maybelateron

If you have plenty of work on perhaps they need another tree surgeon?

I generally find Cherry dries OK. During the heatwave last summer (remember it?) I left some Cherry that was freshly split on the concrete in my yard. After six weeks it was pretty dry. I call that eco kiln drying??

I use to get the same problem when I was running a Gandini 05MTS. Regularly in cold weather. I would start engine, leave running for 10 - 15 mins then all OK till next morning. Occasionally I put a fan heater under the engine cover if there was electricity available. When I replaced the throttle cable I gave it a good dose of oil, but can't remember if it helped.

I have a 64 reg Iveco daily, 146 bhp single cab, chip box and tool locker. Once the body and locker were on the payload is less than a ton. I think any 3.5 tonner with a decent chipbox will be significantly overloaded with a half full (or more) chipbox. The advantage for me of the Iveco is the chassis is c section channel rather than thinner box section. Having throughly waxoyled the chassis and everything else before starting to use it I don't expect tinworm problems. Turning circle is excellent, not as good as my mate's Izuzu though. Has a 7 ton train weight, so good for towing. Plenty of power, but the clutch is woefully inadequate for reversing up slopes slowly or heavy hillstarts. Other than the clutch I rate it highly.

I had no problem selling Monkey Puzzle on ebay to woodturners. They prefer trunk sections that take in the ring/collar of branches due to the grain, as Squaredy says. Made OK money on it too.

High risk of snow in Staffordshire. Rear wheel drive and running empty to the job is such fun, NOT.

On my A540 the gap between the blade and anvil increases in size along the blade. From memory I think it is smallest near the centre (some weeks since last blade change, I change them every 50 hours). I imagine this applies across the range of Jensen chippers. I set the gap near the centre to be as tight as possible, and check that each of the 3 blades is clearing the anvil. This works fine and stops the chip being too coarse on high roller speeds. I always turn or replace the anvil every other blade change. The anvil can be skimmed to restore a sharp corner.

I'm not familiar with the A528, but I have a 2013 A540 (turntable). If you are referring to the spacing between the blades and the horizontal anvil this is set by fitting (increasingly thicker as the blades wear) shims. Available from Jensen dealers in a range of thicknesses. I can't emphasise enough the importance of thoroughly removing all crud from the blade bolts hex recesses before trying to undo them. If the large allen key is not fully home in the hole it can round it off all too easily. Hope this helps.

On the other hand I don't think the landscaper earns any respect. I would probably have waked away from the job. No shame in that. Sometimes it makes sense to walk away on financial grounds/risk of damage to roof etc. I had to remove a low heavy branch from a regular customer's Sweet Chestnut some years ago. His neighbour had put an expensive summerhouse under the tree on his side then not long after noticed a longitudinal crack in the branch. The tree owner and I managed to persuade the neighbour to sign a damage disclaimer. No way was I going to do a £300 job with risk of costly damage. Neighbour was an odd/awkward sort. Did the job, no damage, left place tidy. No word of thanks from neighbour. His wife was totally different and really appreciative.

A good principle indeed. Should gain respect from your workers. I make the exception to this rule when it comes to lifting timber - a small 59 year old cannot lift what a 25 year old can, or what he could when 25.

Rule 1 of garden ownership: Owner could have used a step ladder and handsaw and removed lowest lateral before having kennel erected. Rule 2 of garden ownership: Have kennel erected then ask tree surgeon to come and remove lowest lateral, without damaging the fragile kennel roof. Rule 3 of garden ownership: Have neighbours who move into new build house where your large mature Silver Birch overhangs their garden. Neighbours ask us about removing overhanging branches but don't seem to want to talk to the tree owner. Rule 4 of garden ownership (a rare rule): Be a good regular customer with lots of tree (or did have,lol) who never quibbles with the quote and pays quickly. Question to tree surgeons, difficult question: Which of the above rules is the best one? Answers on a postcard please. Rule 1 of my dog: She lives in the house and has no kennel.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to drop on a Panther diesel fired steam cleaner/hot washer. I Paid £400 or so including delivery. Absolutely delighted with it. One of the best ebay bargains I have had. The service agents are Midlands based, so suits me fine

New one looks way too bulky, I'll stick with my old one for drt, and VT+rope wrench and micro pulley for the rare occasion I use SRT.

