Gareth Dalzell

That's got to be one of the best truck combinations about. Very tempting! Just been on their website - they also have a couple of fire engines for sale - one with a massive ladder and turntable combination - now that would turn heads when doing tree work!

Just checked the manuals on two of our machines a kubota B2150 (25Hp) can tow 1500kg and our Kutota L3300 (33Hp) can tow 3000kg. It makes not mention of any type of braking system on the trailers. Then it gets messy with the road regulations for unbraked trailers. Both these machines have been taxed for the road in the past as Agricultural Tractors and to be honest you wouldn't want to try and stop them with these kinds of loads on them in a hurry. They might then come under the 750kg rule and also bearing in mind the "no more than 2/3 of the towing vehicle weight" which would very little. I am sure someone will enlighten us further.

Excellent end to a sunny day. Steve, for organisng the raffle, great work, Everytime I go onto their website (The Childrens Trust), it simply reminds me what life is all about. Many thanks

I know its not Uk but its only across the water - Woodpecker Environmental in Dublin were doing them - not sure if they still are. Flip some sterling into "yoyos" and Paddy's yer uncle! Better still take the van over, get lashed in Dublin, load up the chipper and sleep the hangover off on the boat.

I've got to say guys, I was at Saltex with a view to buying a wee chipper and watched the Greenmec being demo'd several times through the day and I couldn't buy one after watching its performance. It was chipping conifers and the debris/chippings were hardly clearing the shoot, several times they had to stop the machine and clear out some bits which it couldn't blow out the shute. It wasn't taking the material in too well either. I really don't think the demo's did the machine any favours - it really couldn't be that bad! There are lots of them sold and I know on Arbtalk there are lots of users - so what was going on with them at Saltex? Maybe I'm expecting too much and should stick with our roller feed chippers, but this is the second time I've tried to get enthusiastic about them and the second time I've been disappointed. 3 years ago I watched them being demo'd and its not getting any better. My mate has a Jo Beau 400 which if I was going to buy one I'd spend a bit extra and get this one - the other ones were just painful to watch. Obviously parts and back up is important but I think I'd want to start with the right machine primarily.

Same here - just calmed down around tea time. Not that it affected me today - I had a nice wee job with one of the teams today "greening up" a film set for "The Irish Rovers" trad group in a studio where they're filming a DVD. " De-rig tomorrow evening starting at 9pm should be finished by midnight. Dean - the draft has been coming down from the North West - I think you could say we're simply "passing our wind over you":lol:

Big congratulations to you both. The fun starts now!!!!!! My twin boys are 4 now and how can I put this................lets just say it will be fun from now on. (Look up sleep deprevation in the dictionary) I wouldn't swap it for the world, give your missus all the love and support you can, cause you've now got the most amazing little gifts in the world.

We average 39.5 hrs a week averaged thoughout the year. So in the summer we work 42 and in the winter 36.5 . The pay is the same summer and winter. Annual hourage or something its called, just under 2000 hrs a year. It seems to work for the crews no complaints and we've been doing it for 7 years now. By the time the late spring arrives and the days are longer, its no hassle working a bit longer, likewise in the winter its nice to get home earlier. We also stop early on a Friday 3pm in the winter and 4 pm in the summer.

Sweet yard mate. Loving the way the steps merge out of the wall gradually. Great detail in other areas and good texture/colour contrasts and use of materials both soft and hard scape. Basically it a big

Haven't been for a few years - but have booked the flight for a trip over this year. For us if we are going to do one show in a year it would be this one. Covers a lot of bases in one day. Get to take to the manufacturers of most of the brands we deal with and good setting easy access in from Heathrow and Windsor for a meal before the flight home again that evening. Took a couple of Stihl Toy chainsaws home a few years ago for the twins - caused quite a comotion in the baggage scanner in the airport - security supervisor and police called - ended with a good laugh when they realised what they really were.

Diesel Bob - excellent site - wish I'd seen it before I'd made a few poor purchases - but they all make sense now I've read his review

We had the 3.0 one until it took off in a cloud of smoke one day. Got the injectors fixed (under warranty) but hard to have any confidence in it and couldn't really let my wife drive it with the kids in the back after it "made a run for it" previously. Was always a sluggish starter unlike my mates 3.1 that started on the first revolution. Apart from that it was a cracking machine to drive and tow with. Funny thing is we bought a brand new TD5 County Defender after that and it's engine did exactly the same thing and took off one day (only 29500 miles when it did that)- apparently there's been a problem with them also - it was fixed under warranty

