Tom10

Oregon Yukon Ridiculously light and incredibly affordable - like tracksuit bottoms - no frills, front protection trousers. Job done.

A huge amount of material in there. I would not be looking at skips Too expensive and you'd want a new skip every 10 minutes! I would sub a local arb in with a transit or similar with a chip site near. I would want 3 men, 1 climbing, 2 dragging (with one of the draggers being your subby transit owner, nipping off to empty as and when) You will be there 2 / 3 days as I understand you are a relatively new climber from previous posts (and presume you'll be climbing them as they dont look like a fell!?) Plus the drag on that material is greater than you think (youll know what i mean when stuff starts hitting the deck) I would calculate your overheads + the money you want + your subbies money and you should have an answer. From the pictures alone I would price this at £900 - £1,100

I think your thinking too much into it Tony - The facts of the matter are this chap wants to do some perfectly acceptable, simple work to a beech and hes being shot down by people with a lack of knowledge. For them to raise a problem with a secondary branch crown lift is laughable and to go on to say something along the lines of ''trees can even be pollarded'' is beyond laughable. You know as well as i do (from looking at your reduction threads) that if done correctly most trees will take good quality pruning - including pollards (even in beech trees............) You will have seen many a woodland full of beech pollards and you would have reduced many a beech that many a person would say is too harsh. The difference is the same people who slate your 'harsh reductions' (which I think mostly look very good) are the same people making themselves busy moaning about someone trying to get on with his work with unjustified rambles. Trying to change peoples opinion is nearly impossible - just have to crack on, and the tree flourishing after good work will speak for itself.

This was posted recently -from memory its a pointless harness attachement that no one will ever need use or want But i could be thinking of something else

Blatent load of tosh. Dont worry about it - your application will surely be passed for a 5m crown lift of secondary branches! The tree will take no harm at all - nor would it if you reduced the whole crown if you done it properly. To note - you can pollard a beech - wouldn't be a first choice obviously but many a forest and woodland consist of beech pollards. The fact the 'arboriculturalist' says ''even pollarding in certain species'' is naive - you can pollard an awful amount of species! just the nanny state, red tape tip toe land we live in that its not done more. Uneducated busy bodies. - they're everywhere in England - good luck

Most subjective reply EVER

But you do need to be good at it, and its not always easy You do have to use a hedgecutter that costs as much and more than a chainsaw, it used the same fuel, your truck uses the same diesel to get there, you still need a second man / groundie to chip and clear up if the job is big, the insurance is lower but only if your solely insured at gardening which most of us arent and I wouldnt say its any easier than tree work on the body and I wouldnt say its less skilled than some tree work - with the exception of rigging, tactical climbs - I could fell a tree and process it quicker than the next man can cut a comparable hedge (to a decent standard)...

Not any help with more natural products - but can vouch for Virkon - quite expensive but a fantastic product.

Agree but he would have to hold it for milliseconds whilst just pushing the knot up, nowhere near as long as tailing slack. Just an idea until a spiderjack is bought - this IMO is deffinately your problem solver

I climbed on one today and liked it - dont think ill be buying one yet as I am happy with my HC set up but from what you have said it would deffinately solve your issue. Until then it may be worth tying a knot that self tends, this would help you - a distel will self tend if tied on the 'sporty' side but its not ideal - but a VT deffinately will if tied correctly - theres threads on here about it Just remember to set the knot before letting go!

By the looks of the weather in my area today - Never!

Doesnt look very dead to me either!.... lol But it does look rubbish - butchered in the past. I think with individual cases like this I would contact the local T/O for advice. Good luck.

OK that makes your sugestion seem more sensible to me! Seems like theres one obvious answer then, Spiderjack / Lockjack... all the thrusting you want with no holding weight

Pointless if you ask me, your climbing on 2 hitches for no reason - the HC surely then becomes pointless and your essentially just on a prussic?... like thinking outside the box though I dont understand why you cant thrust anyway? Thrust 3 times and hold weight, tail slack through............. Remember the basics - no matter what hitch all your trying to do is move your body up the tree so you can comfortably pull your rope without hauling your own weight with your arms - whether you thrust, run up the tree or do frontflips wearing a thong up the tree - more about technique. If you can comfortably thrust using a prussic theres nothing stopping you doing exactly the same on your HC except your arms are above the hitch. Forgive me if I have missed something.

