Dorset Treeman

That's generally why I find it hard to say no but when you find yourself working when the light is fading and its throwing it down to get the 'extras' done you wonder why you said yes.

I find that unless you put the quote in writing, the job has often changed when you come round to do it (always in their favour !) and they argue this was agreed before. When in writing it's black and white. Still get the 'could you just' though and need to be a bit tougher on this and charge extra more often me thinks.

Totally agree. Lovely to use - when not in the workshop!!

Are the fines not now unlimited? I was subbying for someone recently and client had done their own TPO application for a beech but funnily enough didn't have a copy to hand. Told us we could reduce it all over by 4m which I was shocked at as it was a beech. Whilst he was making a pre start cup of tea we phoned the TO and turns out we only had permission to crown raise it on one side (over a garage). Just as well we checked. Even when we pointed this out and had the permission emailed to our phone, he was adamant we had permission and should just get on with. The point I'm trying to make is that it's good arse covering practice to check with the LPA before doing any tree, regardless of what your client tells you.

I went to an ICF meeting about woodchip with a biomass company (forest fuels) and a company who regulates them (can't remember their name) both saying that new regulations were coming in to enforce all biomass companies to obtain at least 80% of material (chip and timber) from sustainable sources. Sustainable included timber from approved management plan woodlands AND all tree surgery waste. The other stipulation was that it must be legal, so felling license etc for timber and they weren't sure how that would work for tree surgery waste. They suggested you may have to prove you checked TPOs/Conservation area for your work and completed applications where necessary. Forest Fuels said that when these regulations come into play, more biomass companies will have to look at arb waste as there's not enough sustainable timber. Should be good news for Arb and Forestry industries as their will also be more demand for management plans and woodland management.

I would love to see photos of other peoples nets and where they get them from. I bough a hundred off ebay to have a try as I don't do massive amounts of logs but I wasn't overly impressed with them as the netting squares are quite large and the logs/kindling catch on them and they rip fairly easily when transporting, whereas I've had a play with a fine mesh version which seemed brilliant but it was one a mate had lying around and he couldn't remember where he got it from! The other problem I have is that I don't want thousands, just a few hundred and that will probably not be enough for the sites I have looked at. Any advice appreciated - especially loading tips!! thanks.

And me too please.

Have ours booked with ABC Response and they arranged a 1 day EFAW+F as needed to work on FC sites, in our area, as they travel around the country doing these course. 0161 626 1364.

Cracking view up there! Liking it.

Thanks guys for the advice. They have been put off buying pleached plants by the price and seem keen on beech so I am buying 6 ft bare root and plan to start pruning (lower branches removed and side laterals reduced) a year after planting and then for the first few winters after that until the 'hedge on legs' starts to take shape. I have decided on 5 ft gaps so hopefully that will work out.

A client has asked me to plant a beech hedge and maintain it so that the lower branches are pruned over the first few years to for a 'hedge on legs' so that the first 90cm or so are just bare stems so that they can still see a stone wall on their boundary and then there is a maintained hedge from 90cm - 2m to block out the houses behind. The hedge is 20m then a gap for a gate, followed by another 15m stretch. I have maintained hedges like this in the past so am confident this can be achieved but I wasn't sure about the planting spaces. I am thinking that it would be a straight line instead of 2 staggered rows and maybe 1m spacings. Has anyone planted a hedge like this before and if so, any advice would be appreciated.

A quick update, I asked the agent to honour the deal I had in writing (albeit in a text) or give me his company complaints procedure and a few days later I receive an email stating that they will honour the deal and pay the amount in full. Good result, although a shame it had to go this way.

Aka guelder rose

I don't use one but always thinking I should. Again maybe something our industry should insist on, although it's another thing to hit the pocket, buying the equipment and paying for training. Like everything, there will be guys who do everything by the book and their price has to reflect that and then there will be guys who don't bother/care and can charge less as they don't have so much overheads and can undercut the fella trying to do everything the right way ......

No, agent was working on behalf of large company. It was 2.4m lengths and I had put photo on a previous post when I was trying to sell it but but don't know if I can link the two threads.

Thanks guys. Glad to hear that others agree. I am going to refuse the amount for a second time and think I will ask for the agents company complaints procedure if he doesn't honour the deal. I would love to name and shame the rogue, but that would be unprofessional on my part I think.

