mrtree

The Pines? P. roxburghii or P. allichiana maybe?

I have heard James Urban say that if you want to plant a tree in a sidewalk you will need to spend 10 to 15 thousand dollars to make a proper planting site. With those numbers we know he is not scooping up any soil and dirt he can find and dumping it in.

Get the book Up by Roots: Healthy Soils and Trees in the Built Environment Some excellent information here. It is clear from reading this book that if you want to be successful you need to do a lot of planning and work to creat new soil profiles.

The book Tree Structure and MEchanics Conference Proceedings: How Trees Stand Up and Fall Down available from ISA Trees and Statics: Nondestructive Failure Analysis available here Publications | Urban Forest Innovations

There is a "myth" going around that tree pulling test will tell you the safety of the tree and the results are the end of the story. I think there is a great misunderstanding of the use and limitations of the theory. Firstly there are two things the test calculates, tipping safety and breaking safety. These values are not for the tree but rather for the points tested under the conditions layed out in the calculations of safety. Thus the test does not tell us about the strength of crotches, summer limb drop, etc. Further the test does not tell us if the tree will ever fail but rather the safety values under the conditons layed out in the calculations. Thus the wind speed (and thus pressure) used for calulations is an important factor, we do not calculate safety for greater winds speeds and obviously the safety if greater for wind speeds below that speed used for calulations. Pulling test requires that the tree evaluator do a tree risk assessment prior to pulling and identify the areas that require testing. Thus the experienced assessor must find the thinnest shell wall or areas of least solid green wood that are to be tested. I think this is one of the big problems with the application of the test. The test is done by a rather small and select group that believes they have the secret engineering knowledge while many "working" arborist believe they have the understanding of the biological side of the tree. The test is costly and most tree assessors (and tree owners) will need to decide if there is worthwhile information to be gained by a pull test for a specific tree. This in itself demands that the assessor believes that other methods of risk assessment do not, or cannot, give the information necessary and here lies one of the other reasons that there is great friction within the academic tree risk assessment world. Even with a breakage safety and tipping safety calculation the job is not done. What is the disposition of the tree? Is it based on the test alone or do societal values come into play, are there changes to the landscape that will affect the tree, etc. The assessor might take all factors into account and make a decision or they might pass the information along and allow a "supervisor" etc. to make the decision.

I have been looking for reading materials on this test Checkout Neville Faye's Treework Environmental Practice Website, it has a number of seminars that are summarized. This is a good place to get some very basics about tree pulling. Brudi & Partner website has some articles (Tree Consult) that are well worth reading The book Tree Structure and MEchanics Conference Proceedings: How Trees Stand Up and Fall Down has a number of articles that should be read including Trees and Statics: Nondestructive Failure Analysis This is where I would start learning about tree pulling and statics and then move into the literature citations for more indepth understanding of specific topics.

What a surprise. Does NZ have state sponsored disease and insect labs or extension offices?

Some of the point and shoots are amazing. A little experience and you can get some amazing shoots. No need for the big guns for most people. If you are going for a DSLR then decide what brand you want. Nikon and Canon are the obvious choices but there are other choices. The most important tool might be a solid tripod. Camera bodies I think are fine to buy used (at a cut rate price) but buy the absolute best new lenses you can or the very best used lenses from a high end dealer. There are people who turn over lenses pretty quickly so if you find the right dealer you might get some good lenses.

Mattheck's rule has no application in this case as it deals with tubes and this tree has assymetrical decy/live wood.

Buy a new bar for milling and get somebody with the tools to try to straighten the old one and use it for felling.

Oh yes "I think this is done in a lab, method:breaking sticks and measuring their bend ratio. think these values are logged and averaged for different species" in response to how is breaking strength calculated. The point I am making is most people don't know because most people have not read. I have not read Wessolly and Erb. 1998. Handbuch der Baumstatik und Baumkontrolle. Patzer Verlag, Berlin, Germany and I wonder how many others on this (or any other) board have. This might answer the question of how the numbers for this small part of the safety calculating algorhythm are calculated. Its not surprising to me its over my head and others and thus we do not have much to say about the test. If people want more than a cursory knowledge of the test and theories behind it they better start reading and studying.

