Marula

I'll agree that they are bread and butter for tree surgeons in some areas, I'll agree that they are good for wildlife, mainly nesting pigeons but not much else, I'll also agree that they are good at screening but then again so are other more tolerable hedges. However they are dirty nasty bastards full of footballs and empty bottles.

What stihl said, we all started on both ends of our rope until we were confident. Don't be too hard on your self or hasty, you'll be a bit more confident every time you climb.

Your basic back garden variety conifer is a pest, a dirty space consumer that is only good for hiding footballs and empty bottles. As for the biology side of things, a conifer has a high concentration of turpins in its heartwood, for that reason it makes them susceptible to only a handful of fungi. Cell structure in conifers and hardwood is not the same.

We've all been there, I can assure you that as time goes on it becomes second nature. Just stay focused and remember, fear is good, it keeps you alive.

Keep in mind conifers don't regrow from the centre in any way, so if it's a very wide conifer and you take the top off it will have that donut appearance until the lower lateral branches turn up due to geotropism and eventually meet at the top again, this can take years and be a real pain when you come to work on the conifer again and realise there's no anchor point in the mass of dirty greenery. Cut it down, conifers are the devils plants, dirty scratchy bastard things.....

How much chip does your landy's hold? Don't you find it fills up too quickly?

I'm looking to hire a qualified groundy with a van and a chipper for a few days here and there. Please pm me if you hire out your services. Forgot add, near canterbury. [emoji1360]cheers.

My animals are all very skittish today, time to get in the bunker and shut the hatch me thinks.

Certain species will tolerate pruning better than others, your main concerns will generally be; is there evidence of fungi activity in the area and what the sizes are of the roots you are pruning.

Bloody hell! That could have been very nasty, he's lucky he only left with an ear full.

Couldn't agree more, well said mate.

Oh right, well that "dogma" is tree biology, I'm not sure what else I can say to that odd comment? As an experienced climber and now surveyor running my own gig what do I need to do to become a "tree guy"? Top trees and call it a reduction?

And? So what if there is? I studied arboriculture and unashamedly so!

I'd agree with this, but like I said earlier, a reduction and topping are two different things. I can see if a healthy tree has been needlessly topped, I can also see if a tree has been topped to saved it from structural failure and if so I have no issue. I've topped many big old trees, but the Work was carried out to try and prevent failure of the structure, ultimately leading to death.

Is there any signs in the crown? Are any of the main anchoring roots affected as of yet? Or is it mainly in the offshoots/laterals?

It's about managing a tree at the correct stage. Formative pruning has its place in a trees life cycle, pollarding the same. This conversation started by me commenting on someone smashing the tops off oaks and beech trees near me and calling it a reduction, a reduction is a reduction and topping is topping, simple.

Yes but the French have a history of excellent pollard cycles on their urban trees, it's part of the way they do things over there with regards to planning. We had an apprentice go over and work with one of their councils and their appy came over to us. We tend to let it grow to big and then try and deal with it, Bristol managed some of their street Planes well but I've heard they not going to continue this anymore.

There's a difference between a pollard and topping a tree. Just because a tree puts out epicormic growth after being topped does not mean it's now a pollard. Pollards are never started after a tree has started to produce heartwood. Pollards are started when the tree is 100% live wood precisely because the tree will have the ability to engage wall four, this then creates the knuckle with buds in the bark. Epicormic growth is in no way a sign of vitality, a limes genetic predisposition is to put out excessive growth after having their carbohydrates supply rate is interrupted, this does not mean they'll live their full life cycle. Limes have excellent defence and reaction to injury into the sapwood but do not have a strong polyphenol filled heartwood. Topping a lime in an area with Armillaria for instance is effectively a death sentence regardless of epicormic output. Willows are designed to grow fast and reestablish from failed limbs, because of this they have very little in the way of a phenol strong heartwood. Planes do stand out, they are extremely hardy all round and can be hit quite hard, however a large wound opening the heartwood and it's open season to an array of fungi. Like I said earlier, just because that tree grows another 30 years after it was topped does not mean it survived, it merely means it took that long to die. That last part is a rough quote from my lecturer. I would agree if a tree like a lime needs saving in a small space or is unstable then do it, but My initially comment was about the topping of trees and calling it a reduction to customers.

I had the same thing with a fairly old Malus, someone else took the top off to "reduce" it and it looked like that a few seasons later, a real waste.

Limes are an exception and they were initially pollarded, that's not the same as topping a mature tree is it?

Are those maples Mick? Looks like they've been had at a few times in the past. I don't think any one would miss those things if they were to go, if they are maple they're not exactly known for their polyphenol "prowess", so yes, they'll limp along until a tree officer decides they're just ragged half crowned monstrosities and has them out.

Crown lifting is the pruning of lower limbs, the tree is designed to seal these wounds and contain any infection, this will depend on wound size and the number of wounds in relation to the trunk size obviously. Topping takes the top of the tree off and exposes the heartwood of the tree, it has no way of containing an infection and will ultimately die, whether this is in one year or 50 years it will die, a particularly dry season or any other wound which stresses the tree will accelerate this process. The problem is people measure the affects of pruning in human years, they'll give you the old "see it made it", when in fact what should have been a 300 year old tree will now only be an 80 year old tree.

I'm not against pruning of trees, or thinning or reducing of them for that matter. I'm against the removal of large healthy trees unless there's a very good reason and the topping of trees advertised as a reduction. When we crown lift or reduce a tree we've done work on it to prevent its removal, that to me is conservation work in an urban environment.

Topping a tree is not an option unless it's had it and you are just trying to prolong its life by reducing weight. If the client wants a tree reduced then you reduce the tree according to BS3998, you do not top it.

Yes but as KcStevens said, "my opinion is right" [emoji23][emoji23][emoji1360]. I don't think you can go wrong with a tachyon or blue tongue in all honesty, as for the imori, I've never tried one but I've heard good things about it.