I contacted a well known timber agent in July about selling some Norway Spruce to them for shavings. It was already roadside and I informed them that the stack was measured at 34.97 m3 without aking into account of air. The agent told me that he would estimate around 40% air, taking it down to 21m3 of timber. He told me that it would get £27.50 + VAT per ton. As it was clearly not a full load, he told me he would visit the stack to look for himself. I gave him the address and access instructions and even gave his vehicle details to the land/timber owner. I'm not sure this visit ever happened. I also pointed out that there were other spruce logs 25 mile away waiting to be collected that the same agent had bought for shavings (We felled them so knew this was true) so a load could have been made up. A week ago I had a text saying the price was to be knocked down to £25.50 + VAT per ton as the load had to be capped. Fair enough I thought so I agreed. Earlier this week, I had an email from the agent saying that the logs had been collected, there was 16.76 ton and because of haulage, they would only pay £20.85 per ton. I refused this on the grounds that they knew there would be this amount (21m3 left to air dry for 3 months whilst he arranged collection was never going to be much more than this), they had the opportunity to visit the stack and verify my measurements and that we had a deal at £25.50 + VAT. The agent has come back with figures of sales, haulage and their purchace and said the he will not pay any more than that. I personally think this is an absolute cheek as a deal is a deal. If they lose money on it, than that is their problem but they should honour the deal that I have in a text from him. I am interested to hear from people who sell timber as to whether they think this is acceptable? Thanks in advance, Alan

Informed the local TO first thing the morning after so feel I did everything I could/should have done.

I looked at a twin stemmed macracarpa this evening just before dark and it has a split running from the union, approximately 2m down the stem. The tree is costal and the wind is strong and each time the tree flexes, the split opens up around 3/4" or so. If the back stem failed, it would hit the neighbouring property. I told him of the seriousness of the trees condition and its likeliness of failure, especialy in the strong winds currently blowing. His response was regarding his legal liability rather than the safety of the neighbour, which I didn't expect. I made it clear that he is liable for that tree and has a duty of care for the neighbours safety. I have come home and emailed him and text him requesting he has the tree dealt with as soon as possible and that the neighbour is made aware of the risk and he has replied saying he will go round. I only have his work for this. Should I do anything else, as it is obviously playing on my mind as to how I could have handled this better. Is this a police matter? The property is an hour away from where I am now. It needs a mewp which we don't have so I have even given the owner details of another competitor tree surgeon who I know has a mewp and does emergency call outs. Looking for any advice from someone who would know my duty of care as a professional arborist.

Hi Mike, I was in the same situation 10 years ago when I left the Navy. I did the 4 week course at Kingswood and then a 3 day course on how to create a cv and do job interviews (something you never learned on the forces!). They told me I would struggle to get a job in the arb industry on this course. I sent out a letter to some local tree surgeons and got offered 3 jobs. The reality is the starting money is poor (around £13,500 back then) which was a bit of a culture shock as I had been on more than double that. 10 years on and I have my own small company and earn about the same as I did on the forces, but don't have to answer to anyone anymore which is nice. Remember you might not have experience but hard work and turning up every day on time count for a lot in this industry and generally that's installed in you in the forces so you should be able to get work pretty easily. Any more questions, feel free to PM me.

Thanks guys

We were hoping to temporary deer fence the first coupe of overstood hazel we are coppicing this winter in a local Dorset woodland. I have seen this done on a wildlife trust site where they used a proper post around every 15m and hazel rods inbetween (one upright and one at an angle supporting each upright rod) which we were thinking of replicating, or something similar. Has anyone used these methods and can they offer any advice on the erection of temporary deer fencing or recommend any suppliers? Thanks Alan

I was talking to the FC and they were confident that there would be a renewal of the licence for use of warfarin for squirrel control. The problem was the licence costs £millions and the question was whose pot it comes out of.

We have managed to get an EWGS grant (after 1/4/15) to purchace some squirrel hoppers (an a further grant for maintenance) so that we can combine poisoning with our current control by shooting of the old woodland foe the grey squirrel. We have had to look at this option as we can't seem to keep on top of the numbers by shooting alone and any nature regen is being decimated. The woodland is ASNW hazel coppice with oak standards with dormice so I believe you can get hoppers that will only allow squirrels to get in?? Having never used this method before, can anyone recommend any supplies of these types of hopper? Thanks Alan