If you mean extreme North and West ie Northern Ireland give us a call, unfortunately if its the other side of the puddle can't help

We have the Schliesing 200ZX pto version and it's an excellent machine. We paid £6k plus VAT for a demonstrator machine and run it behind a 35HP Kubota. Price for your one - it's got to be worth around £5k if its running good. Check the feed rollers - see if you can test them under heavy load ie trying to drag in something big and/or slippery. Get a good look over the fly wheel, check the carriers haven't ever been re-welded or that they're not cracked and the obvious bearings checks. It is a fair amount of work it's done so it not a new machine, but they do have a lot of steel in them. With those hours on it, it's bound to have had a few mishaps in its life - just as long as they've been resolved. And the engine - you'll know yourself when you start it from cold and put it under load when going - again 1500hrs if it's been working a very dusty conditions under heavy load and it could be running out of hp.

I think there was another thread about this a while back. If its for transporting equipment, saws and a couple of people then the ATV is the ticket - if you want to scramble about ground that you probably should be walking over then go for a quad! We've had both - for our work we have ditched the quad and are on our second mule. It can take tow the chipper, carry the saws, fuel oil, lunch clothes, two guys and what ever else - infact you could probably carry a quad on the back!

Worth the wait - looking good:thumbup1:

New private work enquiries has died completely, just working our way through work gathered up in May June. Commercial work we are finding slightly busier than last year. This may be due to where we are pushing ourselves forward for work. We find that we are really upping the game with existing commercial customers - responding to their needs much quicker - before they change their minds. I do think the writing is on the wall for the start of next year though! I would say that its our commercial maintenance work that will carry us through. Bread and butter work, no great margins just the basics and we are always ready to jump in when an extra appears. It's been harder to get a "bit of fat" on the books this year to live of during the winter months. We're running 5 squads with 12 men outfit so we tend to devour work when the days are dry. 20 years in business this month, I started during a reccession, its all about keeping your head, taking work where you can get it and be able to slash costs/overheads when you need to.

If its just the planting cost you mean and not the cost of the tree assuming it's two tree's that are delivered to the site by the nursery as otherwise they're going to need a 25ft trailer to transport them. Underground guy using posts wire and c/w irrigation loop. Again assuming the access is good, ground conditions average, not being planted on rock. Two trees planted including labour, underground guy, spoil left on site, irrigation loop, delivered to site by supplier, access good for machinery etc. The going rate would be around £150-200 each for two trees. Cheaper if you're planting more - We would expect a two main team with a mini-digger to plant 4-6 trees a day depending on the aforementioned ( and a load of other variables) Remember this tree root balled is too heavy to lift with sling around its stem and will need root chains to lift if by the root ball

Hopefully just muscle strain. Bad news is it will probably get worse before it gets better - but it will get better. Try not to sit about to much after the first 48 hrs. Keep gentle movement going otherwise the muscles just contract and pull you into agony. Been there- like a lot of others - absolute nightmare - it will get better

Our core team is 12 at the moment - just about as many as I can handle properly myself. We peaked at 15 a few years ago. 20 years in business this month self employed - where did it all go - oh thats right the Tax man! LOL

We run with Transits have done for the last 15years - yes they have there faults but less than most and the dealer back up is good. Our oldest one now has 150k on the clock and still running sweet every day. Oh yes, as they're all red we run them on red too -only joking! Having said that if you want to play in the mud we also have a Landy 110 defender

What ever it is, it seems to be growing through it now as the growth tips all seem fine. Is it adjacent to an agricultural area - could be glyphosate drift or similar herbicide damage earlier in the season, we had some pines that looked like this last year after our neighbours sprayed there barley

Sounds a bit suspect. I know it's been withdrawn due to the license holder not submitting the necessary re-licensing information, all things considered, I'm not sure my insurance company would be keen on me exploiting a loop hole when clearly the intention is there to use a product for a purpose that has been banned if there was an incident on site. There may also have been a reason why re-licensing wasn't sought..... Like others suggested follow the instructions and pop on some glyph. Its a bit like all the contractors that were using simazine for years after it was banned in amenity use but still allowed in soft fruit production (there must have been entire counties planted with raspberries to use the amount that was sold) it's not really best practice. Another good one is mixing up your own Pistol using Glyph and DFF in the form of Sempra. about a third the price of Pistol - and the list goes on........school boy chemistry paying off at last

We bought our batch of glyph in March this year for around £20 for 5 litres this year or £96 for 25litre drums. Its the usual 360g/l strength. It did rocket up last year but it came back down again a fair bit at the start of the year. Two years ago we were paying £12.5 for 5 litres.