green heart

@Lou Brown If it's a value for money petrol saw for aerial pruning, then : Echo2511 (or an equivalent cheaper copy -though I wouldn't, personally). It's in a class of It's own. If it's a battery powered PRUNING saw, then: 1. The new Makita UC029G 40v -the last few left in the UK, were at ITS ( otherwise, wait untill Jan '26). 2.18v Milwaukee Fuel pruning saw -a solid option. 3. Sthil GTA40 pruning saw . I own/use all the above pruning saws for our work. I've also tried plenty of others. My choice might vary, according to what the nearest good dealer stocks, though.

@Ledburyjosh Yes, all good points you make there.. The MDL unit does have an adjustable feed speed, with stress control. It also has the advantage of driven tracks (with a slightly counter intuitive hand-control system, I found). Weighing in at 480 kgs, this is crucial ! I inspected it at their yard today, but didn't have space to bring any branches, to properly test it out.. 🙄 I spoke to a Scottish commercial owner/user who rates his machine well. I'm hoping to try/use/hire a machine in Preston, if all goes well. The machine is pretty much identical to the Oshai tracked chipper, but less than half the price.. It's also sold directly into the Japanese market too.

Hi, I'm looking for self employed groundy/brush cutter operators to help out on some late Himalayan Balsam control sites, in wetland near Knutsford/ S.Manchester. Other dates are a possibility. Wellies and some prior experience are necessary, but no machines or cert needed, really. Call me for further details. Nick 07973 701 898

Thanks for your responses guys. I'm really trying to get an idea of how well made this machine is, and how it might handle say, wet conifer/gnarly hawthorn ? I suspect maybe poorly, like our old gravity fed machine, than our timber wolf 150 -but the various machine owners in the Somerset area must know, first-hand.. 🤔 TIA

Not perhaps, what you might wish to hear: Maybe your first step might have been to control the Himalayan Balsam ( a scheduled Non-Native Invasive Species !), which were just starting to flower at the time your photos were taken (poss May/June, I'd suspect ?). Unfortunately, that horse has now bolted -which means : Any tracked or wheeled machinery used in your tree/stump removal, will directly and liberally disperse the Balsam seeds all around your site -and maybe elsewhere- ready to flower again next season...sorry! 😖 So, either get some advice from an experienced Invasive Weed control contractor, or wait until April 2026 before starting a programme of pulling/cutting/strimming the Himalayan Balsam plants -and only in September 2026 would your tree removal begin to start..

Hi, I'm appealing to the collective Arb-talk expertise -help, pretty please ?! Does anyone have any experience of the above company's new-ish small 4'' tracked chippers? I'm likely to buy one, at £6k for occasional use/small chipper replacement unit . However I'm concerned by the absence of any available users offering feedback (despite several requests to the manufacturer)... I understand approx a hundred units have been sold, in the last couple of years, without any issues, so far..(?) -Many of the machines sold in the south/Somerset area, I'm told. The five person family run Agri engineering business, seem to be well regarded. The machines are fabricated in their Carlisle yard, using a Chinese track Base and some Italian components too, I understand. Narrow access, tracked, and single feed roller only, 14hp petrol B+S. Apparently there was very little improvement, when trialed with a bigger 23hp engine. Do any of the folk on here, know of any end users, who would comment on their machines performance ? Thanks, Nick

Good idea for a thread, Alex. I'm going back to your title/original point -mainly because I don't/won't have a website myself. Spending a few minutes with a new potential customer, to explain what works we do and our background, etc seems valuable to them, to glean an understanding of us, and seems to build their trust. I always do this before discussing their potential work/problem. It helps set the initiative -and helps them understand there are two parties in their contract considerations . On more complex/open enquiries, I think sacrificing half an hour or so to gently quiz a customer on their objectives, seems a mutually beneficial exercise, often for both parties. Getting them to list/produce a simple specification of what they actually need, is helpful all round. I should have mentioned at the start, that our Conservation work includes treework.. so maybe a little different from others here.

