lux

That’s the general idea. A large percentage of my customers have large properties in small villages / rural locations. So yes not ringing up on site would be a real plus, saving time and effort. If I was moving huge amounts of timber from a site I would most likely just contract that to someone. The tractor will do other duties such as running a post knocker etc as well.

Limited to yard space though. Haven’t got space for an hgv size trailer. From what I have seen most tractors in the size bracket I’m looking at don’t run air brakes either.

Road use predominantly.

Thinking old Massey or case Ih. And yes def want brakes for the road. Unsure of which are the better old models to look for. Some of the old John Deere’s also appeal.

I’m thinking of buying a tractor and timber trailer with crane. Doesn’t need to be huge , prob around the 100hp mark. Do any of you good folk have some recommendations. ? In general on this size set up what are the arrangements for trailer brakes. I’m assuming hydraulic as it’s generally larger tractors with air brakes. Any advice at all is appreciated. Cheers.

How much are you looking for ?

Ha. You’re working on it with us in October.[emoji23] And please , no more ash logs .... I’ve still got a mountain of un processed ash .....

Ha , ever increasing workload Bob. Not advertised yet just been asking around the local contacts other tree surgeons etc who have decent guys floating between firms assisting when required. Judging by the amount of posts at the moment I’d say a lot of firms are in a similar position with the recent upturn in business across most trades. Plasters certainly seem to be in huge demand. Desperately seeking more for our self build at the moment, a lot of them are charging circa £300 per day atm. Shortage of materials has seen them able to inflate prices with large contracts facing penalties to finish builds beyond schedule which are less palatable than the daily rates. I can always let the media junkies know if they want to watch their phones half the day aspen arb are recruiting [emoji38] ( in friendly jest ...) Seen some of your blue vans in my neck of the woods recently [emoji106] was it you selling the grab lorry ?

Well if any freelance guys want work around my neck of the woods they can get in touch. I could do with extra decent guys to call upon. [emoji106]

Not necessarily. It’s preferable yes but some people have skills in other areas that fit in with the work we do so as long as they are a good reliable hard grafter they get rewarded the same. They may have skill sets that fit in with fencing / landscaping work we occasionally do that some of the guys with saw tickets are less clued up on. But spreading the knowledge and mucking in gets the tasks done.

Yes there is. I simply don’t tolerate it. If I’m paying a fair wage I want someone with good common sense and a proactive approach to self initiate tasks before being asked or getting their phone out of their pocket ..... I’m comfortable paying good money for a good worker. A strong work ethic is all I expect people to turn up with. Anything else can come later and is relatively easy to sort.

My starting rates for ground crew are 140 per day. Most of them are on 150/160 per day.

Ha no stunt fell on this one. The trunk is staying to get carved if I dismantle it. Where abouts are you based ?

Yes I pretty much agree

For work , beer , or both [emoji38]

You Aren't far from me (haslemere), Tree in question is in Lurgashall. Continual felling of Ash, some, of it I have to say rather pointless and was more a case of local authorities tree departments using up budgets to ensure they get the same or more in following budget years. The clients land is the same as everywhere else, peppered with die back, we have a few to take out and cut back limbs on the next visit there. Most of them are woodland trees that border fields so no rush to fell them all immediately. This one is a bit more prominent and its a nice tree so just trying to be thorough and investigate how critical the bark splits are, I'm still not any wiser as to what exactly they are. How are you fixed work wise atm? Im desperate to find some extra subbies local to me if its of any interest at all. Alf (hunting hicap) is local and with us quite regularly. Perhaps a pub in the middle of us 3 could be located and sampled !

It has the odd dead twig in the crown. In fairness commensurate with the age of the tree and certainly not in the same form as other obvious dieback victims on the land there. The crown is pretty decent looking which stands in its favour. I would expect to see far more obvious signs in the crown before any effect on bark of major limbs. ( other than small lesions). I’ve got plenty of ash trees in my woods. Some with advanced dieback but stood next to ash with no visible signs. Some trees show resistance / resilience to it as we know. Put it this way. These sorts of long fissures occur in bark on many trees. Forget it’s an ash tree and say it’s a cherry or any other tree. What would be a probable cause to those fissures in that circumstance?

That would be fine if it had obvious signs of dieback.

So what’s the précis of his observations on decay columns ? How does it fit with Codit etc ? We all see and work on trees with occluded wounds all the time. Plenty of them standing year after year in good health. Would there be a relationship between the column of decay and the long splits in the bark elsewhere? the splits aren’t a recognised symptom of die back , particularly in a tree with a reasonably healthy crown. The client doesn’t want to see the tree removed if possible so I will most likely recommend a picus or similar and go from there. I’m not sure the splits are related to the decay but on the other hand I don’t really know what has caused them. Similar to the sort of thing you see if a tree has some rapid growth etc but I’m certainly no expert in diseases in trees. .. I just make em smaller or get em gone ... I certainly don’t carry any indemnity to advise on their health.

The crown is in pretty reasonable shape. No die back to speak of. I would expect to see the crown in poor shape before the large limbs show problems so I’m not convinced the bark fissures are chalara related. However they are a concern. If it’s a dismantle the trunk is to be carved and remain. Not too worried about the column of decay lower down its occluded well and small in size compared to the live wood so not an urgent risk. As someone else mentioned canker , I usually associate it with lesions / bleeds not long fissures circa 12ft long ? Cheers

Dear All. Looking for some thoughts from other learned colleagues on here about bark splitting I’m back working at a regular customers soon and we have been monitoring a mature ash at the bottom of the drive. It has minimal signs of Die back so that’s not a real concern It has what may well be a historical lightening strike damage low down but this has occluded well There are a number of large splits in the bark on major limbs and unions. The type I would usually attribute to sharp temperature changes or similar I’m giving some thought to a long term , 10 yrs plus type management plan on the tree. Possibly starting with some light reduction work to reduce weight and sail area etc. I’d be grateful for other opinions on the splits in the bark as a health issue to the tree. Cheers all.

Yeah and then any assets going back more than one year you are taxed at 19% on your vat reclaim. Only the first back dated 12 months gets no tax on the vat reclaim. They do love taking the jam out of everyone s sandwich at any opportunity [emoji23]

Not sure what they buy them in at. They knock out the 550xp at about £470 on similar size bar. That includes my discount I expect. But anyone shopping regularly there gets a good trade price. Always found them reasonable on price to be fair. (Honey brothers)

I was going to buy a 550xpg a couple of weeks back but they had an echo 501sx on 16 tsumura bar for 400 quid. Bought it and quite like it. Starts first pull hot or cold. No electronics. Super lightweight and the more you use it the more it loosens up and gains in power. The light weight makes it a joy to use all day. Quite honestly buying a 50cc pro saw it’s just going to be down to personal preference. They are all good. The echo certainly gets a thumbs up from me though.

Anyone with a mobile processor available for Haslemere on the Surrey /West Sussex border. I can supply extra labour to keep a speedy machine well fed. Mostly Ash in a mixture of lengths / rounds Many thanks.