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.

Perfect height and teeth mark for deer although they do normally prefer epicormic shoots to cambium. Odd.

Crown structure very similar to Amelanchier but could possibly be liquidambar. Still getting to grips with winter/spring twig ID lol. Apart from the obvious ones.

565kg

Joking aside, I'm not sure. However I have heard and watched videos by "unnamed people" from city areas that say they have and do. I'll look into that.

Ps. That was ref to trees in fallen in roads. (Highways). Private land/SSSI sites/Conservation areas completely different kettle of fish. A disturbance of habitat etc. Serious possibility of severe fines.

That's a touchy one. Presuming you do not hold/have PPE, a chainsaw ticket, have no public liability insurance, traffic management quals inc regulations met on site and permission sought/lights/additional groundsman etc....potentially very bad !! But to be absolutely Honest, legal liability aside, no mucker is ever gonna stop, check and ask you your legality when you have a chainsaw in your hand and are clearing the road for them! emergency situations can lead to impulsive acts. If it ever went to court I highly doubt you would face any serious comebacks. The council however may want their "firewood" back lol.

Hmmm. Was out in the woods in deepest Suffolk today doing a 40% reduction on an 80ft Oak.100 ft oaks uprooting all around. Get your pre addressed invoices to Highways ready people !!

#17. Classic !

#6 lmfao. Excellent idea. Also worth considering are light movers. Rather than static lighting systems you can power up to a 600w High Pressure Sodium set up and cover the entire space with one bulb as it runs slowly along a track like system. Cheap to buy, cheap to run and more than ample for veg. Also, have you considered having the oak crown cleaned & thinned and or crown lifted/reduced. It all depends on site orientation, site aspect n all that. Hope this helps. Food for thought.

250w or 400w metal Halide lighting system would be sufficient to cover a 10ft sq area so you may need 2. Halide provides red spectrum ideal for vegetative growth however you Can always use High Pressure Sodium lamps instead. They give off the blue spectrum more conducive to producing fruit/veg however they do give off more heat. Cost brand new for both will set you back approx 240. Cost to run is about £1.50 per day. Alternatively there are some excellent LED systems available. Check out your local Hydroponics shop. 😉