Could I suggest you make a few exploratory phone calls, after 4pm, to some of your local Arb/landscape contractors, to pop round or generally gauge the future demand for what your interested in doing? Sorry, I'm in Cheshire. From my own business perspective, the combination of a Farming background/grafting and a related degree with your maturity would easily outweigh your inexperience/qualifications issue. Farmers are generally savvy and resilient characters, in my experience. I would also agree with the points made by others, about considering a 'building trade' as being easier to start -and kinder to your body, tho.. Hope that helps some -and good luck with whatever path you choose to follow.

Hi Alex, yes, it was me. -And I'm unlikely to swop the manufacturers fitted chain/bar. Realistically, it works well enough for most pruning jobs, otherwise the 2511 comes up the tree.. Very happy to discuss further, on the phone -do DM me ? Nick

I've ordered the new Makita UC024 (40v version) of the pruning saw, as a comparison. They have way more torque than our 18v DUC150 and a bit lighter than our M18 fuel saw if iirc . Apparently Makita spares stuff is much more easily/cheaply available, than Milwaukee too. Also comes with a free battery, before September! A major bugbear, if Makita UK would only act on repeated user feedback(!?!), is the absence of a lanyard attachment loop, and the genius Echo 2500-style wire clip hanger. We can but live in hope.... 🙄

Well done sime42, for sharing some vital information with us all. Writing as a (non medical) lay-person/contractor, I'd like to point out what I'd consider to be some important misnomers, mentioned in the many responses. Ticks are dispersed across the UK by ground nesting birds and mamals -including domesticated livestock AND deer. So the presence of deer is, really, fairly irrelevant to the risk of infection. Ticks are good at hiding in your cast off work/leisure clothes (for several days or more) -and wandering around in search of potential hosts! So your partner/family members are also at slight risk. Only 'some' of the people bitten by ticks will have a 'bullseye' -or display any/some of the other typical symptoms, in the first few weeks of an infection starting.. Hence the value of a quick daily tick-check ! Though ticks can carry several different pathogens -some folk do mysteriously survive bites/infections with just an apparently healthy immune system(!). Maybe they are just very lucky. Would you play Russian roulette, on a daily basis? If you work, garden or exercise in green space ( that's most of us!) and were surprised by ANY of the above points -I would implore you to spend 15 minutes looking on the Lyme disease UK website -it might save you, or a loved one, a lot of unnecessary future medical misery! I think needle point tweezers, as previously mentioned, are the dogs-danglies for removing ticks. -Apologies in advance for any factually incorrect advice!

This technique works well, whenever we've had to treat Bamboo, over the years. Also, adding some sticky adjuvent to the herbicide mix, for foliar sprays (on fresh growth) helps with results. Unlike with Japanese knotweed rhizomes, I do suspect a VERY thorough session with a decent stump grinder, would likely put an immediate (and very significant/terminal dent) in the Bamboo. You would need to grind down to an 18'' depth, tho ? Any surviving regrowth would be easy enough to dig/spray off.

Not quite as exciting as some of the above finds, but: A serviceable Cambium saver, from a veteran Oak tree earlier this year. A throw-line from a Beech tree, nearby. A bike innertube, encircling a 20'' diameter willow limb.. Last month, a suspension harness AND two strimmer harnesses, all left at the base of a Lime tree, by a previous contractor -but sadly no strimmers, tho! Oh, and sometime back now... a memorable pair of white lace knickers (left hanging outside a FC bird hide on the Mersey estuary !). This was apparently not left by a Red kite, tho ! -Maybe left by a Shag, or a (very rare) visiting White kite, just perhaps ?!

Looks like £500- well spent, if you're a contract climber/teenage tree-monkey! For the 'older' climbers like myself, I think I'm happy sticking with knots, for that kind of money ?

Last summer I was slack jawed to see the colossal impact of ADB, when out driving through the Derbyshire dales, whilst on my hols. These are/were natural self set Ash woodlands, growing on steep-ish limestone valleys, and hectares of ALL ages were showing 99+% mortality. It looks really dire... I was depressed! In an attempt to say something a bit more positive, I did also find a healthy mature Wych elm, which was growing within 100m of it's dead younger neighbours!