Tony Croft aka hamadryad

yes, I can see why on reading the thread through NOW in the present that may be read wrong as intended, in fact I would only EVER use the PR your tongue thing to ask a poster to use more politicly correct language, because it might offend others, in the cases you mentioned They have long since been altered from their origional contend, with the PR issues addressed hence your little stupid bitching remark:lol: get a life, you read it all wrong, I also said to tony it wasnt like him to mis read it too, I edited his remark in my qute and sugessted my version as an edit, not suggesting i did the reall edit! he actual made a slightly naughty colour coment if memory serves me well

two posts, have you seen how many there are in this thread! like I said.

No your not being stupid, just my not elaborating what I was saying. Basically the CODIT model was so "glorified" and taken into dogma, and as such many arborists wrongly assumed that any cuts could be made without issues as long as the branch collar was intact. This meant that a wave of arborists went around hacking trees saying that its all OK because CODIT will take care of it! CODIT is really more approriatley termed as the compartmentalisation of dysfunction rather than decay on which it is not the compartment nor the substances that eefect decay, but the functionality and fluidity of vessels that impose limits on the vast majority but not all decay fungi. Not all decay lead to wall 4, not all damage leads to wall four, even in the presence or rather lack of wall 4 the vast majority of fungi are confined to dysfunctional wood, hence the very outer ring of active cambium being intact (T/r) even if that ring of cambium has some dysfunctional elements they tend to be confined by the very fluid channels either side and hence forth a tree becomes a fluted trunk, sometimes ancients are nothing but a singular remnant channel of still fully functioning sapwood. Basicaly, CODIT is not rubbish, or defunct as a model, but its being overly applied and relied upon, but we have a better understanding of these systems, CODIT was just a second part of an equation, an equation that we are still far from solving. But CODIT is not absolute and it should NEVER be relied upon as a sole excuse for a heavy hand at a collar.

no i skipted half the vid to just get the good bits! guess my bias was wishful thinking! I was a bit surprised that energy was possible from growth!

that is quite simply one of the most insulting things, you are as patronising as they come, fortunately everyone who has any knowledge of me knows that you are so far from the mark as to be embarrassed. It is exactly the negative perceptions that are needed in order for them to be proved right or wrong, this thread is not about me having my ego stroked. I have enough of an ego and confidence to not need any such from anyone, and certainly your welcome to post negative remarks. I would say however that personal digs of such a calibre only serve to make YOU sound like a tonka.

it could also be rsinaceum, though pfeifferi more likely and a safe ish assumption given host species. the ganos are all feared equally, which is rather sad, pfeifferi being almost expected in an old beech. and having an almost species specific relationship bar a few isolated Oaks (which I would like to see evidence for) and with a little care trees can be retained almost indefinitely. It is frequently my experience that it is far less about the fungi than it is about the growing conditions and host combination. All three factors making the only basis for a professional assessment.

australe would have been my guess old bean, golf? now youve peaked on the middle age plateau!

2men 1 and half days. a fell would have been a day for 4 men, possibly with a morning cleaning up after, but it wasnt an option as far as the client was concerned. also people tend to knee jerk at settlement cracks, 99% are minor and do not need drastic measures.

did you expect it to perform like a steel strop! sell it to me if you like.

there are so few items on the market that are obviously well made, designed and thought out, the CE lanyard is one of those items that you know is a great product and highly usefull without seeing one at a show first. when money alows I will be buying one, ive wanted one for a long time since I first saw the video posted in this thread. to slate this item I guess one might only be entitled after some usage, might suggest at least 6 months, otherwise the opinion is really not worth even considering. i doubt this thread will damage the firms product nor reputation, they do an awesome range of kit and thousands of us swear by their stuff so tuefellberger can rest assured, one sour post does not make a bad item.

Anyone who knows me cant deny this fungi is my lucky charm, I find so many of them it beggars belief! Ive been waiting 6 years for this fruiting, oh yes, I knew there was something going on but in all honesty my radar must have been off as I suspected G. resinaceum. The two have different languages generally, but I have seen a few cases now where Inonotus dryadeus is limited to a very low zone at the root crown as with this one, like the other cases all fruit bodies low and totally girdling the base. Im posting because it is in a location that offers much to consider, as you can see. it also re iterates my point that we very much over estimate the dangers, which I wont deny are real, this one needs carefull consideration. However it does not alter the very real fact that trees all around us are often colonised by fungi that have high rated risk factors and over emphasised ones at that. It takes decades for the languages of decay to show, and decades agiain before they have built enough momentum and energy to fruit and reveal themselves. At which point we come along and suddenly theres a great panic! Golden rule- DONT PANIC! the tree was stood there for years before you saw it! so relax and consider it its a rare case that falls down overnight just cos you saw it! You cant will a tree to fall you know! There are hundreds of thousands of trees like this roadside and within your community, they've been there like that for decades, often hundreds of years, nothing happens quickly with trees, especially big ones. Big tree failures in towns like this are a rare occurrence, but the fungi are far from a rare occurrence, give it some thought, its really not that hard. One thing to note in THIS case is the tree is now in distress, there are many more pressures on the RPA now than 50-100 years ago, there are ways and means to manage this tree but realism suggests this species cant tolerate the pressures of a new world. sadly

