daltontrees

Somebody please figure this one out, it's doing my head in. Half an hour on I have eliminated lots of things but still don't have any ideas.

Tree looks like it has strongly opposite branch pairs. Rules out all the pterocarya/juglans stuff. Having taken down a A altissima I would say it aint one of them because beyond leaf shape the superficial similarity with Ash ends. To me it looks like a few of the mature F excelsior round here but there is a huge variety of bark textures and colours even in the same bit of woodland.

Up here in Scotland the climate may be that bit harsher but I would still suggest this. If it's a north/south hedger cut one side (the west side) one year and the other (east side) the next year. If it's a east/west hedge do both in same year. Even then I would think about taking 1 1/2 feet off each side in year 1 and another 1 1/2 feeet off each side in year 2. Maybe do in midsummer to allow for reflushing and the wounds to harden and prevent fungal infection in autumn. Beech has only been in leaf up here for 3 weeks. Scarily late.

A super little field guide is the Arb Assoc one, you can get it through their website publications section. Small but perfectly formed for the main tree killers. Als I think Lonsdale's Principles of Tree Hazard Assessment and Management is so well written that it articulates the biology and biomechanics of decay in the context of management in a way that no other publication I have seen does. You need to speak the lingo though...

Eucalyptus is an Angiosperm, i.e. a flowering plant and not a conifer. True to the general rule it produces tension wood to react to stem bending and inclination. For formal experimental proof on Cider Gums see http://www.sid.ir/en/vewssid/j_pdf/80420060102.pdf The original question related to branch strengthening. You only have to try and get a Silky through the top of a branch union to guess that the wood there is denser, and apparently that's due to extra cellulose, which is basically what tension wood is. I haven't noticed eccentric rings on Eucalyptus branches but will look the next time. All the Eucalyptus around here have died in the last few cold winters so it might be a while before I get to work on a big one again.

Looks like Sorbus aria all right. The thibetica leaves can be nearly 9 inches across and almost circular, aria's are only about 4 or 5. It looks too bushy for Lutescens, which is usually quite upright.

Personally I never contact any company that's just initials, I always feel if they won't put their name to their work then they can't be that proud of it and they might do me a rubbish job and then disappear into anonimity. I disagree that people just go with the cheapest every time, we have loads of clients that use us over and over again on negotiated prices, htey ar ejust happy to have someone honest, reliable and knowledgeable to work on their trees. Use your name or a memorable name, build a reputation on it and guard it with your life.

Thanks, you are dead right/put your finger on it etc. har har. I had heard of it but never seen it, but will never get it wrong again. Internet says sapropic as I thought, nothing to do with the poor Rowan being hollow. Cheers!

Has anyone ever seen one of these before? A firm black nodule about 4 cm long found on the edge of an open cavity on the base of a hollowed out Rowan, I popped it open and took these pics while it was fresh. I don't think it had anything to do with the demise of the Rowan, which has subsequently been taken down, but I am curious about it anyway. There was only one such lump. Attached by the knob at the end. Is it something really obvious liek teh first year of a Daldinia concentrica? That black fringe was glistening like jet when I first opened the thing.

Good point about the veins going to the tips, but they seem to do that on C betulus too. Collins guide says N obliqua soon has harshly curling plates on bark but C betulus has smooth grey bark with dull silver or orange snake marks. The tight twigginess of one of the photos is definitely reminiscent of N antarctica but I was recently down at Kew at Castle Howard where they have masses of Southern Beeches I was amazed at how different the other species like obliqua and nervosa look from that. I wish I had paid more attention to the buds.... I'm still for Cb. The bark is persuasive and there's no denying those leaf tips.

My first thought was Hornbeam. Several of the photos show the sudden narrowing and elongation of the leaf tip, although in some they are a bit shrivelled. You just don't get that in any of the Nothofagus but it is characteristic C betulus. The buds are a bit squat for C betulus but not out of the question for a tree that is surrounded in tarmac, frazzled and has set buds in such dry and hot conditions. The spacing of the leaves suggests low vigour too.

Thanks everyone, I can taste those mushy peas already. I will settle for the P. balsamifera trichocarpa which I think is a synonym for TT 32

The leaf floated very serenely to the ground, not a hint of spiralling. The pic I have of the whole tree is rubbish but I will try and insert it here. No, that didn't work... Anyway, the tree is about 10 metres high, very sraight upright trunk (DBH about 400mm), scaffolds coming off at right angles and they all slowly and gracefully curve upwards. Bark is fairly smooth with a few black diamonds but no significant roughening or furrowing (reminiscent of P. alba). The tree is in west end of Glasgow, playing havoc with wall (heaving and breaking its foundation I think) and with a large surface root. A cross between Cottonwood and Balsam would explain it perfectly. Descriptions in Hilliers, sketchy as they are, support this general view. I don't have Mitchell's but will notify Santa straight away of my interest. My Phillips is on loan so I can't look it up, I pebet there is a killer photo in it that put it beyond doubt. Any conclusions from the falling leaf test? And would anyone be worried about total removal close to buildings in terms of heave, it's a mighty light garage between tree and house and I expect it is wet enough that clays are perpetually swollen but any comments would be appreciated. It has to go but if it is a sensitive issue I could take it away over 3 sessions.

