Tony Croft aka hamadryad

and I wouldnt cut it back, this may cause more harm than good, just mow it off to as low a grade as you can then mulch over the top.

Dont need to worry too much about that aspect, but basically grass is more competitive than tree roots and so aside from encouraging the avoidance of the root collar with mower and strimmers alike mulch enhances the biology of the soil more in keeping with tree soil ecology and hence is of great benefit to tree health as a consequence.

info contact Liz Clarke 07881 961145 [email protected]

good call Pommie:thumbup1: you guys are all getting pretty good at this game!

and regards soil treatments inoculum for example, it will serve NO purpose at all if the soil work is not done prior to the introduction, and if the soil work is done then nature will take over the inoculation issue anyway, though if species specific inoculates locally sourced it is to be approved and recommendatory. No commercial products needed just find some locally and use it.

So we need to adress structural integrity, the drop crotch method will be the way forward, if the limbs are decayed anyway it wont do any harm. As Paul said rhizosphere work is the ultimate answer to this in the long term, but structural faults must be dealt with and sounds like it is retrenching/dying back anyway so nothing the tree is not prepared for anyway biologicaly speaking.

a species that does not like heavy handed pruning, 2 inch diameter cuts max I assume its Q. rubra?

any time after october really till march, wherabouts are you DGB?

then he is going to be a fine climber with some exerience the speed will come too:thumbup1:

Lol, thats a sign that one is becoming a knowledgable chap, that something so rare inspires one to go a rooting about. thanks, been meaning to buzz him for ages about the new Trogiis too.

no, but I should, have you got his mail? seem to have neglected to add to contacts. The pores are distinctly larger than usual, its a diferent thing to my eye thats for certain, kept a voucher anyhow. i knew it was off the normal radar. and thanks for going to that effort!

Cut back anythingoff at this line but ensure all cuts have at the least a leaf bud, or better still a good growth point, give it 3 years then look to reduce again as the growth comes from further down trace the crown back with it. this is basically retrenchment pruning but in this case restorative or corrective pruning. Dont worry in this case regarding the inner trunk, it is hollowing anyway and will happen with or without pruning as th basal decay goes upward, or leave the tree be and eventualy lose it through a structural failure. I hope this helps if not keep asking happy to help:thumbup1:

nice and natural, great shape too, TP 200 is a great chipper aint it.

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Regarding the coffins it was actually traditional for the ploughmen who were killed by falling limbs of elm (known as plough killers) to have their coffins made from elm, i suspect the one that killed them. This was told me by an old grave digger, so must be true!

blanket generalisation:sneaky2: a very sad situation, my thoughts go to the families and the survivor

im going to go as well, see you up there:thumbup1:

if any of you guys are interested theres an event coming up you would all probably enjoy. bioblitzposter.pdf

It looks worse than it is, the tree is healthy, it just has cavitation which is perfectly normal in an old apple with pruning wounds. I would suggest over the next few years pruning it back hard bit by bit, year on year to force those lower shoots to develop and make a lower easier to manage tree that will cope with the cavity for many many decades yet. If you prune this hard back in the winter, youll lose a fair bit of fruit for 2 years but the lower shooting will mean later youll be able to cut the whole top off and maintain it as a lower form and more stable. safer for you too as working on it with its current form over the cavity isnt that great!

Bulgaria iquinans appears to be the most likely candidate for the canker, but im not entirely happy with that assertion. But it will suffice, symptoms similar, cause and effect.

Interesting, just the kind of thing i get motivated over! You have a massive rib formation at arrow 2, suggests either a dead zone beside it or a deep crack in the stem being compensated for, supect dead area of cambium directly besides it. What i believe is happening is that a strip/canker type situation is creating dead sections of the circumferential area and the healthy chanells through the zones are growing activley hence the deformations. The tree is cleary in a lot of bother and will be decaying before long behind these stip cankers. ive just dug one of my big reference books out thats not seen daylight for a long time, shall return and give you a suspect for arrow 1:thumbup1: thanks for the post

Gibbons right, and this threads really made me feel a lot better about my situation. As a freelance I'm £150 a day with my own rigging kit and saw climbing kit etc, top notch gear in good as new order, I wouldnt work any other way. I am very experienced so like Gibbon, a few of us can and do charge more than average. The guys I do work for (my fulltime boss excluded!) Know whatever the job, it will be done quick, be done safe, and it will be done in a day no questions, that takes a long time and a lot of effort to build up that level of trust and skill. Personally I still feel I am too cheap, and I am, its not enough to cover the true costs involved in the gear, the fuel and maintenance and upkeep of good standards and not forgetting retraining and CPD which we all should be doing, those things aint cheap. If I could be sure I would be busy on 180 a day 5 days a week I would go freelance fulltime, but at the moment its too risky out there. I wish it was not the case because Im really keen to go self employed fulltime and cut loose from where I am. I have been fortunate thanks to arbtalk to have gotten a few guys using me semi regularly and they really value me and that alone is worth more than an extra 20 quid so I may still risk it, just depends on how fed up I get which increases by the day! Hourly rates are just rubbish, seriously, I wouldnt drive to a job if all there was in it for me was 2 hrs work at 15 quid an hour, what a joke. Its true there's a lot of young eager beavers out there these days, the collages have been pumping them out for years now, one things for certain though, they are learning their craft at the expense of those hiring them, and you get what you pay for. I know I wouldnt let anyone with less than 5 years experience do 80% of the work I have to do, and lets face it us freelancers aint called in to do easy connie bashes! we get the knarlies, and were good at it cos thats ALL we get! All I know is, I'm earning the same now as in my 20's, I am now 40 and have a mortgage! I guess that is progress huh? Personally I think I preferred the good old days when good climbers where like rocking horse manure and run off our feet 7 days a week, good old days when we was minted and having a blast! I do miss the good old days, proper good times.

I have an excellent book I use, Collins- wild flowers of Britain and Europe, ISBN 0-00-220139-9 Really covers the ground.

I missed the bit about it only being a foot diameter! If its bothering your client already wait till its full grown! Where exactly are trees supposed to live?