David Humphries

Very slick editing, some background music would be a nice touch. Like everyone else, really enjoyed it Reg, looking forward to watching together with the rest of my team. Great work all round.

Skyhuck this is in no way a dig at your undoubted skills and abilities but seriously, how can you opine on Pecontools point when as you state, in your 14 years + of climbing, you have never used a MEWP for a take down. Surely this doesn't give you the ability to compare. Pecontools is no doubt talking about experienced and trained users and not generalising IMO.

That my friend, is the whole point of the thread. MEWP usage is not about speed, money or getting to play with Big Boys Toys. The Bottom line is about being at a place where the choice of Tree access is determined by the hazard.

I would like to see Totaly impartial Education and Training structures to give Arborists of all experience, an idea of what might be required to help get them to the level they aspire to. Be it Career Groundie, Climber, Team Leader, Surveyor, Owner or Consultant etc.......

I'll supply the Prosthetics !

Chilled me right out Tockmal, The old boy must have one strong set of neck muscles Btw ! Reminded me of a lil ole girl i once knew from Rolling Fork, Mississippi

Ive been at this site about 22 years now, and know my tree stock relatively well, its about 27 years till i'm due to retire, so you never know I may just get around to the other 12 trees at some point. Especialy as they are also affected by Armilaria. The point being the Fulham Oak is not the only one that may be massacred over time. This job was not an agenda driven one off.

It is, thanks for the imput NFC. You along with some others are helping to redress the balance between the 'Mexicans' and the 'Mexicants'. Its about 50/50 at the moment.

I totaly agree Skyhuck and i also appreciate your final words, but healthy debate is what the forum is partly about Hence post number 8 i dont dismiss constructive criticism, but a smidgen of respect from experienced Arborists similar to yourself for attempting to understand and practice what emminent tree people such as Fay, Green, Key, Finch, Cowan, Read et al are passionately attempting to bring to the table, is really all we crave.

I really feel that I shouldn't have to be explaining this here on an ARBORISTS forum, but here it is anyway. The rips,tears and step cuts left by pikeys are poles apart from what is attempting to be achieved with the Fracture Pruning technique. The vast majority of our local clients, not to mention discerning Arborists certainly can tell the difference. I won't advocate that the finish on the Fulham Oak is anything other than a career works in progress, but if any of the doubters want to see it for themselves, please feel free to drop in on us if your ever in the neighbourhood. That means you too MB ! 07775703017

MEWPs are definately the prefered way to accomplish this method in a safer manner by negating the need to use a top handled saw one handed at reach, also gives greater ability towards artistic license, which helps dispell the pikie quips. Our Denka 28 is away being LOLER checked and repaired at the moment, plus complete access around the canopy was not possible in this case. Future works will be MEWP considered. But she was a beauty to climb around in though.

Top fella is Guy! He took my PTI at Merrist Wood last November. Felt that he had a very good handle on every candidates individual needs.

I found this to be a very useful guide. http://www.treeworks.co.uk/downloads/13%20-%20Guidance%20Diagramme.pdf .

Sounds daft but we are short of the above, Green Belt works to a degree, but there is such a demand on urban fringes from property developement and pollution, that when you add to this that we are slowly coming out of a long period of intense sanitation of the urban woodland where every little bit of dead wood is/was removed , then there is a real dearth of habitat. Granted it is not safe to leave monoliths in public open spaces if left unmonitored, but the ecosystem could do with a redress of this balance. BTW FTR it may sound like it, but i am definately not an eco warrior.

The elongated fractures do show up brighter than conventional cuts do to start with. They obviously fade down with time. We try to alternate the side that the fractures show, so that they are not all seen from one vantage point. The camera i'm using doesn't have a great zoom so there are no particular good shots of close ups. I will have a look to see if there are any useful ones.

Charlie, although we had some training through Neville Faye's Tree Works Environmental Practice 5 years ago, the reallity is that this is only the second tree that Fracture Pruning has been used on here. We do however Coronet up to 20% of our Tree work. Our practices are based on the aforementioned training and the info on the first posts link, plus articles in the trade press and sharing photos/information with other practitioners.

At the end of the day we can not escape from the fact that man has had a hand in this reduction process. And as such it becomes a balance between what natures shaping could or would have been and what the viewer wants to see in terms of aesthetics. IMO if we try to mimic real storm damage, it would take incredible skill to replicate. I think someone would have to be practising fracturing continually, to get close. Is any one else on the Forum doing this type of work? I haven't seen Nutty arb for a while. Would be interesting to hear his views.

Quote; originally posted by 18stoner > Ok then, i understand its probably the way a lot of our job is going, ie unjustified work and appeasing naturists, but why do it if it isnt commercially viable? We (the Practitioners and Pay Masters) feel that the work in this particular case, Rare tree/Prominant Position/Localy loved Tree etc...was justifiable, also not every thing in life should be purely about financial gain IMO. Quote; originally posted by RIVERRAT > I just got wind of this. First I have heard of it. While pruning of this nature may have some type of value. I cannot understand it being promoted as a standard practice. No one on this thread is promoting the technique to be anything other than an additional way of prunning on top of the standard practice. Different Trees and their environments require different approaches. Mr and Mrs Average on Accacia avenue will not facilitate Fracture Prunning on their Tree, But Mr and Mrs Average walking their dog in the local open space subconciously appreciate the way Trees interact with their environment on not only a purely aesthetical plane but also on levels that interact with microbes, bacteria, fungi, bugs, birds and mamals. TREES ARE A MAJOR PLAYER IN OUR ENVIRONMENT AND ARE NOT JUST A CASH CROP.

I wonder how you would price a fracture prune over that canopy?

The health of the tree plays a close second fiddle here as safety is the primary concern. By sail reducing, all be it small in this case, we are hopefull of reducing the risk of the tree toppling, thus potentialy extending the trees current life expectancy. In respect to the hazard of dropping dead branches, this is why the dead hedge is in place. The target has been moved away.

(Link within first post) Have you checked out the link? Its pretty much all in there.

As above. Changes all the time. Thats why its a great job !

Nice !

I'm a bit puzzled as to why this thread has not thrown up any serious criticism, the usual suspects are far too quite. I know this isn't everybodies cup of tea ! Come on chaps lets see if we can get some debate on the issue. Thats partly what this Forums for, it shouldn't all be back slapping should it? We're all here to learn and occasionally put forward views which may help others, but constructive criticism is part of that process.