Djvicke1

Thanks David I'll suggest a reduction

What fungi is this? And what would you suggest as course of action? Thanks

Yeh I thought it might be mainly cosmetic

How and why is this wire bracing done on yew trees?

Thanks Paul for the link and sorry for being a bit vague but yes I guess I was just asking what I need to see from the customer in order to go ahead with works.

Thanks for the replies. The customer says its his land but also says he "has a mate on the council and his solicitor says if he doesn't hear off the council for a month he can go ahead" but that isn't very reassuring to me. I have checked with the LA planning who are in charge of the trees as there is no TO, they have told me that there 'doesn't seem to be any TPO's on that road but said it could be a conservation area' so they don't seem to be very clued up themselves. If it is some kind of conservation area what should be my course of action? It just seems odd that a large sycamore in the middle of the town doesn't have some kind of restriction on it, but like I said I haven't done any very public work until now so just wondering what the normal course of action is when asked to do a job like this especially if the customer or the council are slightly unsure themselves.

I have been asked to take down a large Sycamore in the middle of a local town. However there is no Tree Officer in this area so it has to go through the planning department. This is the first time I've been asked to remove a tree in a town centre so I'm not completely sure of the protocol. How should I go about this? What do those of you who do this regularly usually ask to see (works to trees forms etc) or contact? Any help much appreciated

1 distinct brown patch on this hedge. Is this aphids?? I've seen patchy hedges before but usually spread throughout the hedge this is only in one place though. Any ideas or advice on best course of action be much appreciated. Cheers

Thanks Stephen, just sorting out my kit for it today. Looking forward to it!

Are the novice, expert and premier categories of the 3ATC all on the same tree?

Thanks Macaulay, just used it, very handy to know about. I'll use it to check any I find from now on.

Thanks Steve, there must be a few good ones out there, but taking the time etc to find one I agree that new or at least from somewhere where you've got some kind of re-course is best in the long run.

I'm in a similar situation, it seems that most sellers under 5k are hiding something. It's so hard to trust anyone. Full service history is hard to find. The best way is knowing the person you are buying off especially if they are local and established as they (hopefully) don't want to tarnish their reputation.

I'm looking to buy a transit tipper but don't have a lot to spend. I'm not bothered about how it looks just that its got a few years left in it and will do the job. I know you can't expect much for under 5-6k but reputable garages and dealerships don't tend to sell anything under 8-10k, so it ends up being a case of "who to trust" on places like 'treebay'. Just wondering if anyone has advice on buying used tippers? What to ask about etc? Or should I just limp along for a while until I have more to spend?

I did various jobs as growing up trying to find a way to make money and be (reasonably) happy, including office jobs.sales etc and I realised that I enjoyed working with my uncle in my free time cutting trees whether I was getting paid or not. The feeling of being outdoors the excitement watching trees being fell etc is what made me want to be there. Now that I do it for a living I realise it has its ups and downs but as jobs go, at least in my experience, it's the happiest I've been and it seems to hold my attention. Like Mick said when it becomes a bit mundane there is a lot of satisfaction in the business side of it. I like being able to solve problems for people and provide a service.

That's exactly how I get cornered they ask how long and I try to be pretty vague (day or day and a half etc). It gets awkward when they question your hourly rate as felling a large dangerous tree in one hour works out at a pretty good rate but that isn't a consistent hourly rate of course.

Yep I learnt that lesson the hard way early on but occasionally still find myself backed into a corner. Need to stop telling them how the job will be done too!

I found myself involved in a discussion about pricing (dangerous ground I know). The example was getting a large tree on the deck with a small drop zone, many surrounding targets and little room for error. If you turned up on the day, felled it in one and walked away in under an hour would you charge roughly the same as a dismantle? If so how do you explain the price to the customer when they argue about how long it took?

Does anyone know of a tip site for a load of chip in Shrewsbury?

In my experience Utility arb is good to learn and gain experience but it is very different to Domestic in both the nature of work you're doing and the mentality you're surrounded by as there is a greater emphasis on speed and production. However, the biggest difference I found is that on utilities you're rarely doing big removals or any kind of rigging, instead you're usually climbing a tree to take off the regrowth and a couple of small limbs and the rest of the time, (about 70% of the time) you're cutting thorn hedge and overgrown scrubbage. As a beginner though at least you're using a saw every day and not having to do bits of grounds maintenance to keep busy. We used to envy Domestic companies seeing them do large removals using rigging on nice open trees in a nice clean garden with nice equioment because when you do occasionally get a big removal to do it's an ivy covered monster with no central stem and no good anchor point in a boggy woodland amidst thorn and brambles, so it was almost a treat for the whole team if we came across a nicely formed oak in a field or even in a thorn hedge Bottom line, I'd say utility arb is a good place to gain experience on the saw and confidence climbing but most of the good utility climbers I know end up going over to domestic.

yep a good point! the powerlines are quite far away from where we'd need to work though, they were just a problem because if the BT line dropped they would touch them as they cross over them in the next span

Thanks eggs, sound advice I'm happy to do that its just the LV powerlines beneath the bt line on the next span that worries me as the bt cable looks like its just threaded through so when one side is cut it will just fall on the powerlines which I'm worried would be dangerous, the customer suggested I cut the bt cable and just hold it tight so it doesnt fall on the powerlines but it seems a bit risky as they are only a couple of feet apart.. I think it may be sorted now though as they have got hold of a MEWP so hopefully we can leave everything intact

It might be climbable to some, but a few lads have refused it including me and its in a pretty bad way (large crack in stem opening and closing in the breeze and also half decayed) not a massively tall tree (about 50-60ft) but a large spread and about 1.5m diameter with house under one side and lines under the other

No worries it will have to wait, its not my job I was just asked to climb it but It's not worth the risk for me so just trying to help out.

Indeed! But they aren't under any limbs so if the BT line wasn't there they wouldn't be affected.