In all honesty I turned up for work to get the spec and even I said whos bright idea was this! it took 1 and a half days, and was as fiddly a job as ive ever done. it was not just thinned, EVERY single branch was reduced. In a sadistic way I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of doing something ive never done before or was even aware of how much I could achieve given the spec. One part of our whole thinking is aesthetics, its why we get the jobs we do. Our client base repeatedly comment on this aspect, and it certainly sets us apart in our client base. Some say that we should not be doing treework for asthetics, but 99% of the time were called in for reasons other than aesthetics, but WE are called because the clients dont want the objective achieved at the cost of aesthetics. many firms still think that the old school hack jobs like Hucks proposal is what represents good value for money, this is far from the truth of it. The public are wiseing up to what is achievable, and most in fact dont really want to see a flat topped connie bashing, or a stumpy beech that once was graceful. I honestly believe that a lot of guys actually believe that they are doing a great job and doing right by their clients. I reckon 7-8 times out of ten shown the difference they would choose a fine crafted reduction to a hack and slash, something I did not think some years ago, glad its changed. Of course many are also just too darn lazy to take any pride or put some thought into it.

The world is changing! great find Sean, I could buy a plane ticket just to photograph those rooftops!

sever the ivy for a start! If your going to be doing groundworks in the RPA then youll probably kill it in the long run anyway, 2 metres is just too much.

if you havent worn the writing off yet you aint an arb!

agree with that too, I always slow the last one or two down and really look at the hardening flake at the lip, pulling up on the file if its not quite right. I think i might be saddo too!

Thats a classic!

Ive mixed thoughts on this post.

At the end of the day this thread is about me showing with evidence what is doable, offering options that are viable, everyone has their opinion, and glad to hear them made too. The purpose however is to show with no uncertainty that perception and dogma is in fact as far from reality as it is possible to be. I know what I am doing, and am out to prove that, as well as offering a different stance on the very worrying assumptions that are widely made. They are assumptions, fuelled by txts and chinese wispers, not unlike the "demons of D" dogma, or the over zealous application of the CODIT model, which a good friend who knew shigo well, told me CODIT was one of Shigo's regrets, that he had delivered a model that had seen arborists assume all will be fine if the collar was intact! Having now met many people who knew the man well enough to help me understand him, I am now much more acutely aware of the problems associated with working at the far reaches of ones field, people tend to adopt a holy grail attitude and dont look into it for themselves, dogmas prevail and a chain of events is set in motion that are far removed from the originators own ideals! Progress is only really born from questioning everything and finding the truth for oneself, there is nothing sacred, and I can assure all those at the top of their game do not feel upset when things are questioned, they also want the truth. I would like to think that in all my time here Ive proved time and time again that i do not do bull , that the truth is my only quest, I always used to be so incensed by negative views but these days I just see such views as opportunity to give somebody better information with which to become a more effective arb. All I know with any certainty is that this thread has inspired many to look at things another way, and to take pride in reductions, to aspire to do work that they can have pride in. If the thread achieves nothing more than this alone I will be as I am now A very happy arborist, but I think its doing more than that, I KNOW its doing more than this. This thread is more than I ever thought it would be, its causing many who thought otherwise to rethink, thats an awesome feat:001_cool: of course There will always be the Skyhucks who just wont accept it, its all good, but time, well, Ive been on the scene for 25 years, and have another 25 in front of me so time will (Steve you have to keep arbtalk going for 25 more years!) prove it all in the end.

eeee orrrrr!

Yes I thought that too on first glance, often with compression unions there is a strip of malnourished or dysfunctional wood like in the image I suspect due to poor supply and connection to roots. I would be more than tempted, thats lipsiense all day long:thumbup1: it WAS though till one half failed, if its going to be retained it will need a programmed retrenching, you know the drill:thumbup1:

And see the outcome we will, by the way, 2 days of hot weather do not make a dry spell! why would wind be a problem? all branches reduced leverage's at bare minimums, many broken branches removed, broken due to end weighting!

O.k, noted and will ensure a follow up is provided, interesting response.

Bear in mind that this image offers very little but I will go with G. australe till better evidence issued. Oak at least our native white oaks Q. Petraea and robur if healthy and vital appear to cope well with this and tend to cavitation despite the fact many species do not cope well with this one. If this was a lime or horse chestnut it would be a bigger issue.