Chris at eden

You can use anything. Bike spoke, welding rod, wooden cane, etc. A mallet and binoculars is also a good idea.

Joseph, For future ref. Honey fungus is a toadstool, it has a little ring on the stalk just under the cap. The underside of the cap also has elongated gills, slit type structures which release the spores. This is a bracket fungi, a polypore. It grows sideways from the trunk and the underside has pores, tiny little holes for spore dissemination. Another difference is the position. Honey fungus is a root decay fungus so is usually on the ground although not always. Polyporus is a sapwood exposed coloniser found on wounds like this one and usually higher in the tree. Hope this helps

Spot on mate. Dave would have his red pen out for the spelling though.

No its higher. National diploma is level 3 equivalent to A level. L3 is what is referred to as further education. The L4 is level 4 which is the lowest level of higher education equivalent to higher national certificate. L6 is degree level. My personal opinion is that the professional qualifications such as the L2, L4, and L6 are far more relevant to the industry. L4 will prepare you to go into junior consultancy with L6 as a possible progression. In my experience ND will not give you the same consultancy skills as tech cert or its replacement L4. You can do L4 with tree life as distance learning but my advice would be try to make the sessions if you can and do it as day release. It will be about 15 days over a year. The sessions are really interactive with a lot of group discussion. It will get you used to talking with other people at that level which is an important part of the learning and gives you confidence in dealing with other professionals which is vital. Its daunting at the start but well worth it.

Hi Paul, is this going to result in a new competancy badge? Anyone who thinks there is no more then putting trees into a hole clearly should not be doing it. This is a great idea as a competancy.

Hi, Agree with all that AA Techie said. Personally i would go with the L4 which as Paul said is the replacement for tech cert. I did tech cert on the old system in 2005 but i really think this new version of level 6 that i am doing is much better. The learning is more complete. If you submit a piece of work and you dont get 100% of the answer you will get it back asking for further info and providing you with advice. With exam based you only have to get 50% and you would pass. You therefore miss the opportunity to do the extra learing. The teaching at tree life is excellent and remember Dave Dowson wrote the sylabus for the L4 and the L6 so is in a great postion to get you through. The down side is the work load is intense or at least it is at L6. I'm told that L4 is similar. ISA cert arb is a good qualification for practitioners but its level 2 so wouldn't really be a progression. I did mine back in 2002 and while it was useful i allowed it to expire as i felt that tech cert far outweighed it. I do often think of re-certifying though.

You are bang on mate, France is a fantastic place to visit especially as you can drive there. I don't know why it is not that popular with the Brits.

Is your L2 the one that is administered by ABC awards, the new qcf qualification? if so go for the qcf L4 that's again administered by ABC awards. They are designed to flow into one another. I am just about to finish L6 and can't recommend them enough. It teaches you real skills and is not all about sitting exams. I've done academic stuff before and the professional route is much better and more relevant in my view. Some will disagree with this and its each to their own but check out the AA reg consultants list, the majority have dip.arb rfs and tech cert which is the old version of the L4 and L6. Tree life do an online version called treemail. Hope this helps,

There are visible pseudosclerotial plates in the cross section which suggests the presence of Kretzschmaria. In my experience this is more common on beech but you can get it on sycamore.

I have a windows surface which is ok and cost £279. Pros - Ms office built in with word, excel, etc. It connect and stays logged into outlook so not logging in and out which I like, it has a proper USB port unlike iPad so you can connect a flash drive and a pay as you go WiFi dongle direct. Never tried the latter but I'm told it works. Cons- screen is a little over sensitive, the operating system wont run some programs including Norton. You can also get a little keyboard to clip on and turn it into a laptop but don't but the official one as they are 80 - 100 quid. You can get a Bluetooth version from amazon for 30 quid. My wife has the iPad which is a better machine but more expensive. Better security, no over sensitive screen, and you can get an app call quick office to convert Ms office files as well as a keyboard.

I've been off the tools for ten years so this is second hand info. I was speaking with a tree surgeon a few weeks back and he was raving about the husky top handle. They were a bit fragile back in the 90's but he said they overcame this.

Sumac

Could juniper scale.

You miss the point mate. I spent ten years working as a tree officer, five of those doing tpo's so I kinda know what you can and can't do. The regs are the regs, and best practice is what it is. It doesn't matter what the TO is like, he/she doesn't in reality get the final say, the PINS inspector does and they will always go with the regs and best practice. Just trying to help.

