maybelateron

Absolutely brilliant

Been chucking it down all day. I was hoping to use the flail mower on the back of the compact tractor tomorrow to clear some overgrown grass on a steepish bank under large dead beech we are going to dismantle. Think i will leave it a few days, don't fancy getting stuck at the bottom of the bank!

You'll never beat a 200T for top handled power, agreed. But my MS160T and MSA220 are great for early starts in built up areas! Then when the thinner stuff is off the top we start the 201T at 8:30.

That was such a subtle difference - did that count as one. Naughty one was beyond dispute!

On the face of it his request sounds entirely logical. Only scenario I can see where the next TO might have a point is if the other trees are old pollards being redone, or smaller trees, and the customers trees are very large, healthy, not previously pollarded. Out of the 4-6 local councils/TO's I deal with, sadly there is one TO who seems to have a habit of refusing works that I regard as appropriate, and sometimes suggesting alternative pruning which is just daft. The other TO's are fine.

Devastating for his family and friends, very sad all round

Well said that man.

How roood!!

I found that when I put some oil in the fuel tank of our Echo 2511 (realised before starting it, iirc) it took a large amount of cranking over to clear it with fuel, compared to the same event on a 201T. And no, this is not a weekly occurrence, just cos I am honest enough to admit to having done it twice in a century!

Another reason why’s we love our electric saws - half five am and climbing with leccy tophandle, intercoms in helmets, MEWP on battery mode. Customer wasn't half surprised by our progress by time they were up for breakfast.

I would vote for diagnosis being ADB. Been up to Scotland twice recently and loads of roadside Ash with it on the northern limits of M6, then the A74(M). On a brighter note I just love seeing all the big healthy Elms in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

That man was so right

I wonder how many people who have this will also be keen on litter picking etc

The waiting time on the NHS can vary a lot from one area to another. I am glad I took out private health insurance several years ago; you can keep the cost down by opting for it to only pay out only for the more expensive things, or certainly with some providers. I had my inguinal hernia (in the groin) repaired 21 months ago. I was able to be doing light duties at six weeks post op, and back to full climbing etc by twelve weeks. When I went to see my GP about it (I am a retired (early!) GP) she said she would arrange an US scan. As I had insurance I suggested she just refer me to the surgeon, and I could have the scan if needed in the private sector - that leaves another scan appointment free in the NHS. Interestingly, when I saw the surgeon he said he had given up using US scans for most hernias as he found the results unreliable, but maybe the depends on the experience of the radiographer doing the scan. Good luck, and hope you get it sorted soon.

I agree entirely. The difficulty is often when the customer leads you to believe the neighbours are on board with the plan. Trouble for the OP here is that anyone taking one the work for the neighbour, if the neighbour gives them the honest facts, may well be a thick skinned PITA type person.

We have found chicks in the nest in late September on more than one occasion. These were blackbirds about 7ft above ground in a conifer hedge.

Beats the alternative of tripod ladder and telescopic tools. I've certainly used a couple of BT poles to similar effect.

Derailing thread a bit - I keep a roll of visqueen in stock and offer to protect really tidy gravel drives with it, if customer happy to pay the cost of the material. makes the clean up a lot easier.

Definitely requote at a higher price now. It would make me wonder if there is a bit of friction behind the scenes between the neighbour and customer, and we all know that often ends up making our job more difficult.

Just about sums it up 💩.

I'm sure two star had lead in it, just a smaller amount. My understanding was that the lead acted as an anti knock agent, but also helped lubricate the valve stems/guides and the valve seats. On a different note we have just managed the last two days almost completely using battery saws. When we had to get out the MS261 and MS660 to do the lower trunk the fumes were horrid/eyes stinging. I only use Aspen2 in our recently rebuilt MS880. For new saws from now on I am going to be very tempted to fund the Aspen2, or any that have the fuel system components replaced.

I have attached some photos of a large mature Lime. It was fine last year other than perhaps being a bit slower coming into leaf. This year about 40 per cent of the crown, in one area as opposed to diffusely, failed to come into leaf at all, and the bit nearest to this section has pale and sparse foliage. There were no signs of the flat grey plaques of Ustulina/Kreutzmaria Deusta around the base of the trunk, but there were numerous of these bodies higher up, say to 15/18ft. There was also one area of diffuse discolouration of the bark similar to that seen on Chestnuts with Bleeding Canker. Thoughts on the culprit here would be welcome.

A touch of litotes I suspect here👍

And treacherous Willow stems for anchor points

I learnt many years ago to describe tree removal as " dismantle and fell, cutting stump close to ground". This was after a particularly awkward old witch (sorry I meant woman) took issue with the stump having not been removed when we quoted to fell the tree. I have recently invested in a stump grinder and will specify "grinding out stump but excluding roots, unless agreed otherwise beforehand". Witches (and warlocks) beware.