Grizzly

If I was to have the chipper licence it would be another string to my bow though and something else I could offer.

After being made redundant with the Gardening/Grounds Maintenance company I worked for I'm wanting to get into tree work. I've had a long standing interest in this field but due to circumstances it was something I never really progressed to although I've had experience of felling (on a 72 acre fishing complex I used to look after) and bare root tree planting. I've spoken to a couple of training companies and I'm able to secure 70% funding towards courses and training so I'm now wondering what courses I should do. I've a few listed but wondered if there was any others that would be relavent for setting up on my own (as I'm self employed) or working for a company. The courses I've got in mind are: CS30/31, Wood Chipper, PA1 & PA6 Are there any other courses that you'd recommend? I may as well try get them in with the initial funding programme if possible. I'm also looking into business start up grants and loans through various agencies. Does anyone have experience of these sort of funding packages who could offer advice? Cheers in advance.

Personally I'd speak to the land owner first and if you can't reach an amicable result then your next conversation should be with DEFRA. There are permits and licences required for some storage situations. They'd be best to advise you. I know what you mean about the smell though. I lived on a pig farm for a year and that smelt kind of funky through the summer months:001_rolleyes:

Responsible storage is necessary to protect the local environment from the harmful affects that ‘run off’ from manure can have if it is allowed to enter watercourses. Organisms feeding on the effluent will result in an oxygen reducing effect within the water. In addition, eutrophication (the nutrient enrichment of water) encourages the growth of aquatic vegetation, which further reduces the oxygen by respiration, reducing the water’s quality. This has a detrimental impact on wildlife dependent on watercourses. The increased vegetation growth may also impede the flow of water. Run off may also detrimentally affect hedgerows. The nutrient enrichment will disadvantage the hedge – possibly to the extent of killing it - and encourage the growth of weeds. Importantly, the location of the heap should be such that it does not cause a nuisance to neighbours or people using public rights of way. It's kind of a grey area but hopefully it helps somewhat:thumbup1:

I've left Andrew a message but in the meantime I've been in touch with Julie Hamilton of Lantra Landskills who was a little unsure regards funding as I was not actually working at the minute. However, she gave me the number of very helpfull chap, Carrick Armer of Yorwoods. He told me that because I was self employed I was actually elligable to receive about 70% funding. They offer quite a few trainig courses but recommended that I go for my CS 30/31 as a start then, if I wish, I can always progress from there. He's going to email me all the details of training and any information he feels I might find useful.

It seems to me that your client isn't really that bothered as to whether they are there or not. If after all your advice his response is 'fell them' then that says alot about him:thumbdown: Would there be much difference in price with the phased reduction approach as opposed to reducing them to 6' stumps in one hit? Maybe this is bothering him as you suggest.

Cheers for that mate:thumbup1: So there could be hope for me yet!! That's the way I'm looking at it mate. What's done is done, there's no point dwelling on it, it's not going to achieve anything. I spoke to the head gardener and also the business accounts manager this morning to try get some answers. I was assured that it was nothing personal and my standard of work was in no way under any scrutiny, it was just a loss of contracts from the north that basically forced their hand. The company have been struggling with one of their clients for a while now and yesterday they received an email terminating about £30-40,000 of work with immediate effect. Due to that, they had to look at trying to recoupe some cashflow and, as I was self employed as opposed to being on salary like the others I was costing them more pro rata. So there we go, nothing personal, purely business. Yeah that's my thinking also. I'll get looking into it, they're not bloody cheap though so if there is some sort of funding available it would be a great help.

I read on a website that I am maybe a little old now to be wanting to get into this industry. It said I may struggle as I'm over 30 (I'm 33) especially if I'm wanting to get my climbing ticket. I reakon there's much more to it than climbing and anyway, climbing aint the be all and end all! My neighbour is a landscape gardener (he has no work for me) and if he gets a tree job that involves climbing he'll get someone in to do it.

Thanks for the welcome, I'm sure I'll learn plenty from people on here. I've been ploughing through some of the threads and already have found plenty of things to interest me. At 16 stone I don't think I'll be doing much climbing, it takes me long enough to climb the stairs The name doesn't ring any bells. How did you go about it? I've had a look at some of their information and from what I've seen it all seems to be aimed towards employers wanting to train their staff.

I just thought I'd say hi and give a quick introduction. My name's Mark and I live near Richmond, North Yorkshire. At the minute I'm not working in an arboricultural field although I would dearly love to....In fact I'm not working at all now! Up until 5pm today I was working as a gardener but received a phone call saying the company had lost 4 contracts in the North and, as a result of me working as a Self Employed gardener rather than being on a contract like the other staff, I was no longer required. At the time I heard I was......how shall I put this? A little annoyed:angryfire: however, I now feel that as that door has closed I'm able to go ahead and open another. I've wanted to work in forestry and arboriculture ever since going to help lead felled trees from a wood while doing an agriculture course way back in 1999/2000. I love trees, woods, and woodlands and to work with trees would be a dream come true. I've done little bits here and there over the years, mainly bare root tree planting often in some cold, lonely places as a self employed worker. I don't have any chainsaw tickets but have used one extensively while I was a water bailiff looking after a 72 acre site. I am wanting to get my tickets because even though I'm fully safe and competant when using a chainsaw I want things done properly. I saw somewhere that I might be able to get funding to re-train so I think this is the next step for me.