Island Lescure

Thanks, all pits will be worked on with wet soil so I guess this will be ok. Its almost like stone when dry. Digging bars go in about 2 cms at a time then.

Thanks for the reply. 1-2 days with the hgv mounted vac or just with the airspade? I am, so far, thinking of using an airspade 2000, 105 cfm or 150 cfm 4ft barrel, with this: 55 Gallon Single Venturi Static Conductive Drum Vacuums GUARDAIR.COM Powered by compressed air, Guardair 55 Gallon Static Conductive Drum Vacuums are ideal for vacuuming up chips... It all depends on what I can source and the price. India has limited choice for this sort of stuff.

Is that with a soil extractor? I just checked the soil volume from the pic that I posted above. It is 20m3... So we are looking at 20 to 40 hours per tree, assuming not extra difficulties...That is a lot. Anyone have experience with clayey soil? Cheers, Island

Thanks for the reply. Its certainly more on the clayey side but no stones. I really need to refine my soil understanding. Soil here is often zero to 20 cms of sandy loam topsoil followed by clayey homogenous soil. Here is a typical section: Shared album - Island Lescure - Google Photos PHOTOS.APP.GOO.GL

Thanks Craig Johnson! So I guess the main question is: how much time does it take to remove 1m3 of soil from the ground going around roots? Cheers!

Thanks! Good point about moving the soil out. Are you familiar with any particular extractor that would suit? I had a look and cannot find much. Only thing in India so far is this: Compressed air for the mining industry - Atlas Copco WWW.ATLASCOPCO.COM Robust, energy-efficient and safe mining air compressors and blowers for all mining applications. Perform in the harshest... I haven't contacted them yet but I might be better off getting something from the UK or US as it may not be available here. Any links or search words welcome please. Cheers, Island

root exploration drawing.dae Hi, Depth would be till extent of roots so it really depends. I imagine that we wont be going further than a meter down in general. Width would be a quarter of a circle (the canopy being the circle) but up to RPA radius. So again, generally I would assume max 10 meters out but less deep as we go out. Roots will be deeper closer to the trunk and less so farther out no? Soils would be mainly (I am not yet certain of the structure of these but will find out): Laterite Soil: The term is derived from the word 'Later' which means 'brick'. Laterite soil is found in those regions of the country which receive heavy rainfall with alternate dry and wet period - particularly, near the coasts. This kind of soil becomes soft when wet and hardens when dry. In these climatic conditions, leaching of soil takes place which is a process in which fertile portion of the soil gets washed away by heavy rains. They are formed from the decomposition of rocks and contain iron oxide which gives them red or pink colour. This type of soil is normally deficient in nitrogen and is poor in lime content; it is an acidic soil. and Alkaline Black cotton soil: Characteristics of Black Soils A typical black soil is highly argillaceous [Geology (of rocks or sediment) consisting of or containing clay] with a large clay factor, 62 per cent or more. In general, black soils of uplands are of low fertility while those in the valleys are very fertile. The black soil is highly retentive of moisture. It swells greatly on accumulating moisture. Strenuous effort is required to work on such soil in rainy season as it gets very sticky. In summer, the moisture evaporates, the soil shrinks and is seamed with broad and deep cracks. The lower layers can still retain moisture. The cracks permits oxygenation of the soil to sufficient depths and the soil has extraordinary fertility. Thanks for the help! root exploration drawing.dae

Hi, I am writing a project to inspect root systems of trees to prove photographically that they are shallow (generally) in India. Could someone with experience give me an idea of how long it would take to dig with an airspade to say a meter by a quarter of a tree's root system? The idea is to dig within only a quarter of a mature tree's root system so as not to strain it. The trees would be 10- 15 meters tall, canopies similar to sycamores of that height. Any ideas, research or experience related to this also welcome! Thanks! Cheers, Island

Sure, if you are into it! I just want a depiction in a slightly more understandable form really. She will then draw it to suit the style present in the rest of the book. No specific time-frame. Still lots to do. As it turns out, making a 15 page children's book takes a lot of work... Below is an example of the theme and the draftsmanship. Cheers, Island

So attached is probably the worst picture I have ever drawn but it is just to convey that I am looking for this sort of drawing to show to a friend who is illustrating a children's book for me. I would like this to be in it in some form. I have seen this somewhere but cannot remember where. Anyone know where or have a nice drawing of it please? Just to be clear: it is depicting what happens in a tree's growth where one tree grows on itself and then again and again till death... Thank you, Island

Was there the other day ? https://photos.app.goo.gl/RpsTdGJQin5a24Yu8 It's actually made of lots of pieces of wood (maybe driftwood) stuck together. This is one of many really cool sculptures there. Amazing place: Gardens by the Bay.

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Ya we teach both. To give people more perspective but also because ddrt is still more widely accepted. We climb on srt though.

