Treeation

Totally! the owner hasnt been to see it for a while! Might well get a similar reaction from him

Cheers Ali, I think the ring bark pollarding may have be inspired by someone at the ATF seminar who talked about doing crown reductions by ringbarking each cut point to leave some aerial dead.....I like the idea as it is so quick and cost effective but also leaves a cracking bit of aerial dead, I imagine by the time I fininsh a pollard rotation that the aerial, ringbarked stem will have snapped off and by lying on the floor! But theres a few years to go so have to see what happens......I might just do a coupe of ring barked pollards one year to add some variation into the scheme........

And just for the record, EWGS does not longer exist, I had a few small payments to kickstart the project a few years back...I now do this out of my own pocket because I enjoy it and I think is wothwhile thing to do........So you dont need to get to upset about "your money being spent"

Spot on! well said that man!.............

Hiya, theres no scientific element to this little project, I have tried to get other people with scientific backgrounds involved but never quite happenend. Mostly based on my experience and learning of working for a wildlife trust for a while and attending ancient tree foruum seminars and an inspriring visit to see the burnam beech pollards which is kind of my long term aspiration for this project. and always had an interest in the conservation side of things, although most of work now is domestic tree surgery. Working in the woods is my chillout time.....no customers to deal with, I can be messy, cook a bacon sandwich at lunch and on enjoy nature at its best!

haha, Was on English woodland scheme, I wrote a management plan for this woods and another 20acres of other parcels....Forestry Commission see value in this fannying around!

Yeah give us a pm at some point, probably best around summer when the grounds nice and dry as its a bit of trek over flat fields to get to it!

yeah no worries give us a shout when you are next up!

Cheers! Stroud Gloucestershire

Heres a few photos of the older pollards. PHOTO 1 - ASH POLLARD ABOUT CUT 4 YEARS AGO PHOTO 2 - THIS IS A PARTIALLY OCCLUDED CHAINSAW BORED CAVITY CUT ABOUT 3 YEARS AGO PHOTO 3 - ASH WITH FIRST BIT OF DECAY FUNGI ON THE SCENE - KING ALFRED'S CAKES PHOTO 4 - AN OAK POLLARDED THAT SNUFFED IT, LOOSE BARK -POTENTIAL BAT ROOST? PHOTO 5 - AN OAK WITH DECAY FUNGI PHOTO 6 - RINGBARK POLLARDING - VERY QUICK AND EASY WITH ADDED BENEFITS OF AERIAL DEADWOOD PHOTO 7 - LOVELY LITTLE BEECH POLLARD

So wanted to share a little project I have been involved in for 5 years or so now. The scenario is a 6-acre native broadleaf woodland which was planted up around 25 years ago. For the main purposes of habitat creation and to speed up the process of the making woods a richer, diverse habitat we have been pollarding a proportion of trees each winter. I split the the woods into 12 compartments and pollard roughly 50% of the trees in each compartment/winter. Targetting the trees with inferior timber potential and leaving the better ones to become standards. All arisings are dead hedged to create more deadwood habitat and develop soil quality. Survival rate is around 90% and the 10% dead adds more valuable deadwood. Its been a great playground for practising and experiments an array techniques. This winter we got even more creative than ever creating coronet cut pollards, rip cuts, bored out cavities and partially broken off limbs. One of the lads got to practice his first few coronet cuts which he did a bloody goog job of. Basically, anything that might increase aerial deadwood and habitat is fair game!

Looks like dryads saddle to me

Really!!!??????

Better tasting too!

hahaa! No problem!

Thanks that sounds useful, never pruned one of these before so thanks for the advice!

So, ended up resurecting the fallen Cornus kousa last week so thought I share what I did - nice project to do and made a change to be trying to save a tree for once! 1. Cleared around base of root plate and widened hole to make sure the root plate sat true once pulled back over. Forked sides of pit, added thin layer of compost at the sides of pit to encourage spreading root development. 2. Winched stem back into position using craning strop around stem and tirfor winch. 3. Opted out of using cross bar as I didnt think it would be man enough to handle the slight lean and large sail area. Minor pruning on crown to reduce lever arm and remove any damaged branches. 4. Found a chunky prop and dug it in to ground placing flat stones under enough the foot of prop to keep solid (propped perpendicular to weight. Tamped sides to stop side to side movement. Used a rubber spacer block in between tree and prop to add a bit of a cushion. 5. Decided to go belts and braces so drove 2 6 ft stakes in about half way in front of the tree. Attached mild steel wire to stakes and slings placed up in the crown break of tree. Tightened up by hand using fencing tools.. 6. Recommended mulching tree to client to a depth of 100mm upto drip line if possible. 7. Advised client that we should monitor tree health and position with the possibility of removing support in 2 years or replacing prop in 2 years depending on the tree's development. Feel free to tell me if you would of done anything differently....this was the first time I have done anything like this!

Thanks Gary....sounds like good level headed advice...I let them know that the chances of survival were probably 30% in the long term...will see what they come back with.

So, My cleint has recently lost an 8m tall Cornus Kousa during strong wind/ wet snow combo. The tree holds high amenity value for them and we are discussing the possibly of winching it back up and guying it. I have inspected the fallen tree and made followind observations. Good points - crown health excellent, no dieback whatso ever. Plenty of live fibrous roots present. Good anchor tree behind to undertaking winching. Bad points - Over half of structural roots exposed on the root ball have white rot and were fairly mushy. Loose bark around cambium. Some presence of honey fungus rhizomorphs around roots. So initial thoughts point to Armiallaria.....which if the crown had died would be a fairly obvious cause of death. I am bit mythed though as physiolligally the crown is in excellent health and I am also bearing in mind that not all Armiallaria are pathogenic. I dont want to waste my clients money on an operation that might be a waste of time but there is also a bit of me that thinks if the tree can still feed itself through a sound fibrous root system and recieves support through guying then there may still be some future for the tree....or.......Armillaria has caused white rot in the structural roots but hasnt advanced in the stages of killing the cambium so tree should be written off. Any thoughts would be welcomed! Also what would best way to ground anchor it? what materials to use? how many anchors etc?

Awesome photos!

im still happy with part of farmers yard with shipping container, and 1/2 a large dutch barn for firewood seasoning...costs me a mere £100/month but in exchange I also undertake the management of 25 acres of woodland too...

O, and also you need to get NPTC certs for chainsaw

You should do aerial rescue too that will make you a lot more employable.....my gut instincts with your proposal would be a serious lack of experience...but having the truck/chipper scores you some points. I think you would pick up some work but Iit would be difficult and I wouldnt expect to pay anymore than £250/day around my parts (Cotswold). I think you would be better off getting 12months experience with local firms, building bridges, network, assess the scene before plunging in and potentially being dissapointed...building up experience and contacts up first will be the route to success

Did survey but think there should have been more clear options around salary values for self-employed and employed

I wonder if it maybe Pleurotus cornucopiae - Branching oyster mushroom