daltontrees

Guesses are 1. Aesculus sp. 2. Betula utilis 3. Robinia pseudoacacia 4. Ulmus parvifolia or sp. 5. Tilia sp probably x euopaea

I'm not sure I'm with you there. Cassian hasn't proven anything, his article is educated and experienced speculation but it falls far short of normal standards of perr-reviewed science. I don't mean to belittle him, but the notion of two opposite direction helixes of wood on a stem is a theoretical impossibility. By this I mean that vascular tissue cannot possibly cross and yet continue to put on annual increments. The inner part of the crossing pair would be crushed and strangled, cutting off water flow upward and killing the part of the tree served by it, unless there is a mechanism to replace the flow somehow. It's quite a challenge to explain even in theory how this could be done. I have no doubt whatsoever that braided structures are stronger per unit weight than unbraided ones, and have good flexibility characteristics too. After all, I climb and lower on braided ropes almost daily. But ropes don't need to grow. Right there the usefulness of the comparison ends for me.

Leftfield theory... a small epicormic was bent into ground contact by a fallen (now gone) branch and has rooted, establishing a strong downward union. This is about the only thing I can think of to explain the nature of the bark above the 'root'.

Had to look back at the other post myself, it's not one you see everyday. As I mentioned in the other thread, I fancy getting one of these but I have been trying to get one ever since and can't.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/tree-identification-pictures/69478-i-d-please-evergreen.html Lyonothamnus floribundus. Do try to keep up, please!

Now you're talking! That's a whopping 72Wh. Enough energy to light a room for 4 hours solid.

I guess the secret is to get the batteries with the highest Ah rating for the voltage. For example, the total energy stored in a 1 Ah 24V battery should be the same as a 2 Ah 12V battery. I occasionally have t take cores of tres with an auger bit. I am seriously thinking of converting one of the dud batteries on my Makita to a connection to a car battery. Not very portable but for roadside trees needing 6 300mm cores the weight isn't a problem and that much wet wood drilling will kill a Makita 14.4V 1.3 Ah battery after 3 cores.

Brace and bit is a pretty good back-up, once you put the butt of the brace on your stomach, put some weight on it and give it a few turns, you're there. Surprisingly quick and easy. Picture borrowed form Wikipedia

i have thought about this quite a lot and tried various things over the years. The Platipus thing is a good idea for installing the ground anchors although I have also used angle iron driven in at 30 degrees to horizontal which has an advantage over Platipus in that you don't need to take so much care over the final direction of the guy wires. Local blacksmith would cut you a few 600mmm pointed lengths. But (and maybe the manufacturer will tell me I'm wrong), guying a 30 ft (?semi-mature) tree at the proportion of total height you would normally do for a rootballed standard is doing the tree no favours in the long run. Guying rootballed trees is to stop the rootball rotating in its hole until roots develop to stop this. The guys should be slackened or removed as soon as the tree can stand it. Your situation sounds different, but the proble is the same, the tree becoming dependent on the guys. What is really needed is some way to prevent excessive movement (the sort that is causing additional root damage or even windthrow) but to allow for some movement that the tree needs to produce the reaction of new rooting and new tension wood whle allowing for repair to damaged roots. The higher up you guy the tree, the more it will become dependent. And rigid guy wires under tension will be the worst thing for it. I would suggest a dynamic rope guy (through a hose pipe or anti-fray sheath - or even pipe insulation I have used) that is to say arope with a bit of bounce in it. Old rock climbing ropes are good for this, and an 11mm will be immensely strong. I have had good results with ground anchors set up, rope round tree at chosen point wiht hose and figure of 8 on the bight (you need to tie this once the rope is round the tree, not that hard), then hook the knot with a ratchet strap attached to the anchor and pretension the tree and tie your rope to the anchor. As you ease off the ratchet strap it partly pretensions the rope, leaving a bit of bounce to accommodate normal winds but to prevent extreme movement in extreme winds. If I had any Cobra bracing with shock absorbers, I'd be tempted to use that instead, it's almost the perfect solution and capable of adjustment for time. I am saving it for a fussy client, perfect way to learn Cobra while on the ground. I'd give the root area a damn good feed too, and mulch it.

Good outcome, sir. I am sure you will have earned the company's respect by approaching a solution in a well-informed but measured way. And tehy'll have learned a lesson which may stand them in good stead in the future.

Next time try 'Timmy Time' theme tune, it's a belter. Shaun's seconds cousin, on speed.

"Poor Old Joe" by Stephen Foster. Guess you didn't know the song 'cos it's an odd one for tree dismantling.

Sounds like you had a binding contract. The starting position is that you are entitled to loss of profits and compensation for abortive costs. You are not entitled to the contract sum. But if you had programmed in the work (and hopefully confirmed the dates to the client) then you are generally entitled to the profit you would have made on the job plus the cost of labour for any employees who were unable to be put to useful purposes elsewhere by you. The loss of profits is the only heading under which you are likely to recoup the money and time for quoting for the job and providing all the paperwork. And don't rant about it to the client. But put it in writing to them that you have observed (quote dates etc.) that the work is being carried out be someone else and do they want to stand down? Until they say yes you have to keep your side of teh contract, give them firm dates and RA/MS. Until they confirm, if you behave as if you accept that you haven't got the job you won't be on a very strong footing to claim anything.

This is amusing if you have 10 minutes to spare.

http://arbtalk.co.uk/forum/video-forum/70996-roadside-spruce.html Have alook at Tim's video, he manages it with consistent skill that olympic diver Tom Daley would be proud of.

I like how you managed to stack the logs from 20 metres up. Very tidy.

Sorry to learn of your condition, Paul. 80% isn't that bad, could be a whole lot worse and not hearing saws at full belt could be a good thing. My sister had tinitus about 10 years ago and had to have an operation involving tking a vein from her leg and plumbing it in to her ear. She's a senior midwife and it doesn't get in her way although she is probably 50% deaf in one ear. NHS hearing aids are a bit intrusive but privately bought ones are pretty discrete. Could you get one that attaches to a mike and a headset for the guy on the ground? These are commonly available and I am sure if you were determined you could get a hearing aid adapted. I don't know what you could do about the vertigo, I think all the balance mechanisms are in the ear.

What are you using to get these pictures? Looks like an ultra wide angle with macro. Here's one from last week with macro lens.

K. d. Prognosis not good.

Definitely Lime, probably Tilia x europaea.

For anyone who's interested, the scottish High Hedges Act comes shambling into force on 1st April 2014, how appropriate because any Council getting a High Hedges application on the first day and then consulting the new Government 'guidance' will rightly think they are having an elaborate April Fool joke played on them. Did I give the impression there that the guidance is pants. Sorry. Pants are at least useful. High Hedges law - High Hedges Scotland help advice representation

No Tim, I respectfully disagree, they'll be more like this...

At leat it's staying good-natured here on Arbtalk. Thankfully the public don't have chainsaws, hee hee. There will be very few marginals that are embittered by losing after a healthy debate and a genuine democratic debate and referendum. The winners will gloat, the losers resent, nothing is more certain in human nature than that. But nothing would be more repulsive and repugnant than not having the debate. There's no such thing as right or wrong , nebver any clear black or white, just shades of grey and collective opinions. And your average jakey in Scotland is too mean to waste 30p on an Irn Bru bottle for a Molotov cocktail.

I expect the camera guy was holding the otehr end to pull the tree over in the right direction. But note the change in camera angle when it becomes clear that it's all going to go horribly wrong.

Pithiest? Adn do you mean which one goes pithiest? Or do you mean which one goes pithy first?