I imagine you would get the same with coppices? Definitely seen it on small trees chopped to the ground that come back. We had a tree here that was unintentionally coppiced (as it survived). The leaves were massive and juveniles (different in this case). We then transplanted it and removed quite a few roots (lets see what happens sort of thing) (the stem/branches were not more than 3cms in dia) and it is now finally producing normal leaves again after 8 months or so of being in the new location. So I don't know if it is the reserves or if it is the stress. I can't imagine there were many reserves left.

you can't see the table?

Hi David! Thanks! Great stuff! I really appreciate it. I love the hornbeam. Doing well. Slowly doing more interesting stuff here. I hope all is well with you. Missing the workshops and such in the UK. 3 hours away seemed so far when there. Now it is days to get to any event plus a ton of expenses... Cheers!

Hello from India, I have not been keeping track of what the two systems are now called but I am sure you can figure it out. We call them dynamic and static rope techniques. I have made this table for our climbing students to help them decide which system will help them for their tree climbing tasks. Do you have anything else to add to it? If not, I hope the table helps you see the differences between the climbing systems. Cheers, Island SRT DdRT Faster & easier to install (if using base tie) Less gear required Faster to move up on Simpler rope management No friction through crotches because rope is static Easier to move up short distances (no additional gear required No cambium saver, less chance of getting stuck, throw line snapping etc Added friction when passing over crotches, redirects or any other branch union No branch isolation required (if using base tie) You have to retrace your route through the tree when coming down, otherwise the system will not be retrievable due to too much friction Pantin, knee ascender, hitchhiker or other friction device, more gear intensive (expensive and more gear to inspect) Easier to free climb a tree or advance up main anchor Comparatively new, globally less recognised, ISA only slowly integrating SRT (safety regulations) Easier to limb walk Can tie main anchor in to a smooth vertical stem

We just conducted a tree climbing course on one of these. ? Eiffel tower tree in my mind is like the picture I have attempted to draw. Ya those Singapore trees-like structures are quite cool. Definitely will check Singapore out in the near future. Cheers!

Thanks Guy! Sorry wasn't notified of response. Interesting article but I don't see an Eiffel tower tree through the link though. Not been to Amritsar. Almost went but went to Chandigarh instead. Planning on becoming a Sikh or does someone need a tree looked at? Cheers!

Unfortunately not when I asked. I thought I could go straight into doing a Bachelors after the level 4 as I preferred that to the level 6 (content wise), but it doesn't work that way... I would call Myerscough again and ask as this is probably coming up relatively often. Please post the reply here. Cheers

Hi, I am looking for some Eiffel tower tree pics for a presentation in India. I am trying to say that just because a tree doesn't look like a lollypop it doesn't necessarily mean it needs to come down. I don't have any myself and googling is a bit of a dead end. Please send me a pic or a link for a decent (powerpoint) quality pic. Or some key words? Also looking for a good example of fibre buckling on a stem. And possibly stretch marks above and compressive marks below on a lateral branch about to go. Thank you! Island

There is a link to stuff in a drop box folder on their website which specifies what is added to the ground based on soil tests (water infiltration, pH etc..) and other aspects of the planting methods (it is for India though so you wont get the same organic material etc in the UK). I remember it was a bit of a roundabout way to get to the links though. The material required to be added was quite a lot per meter but the idea is to get the soil as good as possible before planting stuff. Good research and good luck!

There are a few ways to evaluate the value of trees as Gary mentioned. Other formats to value trees, apart from i-Tree, are the Heliwell system and CAVAT. Looking for a link to a description of CAVAT brought up the CAVAT report on the Sheffield street trees mentioned in Jeremy Barrel's article. Its only 50 pages long ;-)

I would be really curious to see what baobab roots look like! Here I also have the issue that a lot of mature trees have tap roots and we don't know how deep or important they are. This affects the idea that trees have most of their roots in the top 2 feet under the soil. More digging required... I really need to get an airspade.

Thank you Julian for the feedback! I am glad it was of interest. Yes I capped the RPA, though what you say makes sense. I had a look at the Australian standard just now and it is the same as the UK regarding this though they have huge variations in conditions. If I suggest something, I would like to have a reference to something else to back up my suggestion. I will have to check the US recommendations or maybe HK or Singapore. I have no idea what they recommend. Regarding the dripline, I am not so sure. I agree that trees will get more water to the roots just outside their dripline but 1: some trees can get water from their leaves and another link here. 2: short rains (after long periods of drought, easily 6 months here) here are not always beneficial for trees as they can provoke the trees into a growing mode which then potentially leaves them with less energy once the drought resumes and with more to maintain (such as half developed leaves). Here the dripline farther out would prevent water getting to the roots closer to the trunk and so maybe avoid the growth spurt? No idea, just thoughts at this point. Never thought about the dripline before. Cheers!