I always pay anyone who is doing a few days trial work. To do otherwise is unethical in my view. Flip side is if someone is useless/idle on day one, pay them for that day and say goodbye.

I am in Stoke on Trent. If we have a decent sized takedown that will produce good free fall sections to film I will let you know.

I have never seen a tree looking happy to be covered in Ivy. Sure, Ivy is not parasitic, but it doesn't exactly sit benignly in the tree doing nothing. It grows ruthlessly, adds weight and wind drag, and deprives leaves within the crown of light.

One thing that seems crazy these days is people who are told there credit rating is low, when the reason for this is they have not been borrowing money, or using a credit card. Our three grown up children got wise to this and made sure they had enough use of credit card (but paying it off in full each month) to help there ratings when applying for their mortgages.

Agreed entirely re (honest) cash. The lad who works for me bought a sensible low mileage car about 3 years ago. Asking price from dealer was £10,400. By the time he has finished paying for it over 5 years it will have cost him £15,000. When I started as a a tree surgeon in 2001 my first truck was a 1984 Renault Dodge 50 series bought for £400. I ran this for a bit then bought an LDV convoy brand new over 5 years. I ran this for 10 years and kept putting enough aside so that I had saved enough to buy my next truck (Iveco Daily) and have the body built a swell, without any finance costs. If you can, the only finance to run is a mortgage. I realise I am looking at it from the perspective of an individual, and a very small business. I guess it is a bit different for the big firms who lease their plant.

You know the area well for a man in Suffolk?

I did indeed escape from St Edwards when we gave up the grounds maintenance contract at St Edwards Park in 2016!

Wetley Rocks, about 3 miles from Kingsley. Happy to take a look at aforementioned tree. Don't tell them we call it Cheadle gloves when we pick up 2 lefts or rights off the truck floor.? www.mtagc.co.uk

Have you met my wife and sister? She's over there.

Two left handed gloves

Regarding the negative results from the research lab: When I was still working as a GP I learnt that often the lab would fail to grow a positive fungal culture when sent a sample of toe nail clippings, when the nails had a classical appearance of fungal infection. This is a common symptom from middle age onwards. We were advised that if it looked fungal then treat it as such even if lab result was negative. Does anyone know if there is a similar difficulty sometimes for testing trees samples for fungi? I have been observing a lovely large Atlantic Cedar over the last five years on a site we used to manage. It has been showing typical dieback compatible with Sirococcus, and keeps having a flush of new needles then dies back a bit again. It overhangs a road in the housing estate (in grounds of former county asylum, lots of lovely big mature trees), and is next to a bus stop, so risk assessment of fell vs wait and see is a bit interesting. The entire site is TPO'd and the local tree officer (who is great to work with, unlike the other councils I have to deal with) agreed it could be felled. The site management company asked us to take it down, then when two residents living opposite the tree kicked off big time management said leave it as it is. I gave up the grounds and tree maintenance on that site two years back, due to frustration on many counts, and the tree is still standing and dithering about live vs die. No doubt if it sheds a limb and there is injury or worse to anyone the residents who kicked off will be the first to point fingers, but not at themselves.

I have invested in a Li ion top handle chainsaw. This is great for light pruning, light dismantling, and also very good is sound sensitive situations, eh early morning start in residential areas. It is light and less tiring to use if you are like me, an older climber well past peak strength years. Once I am at a point where I need to be making mainly cuts into 6 inch or more diameter I get the petrol saw sent up to me. I also feel the electric top handle saw is a safer tool in the tree, as the chain spins much slower, so is less likely to do quite so much trauma if the event of mishap. No reason the get lax on safety though. We don't have a rear handle saw yet, but this will come I am sure, as I agree entirely with James905 comment about battery saw for a quick cut by the chipper. I can really see the power and versatility of battery saw increasing in the near future.