To be clear. Don't take that that you can just do anything. Stay within 3998 and give clear and meaningful reasons.

What are you looking to do? TPO work is all about spec. Spec it right and justify and it v difficult to refuse.

Saw this demo'd in may in Cannock Chase and was surprised how big the drill holes were and close together. From what I remember dealga said it lasts up to three years or at least that's as long as trials have been going. What's the effect of regular drilling around the base on something with poor wound response (Codit) such as hc? are there no plans for a soil drench alternative which is less invasive?

Betula as a genera are pioneer species in that they are the trees that colonise baren sites early on the then become shaded out by the larger climax species as part of woodland succession. You would therefore expect to see them in scrub land. albosinensis as the common name suggests is from China. Not aware of occidentalis but the name suggests its from America. Its not surprising that wildlife groups are unaware of these trees as they are ornamentals and not best suited for wildlife. If you want to supply habitat as well as coppice material sitick to native.

Betula albosinensis

Oh yeah, Bartletts have also just brought out a stem injection treatment for HCLM using a treatment called revive i think. They recon it lasts for a minimum of 3 years based on trials. You cant apply it or even buy it yourself without training though. Lantra are about to release a new L3 qualifiction to administer the treatment so you would need that first. Cheers,

Agree with Tony on the bleeding canker and leaf miner, drought also possible. Bartletts have had some success in treating bleeding canker by use of decompaction and potassium based fertilizer. Pottasium phosphite i think specifically. Theory is that the HC does not know its being attached so does not defend itself against the bacteria. The use of the fertilizer kick starts what Glynn Percival refers to as a systemic induced response. The tree then goes about attacking the disease. The benefit of the treatment is that it addresses many issues. Honey fungus and bleeding canker are both associated with sub-optimal soil conditions so this treatment can help prevent either and certainly treat the latter. Also mulching beneath the dripline after threatment should also help improve the rooting area and help with the drought if this is an issue. Improving living conditions for the tree should increae the production of energy and refuel the defesive rubber band as Tony refes to it. More energy available for the production of allellochemicals and phenolic compounds = trees better equiped for defense. For more info see Bartletts website, they have papers on the this treatment and some interesting research into using sugar to improve root growth. Hope this helps,

Sorry mate but i dont agree. Fair enough if you rule out shrinkable soils at the start you dont need much else. but if your s and d map says the soil is london clay then you have to look at other factors. if you are talking about heave then most importantly age of tree and building. foundation depth is also hugely important. They are all parts of the same puzzle which no doubt you include in your mortgage reports. They all add weight to your decision also.

Have a look at the below guidance, it will give you an idea of what is required. http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/FCMS024.pdf/$FILE/FCMS024.pdf In reality you have already carried out informal observations and a formal inspection and as you cannot quantify the extent of the problem you should call in a qualified arb to do a detailed inspection. It may be difficult to remove one without the other but the longer you leave it the worse it will become. On the up side they look pretty sheltered which will reduce the risk, but even if you lost both it wouldn't have a huge impact on the area and the space created for a replant could be considered as tree renewal.

It is a legal requirement that all TPO's are determined within the statutory 8 week period. If they don't you are entitled to lodge an appeal with the planning inspectorate. (PINS) At this point the PINS will take over the application and determine it on behalf of the secretary of state. The first thing they will do though is write to the council saying that they have received an appeal. The will also tell the council that if they still wish to determine they can and to advise PINS if this has happened. The council may then determine the app or leave it to the PINS. Either way, speeds thing up. Remember CA's is a notice not an app so rules are different. If you wish to fell a tree under exemption due to it being dead or dangerous the 2012regs states that you must submit your intention to the council giving them what is called a five day notice and this must be done in writing. If the danger is imminent you can make safe immediately and inform the council later but the burden of proof sits with you. Photos definitely a good idea. This approach should be a last resort and five days is the norm. And remember the exemption is to make safe, this may not always be fell. Hope this helps.

Think you may be onto something with the height reduction bit as whenever you see elm regen on the road side it seems to be fine up to a certain height then gets done. Not convinced by the oomph bit though. Trees use two types of energy, potential and kinetic. Potential is that stored within the wood in the form of carbs. Kinetic is energy in motion being used for growth, defence, etc which is created by photosynthesis or the oxidation of potential energy. The removal of branches would remove potential energy and reduce the rate of photosynthesis due to less leaves. There would also be an increase in demand for energy as the tree would need to compartmentalise all of the cut surfaces. The combination of these three factors would mean less surplus oomph in my view.