Treeation

He owns half the trees and his neighbour -the other half. They are working together on this one and will share the bill

Do you mean undertake planning app to LPA? if so, yes I would defintely do so for any proposed arb works.

Yes he only recently bought the house, the trees are recent semi-natural woodland (age upto 100years) He owns half of the trees and the nieghbour the other half, the neighbour will co-operate with any proposed works

yum yum

So just been to my client's to have a look at a woodland strip of around 40m deep at the rear of his garden, there are approx 10 trees in question of which are ivy clad mature ash and sycamore (up to 25m in height). He wants to let more light into the garden and to make the trees as safe as possible - currently they would be close to hitting his house (one fell down in his neighbours garden last week) and he wants to build a summer house within a few metres from the trees. His initial proposal was to top everything to 20ft (see red line on pic) which seems like a bad idea to me. I couldnt agree with that as seems like a terrible loss of habitat and general tree butchery and not particularly cost effective either. The trees lie in a conservation area too so permission is required. I dont think crown reduction to BS3998 would tick the box for letting enough light in butreduction in height would stabalise the trees somwhat and reduce the danger zone if they did fall. Im currently thinking of the most cost effective solution. I dont think BS3998 crown reductions are appropriate to the sceniaro, crown thinning would be very time consuming as all trees caked in ivy. So my current plan is removing a couple of the worst offenders (to ground level) in terms of light blockage and stabaility, severing ivy on all trees and topping 2 trees leaving monoliths. This should certainly alleviate some light issues, would still look good with different woodland structural layers and not be too harsh. In terms of safety I could offer to todo a tree condition survey every 18months to help to mitigate safety if they felt that way inclined (I have PTI and working towards level 4) Just interested in what others would suggest as I have come across the woodlands close to house dilemma before and find it a bit of head ache!

Think treelife lvel 4 is around the £5K mark or just under

Whilst I am familiar with the humboldt cut and have used for felling and climbing cuts I have never used the snipe....does it simply stop the stem from falling sideways as it helps to direct a little more than the gob cut so you get a more accurate outcome?

How would you do it out of interest?

Because OP says its by a footpath

A photo of the coupe

I have used it and does the job against deer. Rabbits bit straight throught the bottom so consider a roll of rabbit mesh too if they are present on site and numbers are heavy enough to cause a problem. Was fairly easy to install just hung it off 2 lines of tensioned mild steel wire (top and bottom) with zip ties and used coppiced wood as stakes just pointing points on them with a chainsaw. Left one small section as "australian gate" to allow access into the area.

Do you have david lonsdales managing hazardous trees book? great section in the back would help you out

I think context would play a big part....if someone insisted on topping a high amenity tree Id would walk and keep my dignity. If it was a low value young tree that could take the beasting I might be reluctantly persuaded. Then you get into the scenario where someone wants a large tree felled and you manage to at least talk them into leaving a monolith which I guess is better than nothing but could still be considered as topping.

Not sure if it spreads via roots but you should check adjacent trees of the same species for its presence.

Believe the arb association cover this or try local agricultural college to you

kretschmaria? ceramic fracture, black fruiting bodies look like it, sure Mr Humphries will put us staright

I went Saturday, First impressions werent great as I hadnt realised I needed to bring my AA card to get in free and expected there would be a list of AA members who should get in free, maybe my fault for assuming but little annoying having to pay and was told no chance of refund, (is this true Paul?) I checked out the demo re. decay detection gear which was well presented and informative. It was good to see Stroud brewery there and particularly enjoyed a pint of "stump grinder", Thought the competition trees were bit pathetic compared to last years they were a lot smaller and looked like easy branch walks etc. Certainly as a spectator not the most exciting to watch compared to other years. Ended being more of a social for me rather than a shopping trip.

Spot on!

Get him on the overloaded thread!

Awesome! I love it!

Really tragic news, didnt ever meet him but live closeby and I know he had a very good reputation, what a loss

sorry ignore that, wrong thread

Really tragic news, didnt ever meet him but live closeby and I know he had a very good reputation, what a loss

I think phots would be useful at this point to help advice

Yep i get it as well