Tony Croft aka hamadryad

so your comments on mycorrhizae of NZ completely useless then?

well you know where it is now! was the first link i found!

I know!

and with this I rest my case 4. Mycorrhizal fungi - Fungi - Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand

your little myxo is something steminatus

But what you said that I refereed to was that NZ ecosystems where less dependent on Mycorrhizae, that they had evolved to be less dependant on fungi for nutrition. Whilst you clarify your position and you could say that volcanic/pumis/ash soils will be typicaly new (ecologicaly speaking) trees simply cant take hold in such pioneering habitats WITHOUT mycorrhizae, it is precisely these hostil places environments/soils that the mycorrhizae relationships evolved in, and it would have been parralel in worldwide development evolutionary prosceses, like eyes, they evolved in many places through necsecity

I know a man that will take it!

You know I will back anyone up who stands for retention and preservation:thumbup1: you have my ear and time my man.

Alan Rayner will be talking at the event I spoke of earlier in the thread, He and his wife Marion have a passion for the flora and fauna that is second to no one so if anyone really is interested in these subjects youll not want to miss an oportunity to discuss such things with a legend of Biology/ecology. I have always had a deep respect for Alan, he has a depth of understanding that is beyond even "deep ecology" .

Its all about species diversity, which esculates with time, so time must elapse for certain species to move into an area, this is the basic concept in indicators

An indicator species is any biological species that defines a trait or characteristic of the environment. For example, a species may delineate an ecoregion or indicate an environmental condition such as a disease outbreak, pollution, species competition or climate change. Indicator species can be among the most sensitive species in a region, and sometimes act as an early warning to monitoring biologists. (ref Wiki) Ive been studying ecology of fungi for over a decade now and if there is one thing I have become increasingly and acutly aware of is that certain species are very fragile and indeed do act as good indicators with regard to management regimes etc There are many indicator species, stereum subtomentosa is a fungal indicator of ancient woodland and it is one of those I KNOW for sure is never IME found in disturbed sites, and I have no idea why this should be so, it is after all a common and widespread SP the stereum group. With regards to the wood anemone Anemone nemorosa it spreads by rhizomes so soil damages or disturbance will be detrimental to such a delicate wildflower and also they require old growth woodland for the dappled and patchy sunlit spots caused by big mature trees falling in old age. It is for these reasons that the best example are to be found in traditional coppice that has been managed that way for many centuries. Gollums site In Kent is a wonderful example and the historic nature of the site clarifies the long term managment of the site, there is even a stone circle older than that of stone henge on site. I would recommend a visit to Gollums site to anyone who has a countryside management/history interest. The wood anemones and other wild flowers are a joy. so have faith in the viability of indicator species, they really are what they are.

so the consensus is a fir!

so everytime a client says I want to retain this tree "how can we" your answer and steves is sorry love, fellity fell and replace? I guess there is nowt wrong in being a specialist, you keep offering the removals and pass them my number when they say "no to the fell we want it saved thank you very much"

But it also comes with a pay downgrade, hence I wish I was 17 again, no mortgage/rent/car etc:001_smile:

i wish i was 17 again! would have ran full tilt at this.

Eiblings winch?

Fungi may have ended coal era › News in Science (ABC Science)

Good shots, that helps a lot. first thing I noticed is the new reiterated root system forming, sure sign that it is stressed by rooting environment issues, compaction here is obvious and will be the first line of treatment IMO. Looking at the canopy there is scope for drop crotching, and knew there would be, ive reduced a few in my time. The most important thing will be to maintain good activity in the living chanels. Reduce the longer heavy branch back to a lesser branch and leave the lesser branch unless it is possible to leave adequate foliage on it, it will become a new lead and needs every leaf its got. Basicaly we want to FORCE it to regenerate lower down, but gntly enough that it wont die from the shock, the root work will ensure this is far less of an issue, the robustness of the soil will carry it through (water will be important) Ive tinkered with some of the photos- Here we can see the roots re laying over the old, trying to find an aerated layer above in a shallower profile (not a good sign) at 1 we see a hazard beam forming and at 2 a banana crack also forming. IMO these are also signs that the cabling was not needed, as the unions are not failing despite the presence of lever arm actions (hence the body language/cracks) What we can tell from all this is that at some stage a lesser arb came along and said all it needs is a clean out and cabling. yeah and now what? this work should not have been done, rhizosphere managment and a much less dramatic reduction would have been the correct treatments. Now what we need to do is force a growing down, and a flushing of new growth where it has been cleaned out from! The red marks are where I would suggest making cuts, obviously these photos are not perfect for this form of suggestion more from greater number of angles would be better but we have what we have and will do for a good idea. the yellow arrows indicate foliage that will be vital in the process, and must be treated with the utmost care not to damage these during works. I hope this helps?

Good shout Lorry, was there no options to rope in to one of those neighbouring trees?

I will check out that statement later, but I will hazard a guess that it is in error and down more to a lack of study on the subject and a lack of information as to the true extent. Quercus rubra is no native to NZ? so thats really of no relevance at all, more relevant that it is out of its eco system and therefore probably has little chance of finding much natural associations. Find me a forest system free of mycorrhizae

if the thread gets a bump so I am reminded its here tommorow I will dig out some reference material and go through some stuff for you. bit late now so have to do it tommorow.

thats evidence I wanted to confirm the connective branch to root subject on fagus, thanks ben, thats a gem mate. dont suppose you documented it with photos?

I said the same thing a while back, suspect he has more pressing things on, his book comes out soon for a start:thumbup1:

your probably right on both counts, nomenclature is his geek

think this may be a fir as opposed to spruce?