Tony Croft aka hamadryad

i always say it like this- Kretzshmahrria De ooosta, it works for me and no ones argued yet!

I didnt do the math, but i did after this remark John! Being very conservative, very very rare tree takes two days often more than 1 tree a day, sometimes upto 17 semi matures in a day, lets say 42 working weeks in a year, as I am employed though in my defence was not for most of my career. so lets say 2 per day as a fair average, 5 days a week for 42 weeks a year, 420 per annum, 25 years in the game, equates to 10,500 trees. so bit of an exaggeration but did not think anyone would be so pedantic, No stephen, I AM THE HARVESTER! lol I will be interested in the response to this question!

agreed! Theres potential for a bit of a sooty bark outbreak in the sycamore population, already seen the signs recently.

thanks, all im trying to do is help these guys protect what is a green and wooded island in a see of houses, look at it on the map! o.k so they are only proposing a little encroachment THIS time, but how big was this wood 100 years ago? how big will it be if we continue to turn a blind eye. I played in a wood in an urban zone just like this as a kid, its been built on like all the others close by, and they wonder why kids hang around shops and cause chaos these days,

The government want us to help the economy argh bless, like its our fault!

crikey that would have made your eyes water!

Things are tight for me at the moment but should manage a sponsor before october, remind me if I HAVENT DONE IT NEARER THE TIME FELLA, sorry for caps! chubby fingers, but you would know all about that wouldnt ya, lol defo in for a score more if aican nearer the time. Go well,bounce well plippy!

like the signature line Lee, thats a corker:thumbup1:

ha ha ha, you wanna look at the massive farce in the states, one of the biggest oil companies made hundreds of millions in profit, paid no tax and got hundreds of millions in incentives/grnts/aid from the government! hows that work? lol

If only local folk bothered protested to the FC sell off we would be seeing a different if not non existent woodland coverage in the u.k it was the Nations voice that overturned it, not a few, but the many. nations start changes not a handful of folk in a small town, they reached out, as did I on their behalf.

I have no problem with sarcasm and cheeky jokes at all, its also my sense of humour, my angst was about something else, something on a different and pointless level. There are a lot of people that think my trees willl become sick and or die, this is such a ridiculous statement, there are many tens of if not hundreds of thousands of trees ive worked within a 25 mile radius of home that are fine healthy and well formed, I am going to document as many as I can get accses to. arboriculture is as you say a young industry, the work however is as old as the hills, the practitioners knowledge is widely disregarded, but it is changing very very quickly at this current time.

There are very few arbs that take the time to truly study the nature of over mature trees, I always appreciate sarcasm, so had a little giggle at trees shaking their limbs off! One thing we can be assured of is that nature does not tell lies, people on the other hand both tell lies (for whatever reasons of which there are many) and also and most often just failed to actualy go out and find the truth for themselves choosing dogma and or information provided for them. I know trees and woodlands as well as anyone, and if there is one thing I am not going to do it is to listen or to take to much notice of information that contradicts natural process. Trees are shedding organisms, shedding and regenerating organisms, there is no argument against this fact, it is of all the "facts" about trees the least arguable of them all. So given that most basic of information what possible basis do we have for believing that trees are not perfectly adapted to occasional loss of photosynthetic area? There is often this argument about dysfunction, yet the reality is that its really only the sapwood that is the tree we are all concerend about, inside it is the old tree, it is largely irrelevent it is the then tree not the now tree. if that statement was not true, veteran trees would simply not occur, or rather continue to exist, they survive adversity because they only really need roots and shoots and active cambium to live. For many species of tree, mostly broad leaf natives of which European species are most adapted, the loss of significant portions of the canopy and limb structure, even main stems is part of their ageing process, no more is man an unnatural force in the life of trees as are storms or fungi. Even the supposedly fragile and reputably un pruneable Fagus sylvatica is as robust a survivor as our native oaks, not as long in cycle agreed, but its all relative, the birch or the sorbus is shorter of cycle still. What i think is needed here is a species specific mentality, for some trees do react badly to pruning of any sort, but they are far and few between because trees simply would not become ancients without the capacity for overcoming extreme a biotic or biotic forces, they cant run away like animals, but they can live for thousands of years all the same. As for BS 3998 fire away:thumbup:

General dig taken in good humour, as for the bs 3998 Shall we sit down and go through it together and discuss both of our interpretations? and what is not natural about pollarding a mature tree?

The tone of my last post was aggressive? it wasnt meant to be. WHY is it generally accepted? based on what science? Shigo's energy balance is about the only reference I can think of. I wont deny the levels on these reductions as you state 30-40% in some cases more, but suggesting that these trees will suffer and or die, or will look rubbish is assumption what is the basis of this assumption, what science, whos work, what paper? How would you resolve the issues of conflicts with tree owners who want to achieve more light etc other than reduction? Hw do you explain the huge contradiction that is seen between the "pruned to death" perception, and a healthy viable urban tree stock of heavily pruned and repeated pruning at that? what about the fact that our oldest longest lived trees are in MOST cases ones that have been worked by man? what about pollarding and coppicing? the real life scenario and ecological side of things does not indicate any such stance as of merit.

My friends are involved, so i was trying to help my friends, and doing as much as I could. your right of course and should have looked into the details first, but planning is not my strong point. I wasnt trying to play the guilt game, I was merely asking folk I largely consider friends to do as I have for mine, its O.K I get the stance, I was ameteurish and got a response fitting it. thanks to everyone for all the info, its appreciaed, as I said I know very little about these issues.

jensen are good chippers.

like the first one most, has an almost ethnic/island style to it

if you had bothered to read it through youll see where it got personal! as for researched learned and generaly accepted ideas on pruning I am listening, for I know of NO such evidence on which to base such a negative stance on pruning properly. I welcome such debate and input, its the WHOLE reason I started it! so tell me more about this learned stuff, because i am all ears

Oh i wouldnt take any notice of you anyway mark! lol:lol:

Please give the AA a chance they have a lot on their plate at the mo, the annual conference is coming up in a month so expect theyve been up to their neck in it! They are doing their best guys, of that I can guarantee.

thats more like it! back to topic! nowt wrong with that job fella:thumbup1:

FFS, the subject is o.k, its PERSONAL digs that spoil it, crikey, its normal to get annoyed when people dont stick to topic, the negative comments RE reduction I welcome!

Giles you little star! been wondering where it was for ages!

It just annoys me when people make personal digs and ruin a decent thread. What stumpgrinder said was out of order, and well off the mark, if somebody accused you of the same you would have the petrol pump too. Its alright, already motivated me to start over with a little more detail and better content.

I always prefered 60% and chased new work activley to get more quptes. 70% I would be thinking im getting a bit cheap.