I think it has to do with people like you who have installed a cable to pull a tree and think they understand but when questioned clearly have not read anything. This is a highly complex test and the understanding that is required has been limited to very few people. I think there are less than 50 people in the world who do tree pulling. So of course it is my way with words, not the fact that only a handful of people do the work. Of course you climbed one tree to install a cable so I should not question your abilities.

I think it is interesting that only a couple people have anything to say on this thread. It is not surprising as this is a very complex method to understand the intricacies of and as such very few people have ever read beyond the summary of what the test is and what it does.

Scrape the bark of the small branches, not the trunk

Scrape the bark with your finger to see if there is brown/black staining. Dig the soil, does it smell earthy or rotten? Get your handlens out and look for bugs.

Are you looking for a company name or just want to hear funny names? If you are starting a business you want to portray your stengths. It is my understanding that a company named after the owner (ie. Smiths Tree Surgeons) will be viewed better by clients than Monkey Tree Service or We chopp em. Everything you do can help or hinder your business. If you want to be viewed as a professional, use a professional name. Perhaps Smith Tree Care Smith Tree Removal Smith Tree Consulting

It is very similar to a product by Pferd. I love them for touching up the chain, but for a chain that has cuts nails or rock I still use a grinder.

The massive two volume set (8kgs) is to go to press on Wednesday and shipping should start soon after. Check it out at: Dendropress Kft.

Hamadryad, you need to speak to the people who developed the VTA and the tree pulling methods, I very much doubt anybody here has the knowledge to discuss the buckle vs. shear and other issue which are something that may require a lifetime of study. If you want to find out what casued such a divide in the community in the past and what is now causing problems within SIA, why new systems are available and why some people seem to spend every moment destroying the idea of SIA you need to become part of the VTA or SIA groups at the highest levels. I can tell you there is lots of conflicts that date back decades and they often have little to do with science.

If you want to glean information one pull test is not the place. Read the papers at Neville Fay's website to try to get an understanding of what is happening. The method is pretty straight forward but the principal behindc. it are engineering based and this somewhat difficult to approach if you are not an engineer et

There are lots of limitations to this method but in some cases it does provide some very interesting results that helps the consultant, etc., to make more informed choices about the tree. It is information that must be used in conjunction with other information, it does not give an answer. As we all know we can say a tree is safe but if the owner of the tree does not believe our methods, our abilities, or they "know more than us", arboricultural knowledge will contribute very little to final decision about the tree.

You need to speak to the people that developed the method and practicioners in an attempt to even answer your questions. The answers to many of the questions will take hours of explaination in some cases. This is an engineering based method that has been throughly researched (first papers published in the eary 1980's) and based on engineering principals that are used in the design and analysis of buildings etc. Its methods intergrate three important components, the load, the strength properties of the wood and the architecture of the tree. There has been something like 8000+ pull tests done and the word is that only one or two trees have failed after being declared safe (I wonder what the comparable numbers are for VTA and other methods of tree risk assessment). That is not proof of the validity of the method but it does seem to indicate that even if the method is a sieve it does provide an answer that closely mimics the "truth" of the tree.

Do you mean for spills of oil and fuel? I keep pails of kitty litter in my truck and sometimes a can of engine shampoo as well as a few rags.

Absolutely, apply correctly. The tree pulling should only be applied in specific situations and after a "normal" tree risk assessment is done. Tree pulling has two applications: 1) to determine toppling or root plate stability 2) to determine the breaking stength of a single stem. It is not much (or no) use in multi stem trees, trees with forks, determining branch failure likelihood etc.

I am looking for a machine that will chip/shred material up to about 2inch but primarily to break down ornamental grasses. The problem with chippers is they tear rather than cut grass. Any ideas?