Tony Croft aka hamadryad

what was the works purpose, strictly fauna/longevity? nic job:thumbup1:

a magnificent and impresive apple of veteran status, to be retained IMO. Your butt fungi may be polyporus squamosus or arbortiporus biennis, as long as you keep the tree pruned as per normal there is no reason to panic prop it if it needs it, theyoften do at this veteran age! lovely lovely old tree, and dont rip the brackets off it wont re infect itself, and there is much fauna hat lives on these brackets making them imortNT IN THEIR OWN RIGHT ECOLOGICALY. SORRY FOR CAPS! I would love this tree in my garden, oh and yes its hispidus

you know they banned the sale of knives on ebay? I wouldnt mind betting this isnt exactly legitimate and ebay are unaware, until NOW!

no, you cant, not these days

nice one, congrats.

Its all a question of balance though is it not? I mean, its one thing to say we need a certificate for competence in chainsaw use, but the number of different NPTC tickets these days is pretty mental, when we got our set up mewp and use a chainsaw ticket we thought that was enough, but then no one would hire us a MEWP of a worthy size or category without the IPAF, even now we can only do 1B category Mewps (most complex usage, so why not do one ticket to caver mewps in general?) How can I convince my boss to send me to really worthwhile CPD events that would ACTUALY benifit us in advancing our arboriculture when he has to sit on that cash for when they rules get upgraded or changed? Surely after 25 years in this industry using cranes, mewps and doing a range of situations that you wouldnt send your worst enemy into means I can stop being treated like an irresponsible teenager! I want to learn about soil and be at the cutting edge of tree health and mechanics, not being taught how to suck eggs! I dont mind being expected to train, or to do high quality CPD, but most of it is just as the title suggests, none of ity actualy makes a jot of difference to the art and science of arboriculture, it holds it back!

agree for feb on the apples, you can differentiate the buds so well at this time. as for the plum, yes end of summer but not too late as Chondrostereum purpureum will be fruiting very soon, matter of weeks if not already A.K.A the silver leaf fungus

its both isnt it, I mean a period of growth of cell division involves the production of merisstematic tissues, it is only after they become differentiated that they either cease to be produced or are active. its the embroyonic capacity of trees that leads to their sometimes never ending life cycles like those of limes for instance. I think the main point is that wound wood, which is again merristematic Flush cuts and tears) as opposed to the occlusion of a stub end with normal division within the cambium (it has to go somewhere) Its partly this portion of the trees biology that makes the conflicts in these discussions, and why I am of the opinion veteranisation techniques have their place and a very limited place at that. The difference between the over pruned crowd and me is that I was up close and personal with each tree and know that cuts where made in full agreement with BS standards bar de foliation principles which I have long know are not as important as the maintenance of active channels from shoot to root. depending on species of course. The living connection between roots and shoots which Dr Lonsdale so eloquently described in Cumbria a few weeks back.

what about continuity of habitat, big native scotts pines are getting quite rare round here

Ness-We know individual trees adapt to their environment, ie the stunted tree on a fellside. Oak, Ash, Sycamore, Rowan etc can do this and survive for many years because they are already some what adapted to this climate, but you would not expect to see a Catalpa up there. It would take many more years of adaptation to populate the hillside, if it could propagate at all. I have never seen catalpas in their ancient and natural environment so could not possibly comment on that A tree pruned in it's formative years every year will create pollard points,at which it is able to regenerate leaf cover without the need for profuse epicormic growth/water shoots. European pollards live for many years like this, without forming the cavity issues you will get from 'topping'. Weakly attached vertical growth which will fail when the next generation of homeowner fails to maintain the tree and finds a thirty foot branch on their car in the morning. This is basic. We have all climbed these trees and had to multi anchor as the limbs are sitting on a nice open cavity unseen from the ground. The only saving grace is that they are usually full of water preventing decay fungi finishing the job earlier than the wind. Poplars, sycamores and willows maybe, but beech Oak ash all return from pollarding and continue to develop pretty normaly. A visit to ANY of britins ancient woodlands will prove this. Limbs can tear out of a maiden that has no defects, a pollard can go un pollarded for 0ver 100years. there are examples for both sides, which cleary illustrates that what you describe is more to do with individuals rather than the whole population or species type. Those massive knuckles we see in those pollards are often just as hollow as any other pollarded tree, like I said its just a skin of living tissue. Coppice works the same way. These trees have been grown for timber to order. Without chainsaws our predecessors harvested the timber at the right size. Not felling a six foot diameter Oak and then making gates with an axe. The regrowth would be constantly managed from the start, always having succession from different age trees. Sorry I did not get back earlier, pesky kids, had to play Ben 10! Trees are like people, they all have their unique characters and forms, to suggest that all trees deal with cavitation and pollarding is just not reflecting the nature of trees.

Is this a trick test question?

reduce it, and before anyone says it cant be done, Bow-locks!

The first half isnt strictly accurate, zylem certainly in diffuse porus woods holds starch reserves, I always think of trees like batteries or sponges of water and sugar/starch. Once the wood portion has become dysfunctional it no longer functions. Regarding the pollarding and pathogen resilience, its actualy more to do with the forcing of lower growth, better transport by encouraging shorter distances and younger more active channels in the cambium. More efficient more biomechanicaly optimised too. IMO which may of course be gunned down at will.

Well I got my IPAF 1B ticket the otherday and well chuffed with it, but know what you mean, is all getting a bit mmmmm.... OTT

and Yews, probably others too, the old thujas should eventualy be selected to replace the leylands, much better to manage:thumbup1: if you cant be bothered to wait for the king of hedges Taxus baccata of course.

These are no different to your body laying skin round a forign object untill it is grown out of the body IMO, a gall of sorts.

andrew, ive been in a job thats just a job for 6 years, I know how you feel! good luck with whatever you do.

easy as huh, whats the stndard of living likefor a typical arb in NZ?

noris K deusta hard

what with making it possible for smaller firmsto go AA aproved this too shows they are really getting it together. I am going to be a busy reader for some time! amazeballs, as my bro would say!

gano,probably in on strimmer/mower damage

it looks o.k, it will come back.

now thats VERY different and Im liking it bigtime!

ha ha ha , no worries fella, we all manage to make a right propper charlie of ourselves from time to time. crikey i have turned it into an art form so your alright chuck!

Thank you to the last few posters, I feel a lot better about starting this now, exactly what I thought! of course bar you huck!