job which basically involved dismantling 5 trees,(Ash/Beech), of around 50' each in height, one of which was right next to the house with the canopy reaching over the roof & again had telephone lines through it and another that was tight up against a glass dome over a swimming pool, removing 2 stems of around 20' from another tree, reducing a Beech of around 20', reducing a large Hawthorn & trimming a length of hedge that was up on a high bank. All wood was to be cut to 1m lengths & moved to a central area & the brush was to be dragged to a burn site. I priced this last job at just over £1300, (I reckon back in Dorset I would have got at least another £400 on this), but again someone came in lower. Be honest guys am I going way over the top or are tree surgeons over here just going out too cheap, I understand that this isn't a wealthy area but I reckon the art of tree surgery is being devalued by some people.

Back in January I advertised for climbers on here & had a few replies, unfortunately at the end of that month I fell down the stairs & suffered a rotator cuff injury,(also seems that I had torn a ligament last year in the same shoulder, I do remember hurting it on a job in the summer & having a few days off but didn't seek medical advice at that time). Anyway I went the docs this time round & was given pain relief but it got so bad I ended up having an operation, (subacromial decompression), within 4 weeks of seeing a specialist, that was back in June but unfortunately it seems that something may have gone wrong with the op as I'm suffering with lots of pain right down to my fingertips which the doc says could be damaged nerves. So I want to apologise for not getting back to those who replied to me but it was a case of taking each week as it came & hoping the shoulder was going to be sorted, at the moment my business is on hold until I know what is going on. Once again sorry & hopefully I can offer some work to those that need it in the future.

There ya go twiglet, see you need to know the facts before you jump in with comments. I've also worked for Mark & can verify that him & James are sound fellas, I only left because of health reasons then after a lay off I started up myself & I owe KCM a lot of respect,(ok Mark you can get up off the floor now lol), they were especially very good to youngsters starting out,(as long as you didn't mind miles of newt fencing ).

cheers for that, yep I've already removed the dead wood & I'm thinking of moving it now to a sheltered spot that is quite moist all the time, hopefully it will come back.

Hi guys, I've had this Spindle Berry for about 12 years now, grew it from a sapling, and it's moved around with us during our last 4 house moves,(it was planted in remembrance of my 1st wife so my kids could lay flowers at it's base for birthdays etc.). The last place we lived in was Dorset where it loved being in the chalk but now it's in Devon & the ground here consists of a couple of inches of soil with a load of stone underneath, we moved here in December so it was unfortunately put in when it was very cold although the snow had disappeared. Come spring & it seemed to be doing really well until suddenly about 3 weeks ago the leaves started to die & now it has very few left,(see pic.), just been out to see it and when I rub my hand lightly down a stem the twigs fall off very easily. We have had a fair bit of rain but we also get very strong winds coming in from the Atlantic which is about 7 miles away so I'm thinking it has dried it out, I've planted a lot of Hawthorn/Blackthorn/Wild Cherry/Guelder Rose & Spindle in the hedgerows which are doing quite well as are surplus of the same species that I have put into a bed for growing on, these seem to be doing ok in the winds except for a couple of Hawthorn in that bed whose leaves are also dying back. Sorry it's a bit long winded fellas but I want the best advice as to possible cause & remedy. Cheers

I'm getting on to trading standards about false advertising unless you send me a saw

Well it seems to me that if you know the name of the company doing this, as it seems you do, then stating on this forum, xxxtree surgeons have been doing such & such a thing, cannot be anything but a good thing and I cannot see how xxxtree surgeons could sue you if you are only stating a fact, you are after all not making things up. Furthermore the administrator(s) of this site should want to know who is doing this & have a quiet word in their shell like, surely no one wants members like this on the forum. I'm a member of the Hilux Pickup Owners Club & if anything like this went on the member concerned would be at the very least given a bollocking & maybe even banned off the site for good. Come on guys let's look after each other here a bit hey.

that leaflet only deals with completely removing a hedge, coppicing & removing dead wood etc.come under normal management & don't require an application being filed.

well it does make more sense to have them turn it off tommer, tbh I've not had to work on trees near lines b4,(well I've worked for other firms doing it & know they've just gone ahead,I don't climb so I'm not that clued up on it), so I trawled thru the site looking for other posts on the subject & noticed a few people who have said as long as the lines have a protective outer on then they would just do the job BUT I have to say I would rather not send anyone up to do it while they are live, the guy says he has to have the job done next week & that he has another guy who will do it if I can't. Well that's fair enough I suppose he'll have to let the other guy do it & suffer any consequences arising.

cheers guys, I've sent e-mails to the local tree officer & the forestry commission, mainly to introduce myself & establish a point of contact. T/0 hasn't got back yet but forestry commission tell me they are the ones who say if a tree can be felled or not,(they've told me about the 5 cubic metres per quarter thing), does this mean I don't involve the council here or still have to in case they decide the tree should be saved, even if it's in a field, sorry guys this has just confused me a tad. While I'm on I've been asked to take a tree down,(on the edge of a field as it happens), but there are electric & telephone wires running through the branches, I've got no probs that a climber will be able to clear the few branches that need doing 1st then we can fell the tree but do I need to have the electricity board turn the power off, the wires are only going through the last foot of the branches & there's nothing there that makes me worried, can't see anything snagging up tbh and don't see any problems but of course I suppose you never know. cheers