1) Mid summer 2) Late summer 3) Winter (oct / Nov / dec)

Pic would be excellent

Nothing to report at the moment - The project still remains in the ' I need to do it but havent got round to it' stage - like many other things! However I think Im going to leave my plastic bed liner in and just build a 3 sided box - ply down either side (cut over wheel arches) and a bit accross the back to hold it all together and to stop chip flying inbetween the bed and rear windows - nice and simple On the back (tailgate) I think Ill put some brackets / guides on the inside of either side of ply for another piece of ply to slide in and form a back that is higher than the tailgate.

Update - Job done - 3/4 of a mile of double banked former railway line gassed. After contacting the guy who ran my course several years ago he confirmed my suspicions that no mask was 'needed' as well as a bit of an over the phone refresher course - to highlight the main and important factors while using phostoxin. Dry, overcast weather with a light breeze made for decent conditions and we worked the bank so we were always upwind of the gas. A system in place whereby I applicated the poison and a second man backfilled holes with sand after placing 2 sheets of newspaper over the hole itself. Everything went well - used nearly 300 tablets and not so much as a headache for either of us. Deffinately common sense needs to take presidence and its easy to see how some people may come a cropper to the stuff. The one strange thing was this - I had a very very acute nose for the stuff, it releases a powerful smell if you get in the way of the fumes and therefore a slight whiff and I could move out of the way, take a breath and move back when the breeze had cleared the air. Very easy, safe and simple - never felt funny, nausea or headache at all. But The guy I was working with couldnt smell it he didnt have a cold or anything but seemed to lack the power to identify the smell. Therefore if I had not of repeatedly move him backward into clean air he would of just stood digging in toxic air, completely unaware? Maybe some people can smell it better than others, I could personally smell it very easily and this allowed us to work safely and breath very little, if not none of it in. Im sure my apprentice would of being going home rather ill if he had been on his own. So IMO be careful and if I was doing it full time I would certainly invest in some technical breathing apparatus.

Thanks for all your replies - I guess its one of those questions that has a different answer from everybody you ask from their own experience. To note - I would rather use phostoxin that cymag, given that cymag is a powder and blows around in the wind and when you take the lid off as opposed to a tablet that is administered via an applicator. I just cant work out why I didnt use a mask on my course, and secondly, even if i did wear one its not linked up to a divers bottle for example so the air coming through is only filtered air surely? In which case it must be worse as the phostoxin will react with condensation build up in the filters? It cant be phostoxin filter but allows oxygen through when it has the same density as air? Secondly to whoever said something about wikipediering it.... yeah it only works when exposed to water, the more water the quicker it reacts. Hence why only doing it on a dry day as rain will seriously affect its reaction. If you do it on a dry day then the slight water in the ground in the burrow will slowly release the gas over 24 / 48 hours. Im hoping the answer lies with common sense

Hi all, Not entirely sure if this is the right thread but hopefully some farmer types will ready this and help... Got a long hedge of rabbits to gas - I am trained and certified and have bought Phostoxin and a Topex applicator ready to go... Trouble is - I dont the course 3 years ago and am a bit rusty Obviously its a no no in the rain, and always be upwind to the gas... but HSE publications say wear a ''full face gas mask'' Im sure on my course we just stood upwind and didnt do stupid stuff like eat it... is a mask really needed? or HSE covering their backs? Look forward to replies. Tom.

Put it in a truck until descended? Im not claiming I have thought this through absolutely thoroughly... Im sure Mark would of prefered his dog not to eat a squirrel.... But it did appear quite a contradiction which made me chuckle... not at the death of a squirrel... simply the text...

Nearly as professional as stating you knocked a drey out of a tree by cutting the top out of a confier and then your groundie was looking to kill them with sticks and then a dog ate it. I love contradictions