David Goss

Ok so i am old school AGAIN! percentage is all i have unless i know the size of the tree. I cant tell him to take a meter off if he should only be taking 50cm off so percentage is all i can advise on at the moment. I often take the very tops off first because sure as hell when you have perfectly cut every branch below and then take the top, you will break some of your pruning points. Clearing out dead, rubbing and broken branches on your way up gives you a better idea of what you have left to work with.

You need to look at the tree 1 branch at a time, you can generally ignore the tree as a whole and just work branch by branch. Reduction is by percentage lets say 25% so you are aiming to take off a quarter of every branch. Keep that in mind but also your pruning points must be good so what I do is look and say ok I need to take this much off this branch so then I cut at the closest point. Not always exact but when you come down and have a look it's more or less perfect

I guess that's the key to stopping it. If the beetle dies out then it won't attack any more elms. I figure that's how the cycles come about as well because once all the beetles victims are gone it will have to move on or die out. Someone in the know about this beetle can jump in now

We have a lot of large wych elm around here and they are doing well. As for the ash we have a lot of regen ash from seed as well so i think it will do ok. As you said this is the most recent outbreak of ded and i think these things come round in cycles. Thats why i was thinking the elms are fighting back just now because there is huge numbers of them slowly making their way back. Just needs time and will be more than our lifespan.

Damned shame that:thumbdown: I have seen them bigger than that and still alive so i still hold out hope for them yet. Dont see any point cutting them down while they still live and feel bad taking them out in favor of a sycamore for example, thats probably just going to get mauled by squirrels anyway.

yea sorry i think i got my elms a bit mixed up Ulmus procera it is

The woodland i am currently working in has been badly damaged by squirrels. Mostly the sycamore has been hammered and a lot of beech and some oak as well, the ash seems to be least affected. Some areas its difficult to decide which trees to thin out because almost every one has been stripped of its bark and they are all in a bad state. The damage these little tree rats do is unbelievable when you see it in certain areas.

Yea 99% sure its Ulmus minor, smooth leaved elm or english elm whatever you want to call it. The woodland area is close to Edinburgh if thats any use to you. So what age and or size do you think they would need to be before the beetle would be interested in them? Just seems a shame to think they are doomed and have no real chance to become mature trees.

But are you sure? Maybe they are fighting back and are building an immunity?

If I can do something else instead of getting all my kit soaked then I will. If it starts raining when I am already at work in a tree then I stay till its done. The thing about rain is it depresses you into not wanting to get out the car/van, a lot like right now! Sitting in my car watching the rain lashing off the windscreen and eating my sandwich contemplating getting wet, going home and make do with half days wage or suicide! Hmmmm choices choices... Oh look it's now turned to sleet haha happy days. The half days wage is looking like the best option for the moment. Time for a team meeting, well me and the other guy thinking the same thoughts in the van in front of me.

As been said before here in Scotland it's never usually that bad but I have had a few days of freezing ropes etc. I used a prussic and it ended up just a mass of ice and the gloves would freeze to it! It still worked though. Biners were the worst as they would just freeze shut making it a nightmare moving your strop around because you had to swear at the biner a lot before you got it open. Respect to you guys out there in the big minus temps that's hard going.

Forgot to say that we are cutting out Elm in preference to ash, oak beech and even sycamore! I have been trying to save the best ones and if there are any Elm with plenty room then I am leaving them also.

So I am thinning and doing a general tidy up of various aged woodland areas and it is becoming more and more apparent that the majority of wood that I am cutting is Elm. These are self seeded and also growing from old dead stumps from Dutch Elm disease. My question is... Is there a chance this new generation of Elm will make it to maturity? A lot of these trees are already getting quite large and seem to be outgrowing and in better health than everything around them. I guess there is some study going on to understand the future of our Elm? If not there should be. Anyone else seeing similar results and does anyone know what's happening with studys etc more to the point? Yea I know I should search myself but I am old and my study days are over

The market close to me sells squirrel pie among other things and they come with a warning for those with allergies... Warning may contain nuts! I kid you not

isn't it ironic

That's really cool, I guess they are attracted to the heat the rotting wood chip generates. All I ever found was various fungi growing out of it.

well welcome(ish) to the talk and i hope you find what you are looking for. Being freelance i cant give you any work but i can go boarding with you whenever you want and we can talk job on the way

:lol: love the chicken dance idea, normally i just point and say ugg or something similar and then we find something big enough to dislodge it. Unfortunately i dont think there is much can be done about it anyway as it is par for the course with any chipper i have ever used. They get blocked or jammed or whatever from time to time its just the way it is.

yep i agree too

haha good answer

Sorry J but your comment about the use of a smaller chainsaw does nothing except make it lighter in the hands, the effect on smaller branches is just the same by ripping them off instead of cutting them. Even the silky is too big for some of the tiny whippy branches and a pair of loppers should even be used. Maybe an act of rebellion was not the correct phrase to use but myself and workmate were a tad pissed off with the bull. Well said dont tempt me:sneaky2: I am not a child and i wasnt moaning about it. I was simply putting it out to the masses to get other opinions on the subject. I understand you may be a bit miffed by this thread but none of it was directed at yourself J so dont go attacking me in such a childish manner. As a professional in this field i WILL refuse to use the chainsaw on the smaller trees and if this means that i have no work on this part of the estate then so be it. Go get a gypsy that will do whatever bad work you ask of them for little money, as you said there is nobody forcing me to do it

wow lots of shiny orange stuff there dude, why isnt it dirty? Good to see a boss out doing the job:thumbup1: that gives the lads a moral boost and shows its not just a paper shuffler in charge:001_smile:

haha yea the tennis back in the day was great, now i am a world of tanks man myself:thumbup1:

ooh interesting news about the gangmasters licence cheers guys