Arbitree

Oooh.....Nice !! Swings n roundabouts and all that. A good deed done and a thoughtful gift in return. Ah the human spirit......

Hmmm. Almost have an ‘M C Escher’ vibe to them.

Ah.....so your being paid £100-£120 a day to......fell the trees,.....sned them up,.....cross cut to spec but are ONLY being paid for the strainers/posts that are produced on the day ?! After of course being cut/stacked and pointed by yourself?! Holy moly mate !! Gaffers asking a bit much there. I’m not sure how big these sweet chestnut sticks are and to be fair, that may make a difference but with only a couple of other bods on site, I’d follow The Avantgatdener’s advice. Do a week and work out the price per stick. Then just simply approach the gaffer for a decent day rate, unless by some sheer stroke of madness you could make more from your current scenario on piece? Be safe. [emoji106]

Jack P, Are you being paid purely on the product of strainers/posts or a day/piece rate as a feller/cutter? Only reason I ask is I’m not entirely sure what the job spec is? Surely the main sticks are also being log grabbed out as a separate product. Or are you milling on site ? If it’s just cutting the larger cords for posts/strainers and it’s a case of “you earn what you make” then it’s a take it or leave it scenario. A weeks worth of graft should give you a good idea. If your being employed as a cutter/feller and are then expected to earn your dollar purely on ONE of the by products, I’d say your getting a seriously bum deal ! Good Cutters in Suffolk/Norfolk with own kit, are on £180 a day minimum. Hard and softwoods. Early starts but if on piece rate, choose your time for finish, [emoji6]. (depending on how much you need to earn). Pm me if you live in that vicinity and I could give you a couple of numbers. [emoji106]

On the contrary. Certain genus & species “require”crown thinning & cleaning regularly for the whole purpose of “allowing” wind/airflow through the canopy. Wether to reduce the risk of certain pathogens for fruit/flower production or to reduce the risk of windsail and affecting phototropism. Take fruit trees as a classic example. It’s a species specific thing but airflow and light allowance is the aim. Then there’s dealing with co-dominant crowns, transfiguration and windsail issues. I’ve had to deal with many a farm boundary tree whereby not a great deal of thought went into their initial planting, layering, placement, etc. Due to both phototropism and transfiguration they all had progressive leans and had started to and were at some point bound to fail. By a 4 yr rotation of selective thinning and formative pruning, all are still intact and thriving. Although looking rather picturesque and odd ! Surely two classic examples of thinning when it’s required/needed ? Also in my opinion it’s “tip thinning” that creates lions tailing in the first place ! Again it’s species specific but thinning/pruning just the tips is a waste of time unless your back there every bloody year doing a formative prune/thin/clean etc. Do you use a hedge trimmer Or are you talking about lilac or buddleia’ lol.

From just the pics and no in site visit it’s difficult to be precise wether the issue is biotic or abiotic but I’d be inclined to check for evidence of honey fungus before any replant. Unless noticed a few months ago and before frosts it’s likely the fruiting bodies are no longer visible but if you look hard enough you may still see evidence of where they were clustered together in clumps. They leave a noticeable black sludge. Or look under some flaking bark near the basal area and look for mycelium evidence in the form of threads. Kinda like a spiders web. It seems strange that 3 out of that entire row have succumbed yet the others in view look healthy and still in leaf. If evidence of honey fungus is found, I’d hold off on replanting “like for like” as Pseudoacacia inc the “Frisia” species are susceptible to honey fungus especially if weakened or newly planted. Re: the replant. Perhaps consider one of the true Acacia’s. The “dealbata” variety has lovely form/flowers and is also evergreen. Would look tidy.

Looks akin to a mature prunus lusitanica. “Portuguese laurel”.

No evidence of Compartmentalisation and never seen a felling cut like that. Plastic ?? Lol.

I've always heard them referred to as ears. Normally done on "snappy" species with a tendency to tear. Willow, popular etc. Good on small diameter cord wood or if felling a stand which is slightly too big for the bar.

Yes you would certainly think so and I'm sure in most cases it is however the comment was in reference to what I've noticed this season so far. Must admit I thought it strange myself. The ones along farmers fields are normally always worse due to your very point.

Aye. Street trees are starting to turn down in Essex and Suffolk. Typical leaf minor damage. Field trees not so bad though. Can't believe they are spending thousands looking for disease resistant strains when all that's required is to collect the leaves in Autumn to minimise the re infestations the following yr. No budget though I reckon. Lol.

It's what's known in the industry as a co-dominant crown. Trees sharing the same space or which are too close together create what appears to be one crown but naturally are made up from all of the species present. Looks good though. 👍

I think de-compacting the root zone by air-spading would definitely be beneficial, then mulch on top. If possible put in a barrier to protect the compaction zone after air spading. Other than the obvious crown retrenchment, from the pics I don't personally feel the tree requires to be fed but a few soil nutrient tests would soon answer that one. If the soil already has sufficient nutrients avail then feeding could cause more issues. Nutrient/Salt buildup etc. However you can't overdose on super thrive. It's excellent stuff !! Good luck with the tree. 👍

Not entirely sure but the purple petioles (leaf stems) are very similar to prunus Lusitania. Portuguese Laurel, but I'm not 100%. Other possibility is Ligustrum Japonica. Hope this helps.