I am off immediately to drop a leaf and see what happens. When taking the sample I tried to snap it off, it wouldn't give at all and I ended up biting it off. It tasted minging (for those of you south of the biorder that means bitter).

Can anyone help with this one. Clients were told when they bought the house it had come from Italy. First instinct was Poplar but definitely not alba/canescans/tremula/nigra. Might be a Balsam Poplar or Cottonwood? Need to figure out how to attach pictures now...

Those aren't catkins they are fruit, explains why the leaves are on because otherwise the catkins would be just about done before the leaves are out. It has the bark of a willow, looks like S. caprea to me. Grey weillow has much narrower leaves. Always a chance too with willow that it's a hybrid. Anything is then possible.

They're just winding you up. That said, there's them that do that kind of cheating. Would LOVE to catch one of them out. Like the tosser round our way that was stopped from cutting a Lime tree down (he had the saw running and everything) on the grounds that it had Dutch Elm Disease.

What a breath of fresh air that post was, armybloke. I bet the macho brigade on the Forum won't read it though, not enough bar inches to hold their interest... Anyway, I will abstain from voting. The answer to the question where does your loyalty lie? is 'with yourself', not with the tree or the client. And because we are all different there are many different outcomes to what happens when any of us go out to advise a client. If it's a clear cut case and the tree has to go, it has to go. If it is perfectly healthy there are plenty of weasels who will prey on the cleient's ignorance and talk him/her into unnecessary work. But there are also decent folk who believe in trees or their reputation for objectivity and will discuss it all honestly with the 'client' and end up getting nothing from it financially but getting lots of much better things. I would say I swing about 10% of clients away from unnecessary work but in many other cases I still do the work if after my observations and advice they still want the work done. If I don't do it someone else will. Badly, possibly. Clients want to be told sometimes what they want to hear. We take down trees for people who have just bought a house, the previous owner may have loved the trees but the new owner wants light, a driveway, whatever. It is not as bad for the planet and mankind as them building a UPVC conservatory or getting a second car. And when we all get blown to smithereens someday, the trees will just move in and get on with it. All we can each do in the meantime is what we believe is right and so there is room for small differences to be made every day everywhere. So, Hamadryad, if you chuck in the towel, that's one less person winning quiet little daily victories for the trees.

Aye there's an enormous difference between the draft and the published BS. I think they just threw away the old one, ignored the draft and started from scratch. Good job too, the draft was only a minimal improvement on the 1989. Now it has been sorted right out.

Looks like a fairly hefty branch has been taken off for some reason, maybe IT was infected. And the cut looks like it has been painted with bitumen or something. The bark is detached too, top right. A cherry of any age is rarely going to survive all that and a wound that will never occlude, and that mass of fruiting bodies is more than the usual smattering of saprophyte. I still think it looks like 1st year G.australe suggesting white rot, ductile failure and ultimately demise. Looks too fleshy and not hairy enough for young S.hirsutum. I too willing to be corrected, I just enjoy a good whodunit.

Ganoderma australe? If so, the prognosis is not good.

I remember noticing in my Hyusky manual that you should use Husky 2stroke oil at 1:50 or any other 2stroke oil at 1:25. I thought this was just a marketing ploy to get you to buy their oil. Then I met a guy who said he had burned out a Stihl chainsaw by using cheapo 2stroke oil, apparently the usual garden machinery oil can't cope with the high revs. So I still only use chainsaw 2stroke oil at about 45:1. I wouldn't dream of using used engine oil on a bar, as well as being absolutely minging and horrendous for your cleint's garden, there's a reason it was being thrown out, namely it is full of tiny bits of metal from inside an engine, which can't be good if it gets inside your chain links.

Basically, as long as your arm and keep it on your right hand gear loop. I think the bungees are a great idea and we always have one end on the saw and an aluminium screwgate krab on teh other end. It is a good idea to pass the strop under the handle twice to take upo the slack anbd clip it back to itself so that when you are warming up the saw there is zero chance of the strop getting caught up. The elastic in the bungee guarantees this because it scrunches up.

200 comes with fancy wee plastic pop-up flaps for opening up the fuel tank and oil tank without using a tool. Specially designed to break off the first time you dunt the saw whike hauling it up a tree or twisting the flap when the cap is on a bit tight. A stupid and unnecessary backward step by Stihl. The 020 has big chunky caps with a slot in that you can open with the tip of a Silky. There's nothing there to break. I wouldn't swop my old 020 for a new 200, it just seems better made and mre reliable and keeps going and going (touch wood).