green heart

Hmm.. the twists and turns in threads on this site never cease to entertain me.. Sime, is it feasible we might accommodate a brief foray on ' best Squirrel recipes ' here ? I understand there's a Butchers up in Darwin, that sells Squirrel pies. Never had the chance to try one, personally tho.

Kram, why would you even use a lanyard when working on the ground with a saw ?? Also, do you have an idea when those Makita saws are coming out? I couldn't get your pdf link to work -I'm interested to see the specs. Thanks

Haha ! Crikey, you're not wrong there... but why didn't you just spray it, with a selective herbicide, before it started flowering?? Those hogweed seeds last up to 10 years... it's surprising how far they sometimes travel, too.. Apologies for the thread derail !

So sorry to read this, fella. There's nothing worse... Have you any photos of the stolen kit to put up ? -Also please think carefully, as you start to replace your kit, how you will successfully foil the almost inevitable nocturnal 'return visit' ? See recent thread on : 'Protecting my yard'

Yep, a bumper crop for all tree fruits here in the NW -though I was expecting less/smaller fruit, given the very dry summer period . Sweet Chestnuts gathered this week. Apple store and new freezer are chocca block. Evidevidently there was sufficient winter rainfall to make no difference to yields. Has anyone here ever experimented with making Calvados/distilling cider ? Just asking for a friend, obviously... 🤔

Yes, I'd second Doobin's comments-you could happily run 6-8' rotary blade/swipe on 26hp, for ride maintenance, but you'd seriously struggle to power a flail with that horse power.. Swinging cutting tips are common on most large rotary cutters, and generally better than flails, unless a fine finish is specified? Doobin: you're the first person I've ever seen mowing Giant Hogweed, with a tractor mower -what happened there ! 🤭

Does anyone know if there's a way of setting up the Sthil Pro-Com units, if you won't (or rather, refuse to have ) a Google/Apple account, on your phone or computer ? I really want to buy some sets, for over a year now, but just don't want my data 'shared' with all those anonymous tech 'partners'.. 🙄

Go to it, Carl.. Age is just a state of mind. -You sound the business !! 😊

Carl, it sounds to me like you're bright and above average fitness for your age. That's worth a lot. I think, given what you've said, you'd make a good groundy trial/impression, for any local Arb business, and pick up work, easily enough. I also suspect you'd do equally well starting tree climbing too, if already climbing on rock.. IF you are lucky enough, to find someone willing to pay/subsidise your climbing training costs? As has been said: Joiners, tilers, brickies etc all make good/better regular outdoor earnings, with less or similar outlay -and much less risk of injury, though... I'm still loving climbing a couple of days a week, at 60 myself -but, honestly and hypocritically- I'd be unsure, as the boss, about training up someone only a few years younger than me, to do this work full-time ? Unless you showed great aptitude..

Come on Alex, You could have pruned that cherry and be finished, in the time it's taken us all to identify it -stop with the prevaricating routine ! 😉 -oh, and even quicker too, now you've got yourself a makita pruning saw.. 🤭

I'd strongly suggest you follow Mick and Bocca's recommendations -with the addition of a secure chain, lock and (boxed) ground anchor, underneath the trailers -where it's more difficult to get at, with a cordless grinder? Just get busy with a stick welder and some 5-10mm plate.. Also, planting 1m high plants of Berberis/Cotoneaster/Hawthorn at 0.3m centres, along any boundary/fencelines. Add 1.8m posts and a couple of strands of razor wire support lines, at 0.5 and1m high too (not barbed wire !). On mesh fences, the addition of high opacity green nylon privacy netting maybe helps. This is easy to find on the net and better than Scaffold netting. Install several strategically placed bird boxes...with a wildlife trip camera in one? Run a LED floodlight and PIR sensors off a Car battery in your container unit. Avoid the self contained security solar cell units, that have batteries that die in the first good frost of the year. I know all this sounds absurd, and you likely think it is/might be: overlooked/secure/all insured, etc -but the consequences of a successful theft absolutely guarantees return visits, more grief for you and higher insurance premiums, if you can even get future cover.. Sorry to appear so 'doom and gloom', but yes, I do speak from the benefit of first hand experience... Oh, and consider adding a manual sunken vehicle bollard, positioned next to your main gate. Do avoid any ones with the circular 'security' type key like the plague!

Don't take the guard off !! Just take your time -and learn how to adjust your cutting techniques.. ? I'm now so glad I didn't remove the guard, despite how annoying it seemed at first. Just stick with it for a couple of weeks and you'll see what I mean. I really like the 40v XGT version and I'd rate it equivalent to our Milwaukee M18 fuel. Used it on a 40' pine takedown yesterday. Great. The 2511 came up the tree, but I can't remember the last it was used for pruning.

Just in case anyone might be interested, I've got a spotless used makita duc150 for sale. It's 18 months old with It's box, manual etc and has a 4Ah battery and charger with it. I'm in Ches/Mancs -and open to reasonable offers.

I can't see it being an issue. Only if, by some unlikely coincidence, you decided to stack the recently felled limbs on the ground, next to one of your trees, in poor health, for several months. So hardly likely?

Ok then, Perhaps this really isn't the best of examples, but last month, I did a fallen tree -blocking minor road type of job. The unfortunate tree owner was blissfully unaware that their tree had just collapsed, across the access road to the local golf club and some neighbours houses. I explained the situation to them, and charged the princely sum of £180, for clearing vehicle access, that same evening. It was half a mile from home.. The following day, I texted a quotation for approx £900 to cover the full clear-up, with suggestions for local tree consultants, to give a report on their other roadside trees . Both invoices were paid promptly by a very happy new customer, with the strong likelihood of some future work, too.. Sorry about the photo, seems like there's some issue with uploading the same. After 5 attempts at reducing the size, we'll just have to live without it !

Something very simple I've noticed over the years, that seems to significantly help new, or less confident potential customers, to instruct tree work: Breaking down the quotation into a couple of component prices (especially with a low-ish cost prep/preliminary item of work, first ), seems to relax them. I guess they get to see that we're not a bunch of cowboys, and I get to see how good they are at paying bills !

After managing for several decades with a succession of unsatisfactory domestic 3-way Ladders, we also sometimes borrowed the safer (but super bulky) henchmans. I never dared leave them locked to a roof rack, overnight tho.. I then wasted 3 or 4 hundred quid on some good (but heavy) Zarges 3 way Ladders, but was gutted to use a customer's MacAlister domestic equivalent one's (at rather less than half the price and weight). Andy Ellis' Hailo ladders look like a much better compromise, to me...

@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.