Dan Maynard

The Avant has a better seat than the Rayco.

I kind of want to post something similar every time someone says they've converted to single hand. Injury on modified splitter is one of the few successful HSE prosecution of tree surgeon I could find online. Your own splitter on your own property fill your boots, but someone working for you is such an obvious PUWER flout they are likely to have a look and throw the book. My splitter is two hand operated and will remain so, ram return happens when you let go so it isn't a big hindrance. Otherwise make a bonfire of the chainsaw trousers, boots, second rope, chain brakes, and all the other safety measures to guard against pretty low risks tbh. There, said it. Now carry on...

I think the robot ones make sense if you're alternative is paying someone to drive the mower.

I was looking at these the other day, the bigger Makita ones hold two pairs of batteries and have a switch to change over. I don't see how you could go to corded mower with 1000m2 around fruit trees, the cable would be a menace.

Been sat on my jacksie with COVID this week. On the bright side, not had to fill up the truck. Every cloud, as they say...

What vehicle are you in? Different manufacturers have different ideas about what 4WD means, could just be that you used a bit more fuel than necessary.

I don't handle the volume of jobs that many of you do, so maybe wouldn't work as well but I put everything into Trello boards. (www.trello.com and also a phone app). The concept is simple, it's cards which you can put into lists and put lists on boards. I have a board for tree work, then start a card for each job enquiry, write job details onto. You can make whichever lists you like to put cards on, I have enquiry, quote to write, quoted, queue to do, done (need paid) and move jobs across. They can have dates, notes, whatever added so that you can make a summary of what's due as well. The great thing about a cloud system is that it's the same set of boards anywhere, so whether that's lunchtime in the van, in the office doing my other job, or at home when I've left stuff in the van it's the same set of up to date cards. Bottom line is though like any system you have to keep checking it and make sure you put everything on. I think it's far more important that you have a simple system and stick to it, than the system itself be perfect.

Probably obvious but if you are thinking of taking it on yourself a felling hinge made of that white stuff is not to be relied on, likely to just snap rather than bend so the tree falls any direction it likes. Seriously consider hiring someone just to get it on the ground.

Doesn't look the same no, I'd guess a willow or poplar. White rot is a broad description of decay inside the wood caused by many different fungi, so on its own not enough to say. That's why we look for fruiting bodies or FFB as identifiers. Some fungi start at cuts or wounds and spread down, some start at the bottom and spread up. HC and pop are not good at stopping the spread either way. Fungal spores are everywhere so it's always going to spread given a chance, bit like bacteria always around us ready to infect a cut. Some do spread through the soil. In any case these are pretty advanced and with that much of the top dead the bottom will have been starved. The danger of course is decay in the roots causing the whole thing to fall over. Looks like it's by a road in which case duty of care applies, best advice I can give is get someone competent to have a look as failure reasonably foreseeable.

That is delignification caused by white rot, those branches are dead. What caused so much of the tree to die is not apparent.

That's the other answer, we'll sell through Amazon or ebay. No regulation taken any notice of.

What I find most disheartening is when I work hard to reduce carefully so it almost looks like it hasn't been cut, and the customers answer is "oh I thought you'd take more off" Last time this happened I'd taken about 12 feet out of a birch and they waited till we'd tidied and raked up before coming out with it. Closest I have come to losing my cool with a customer - decided we'd have lunch break while they had a think and when we came back they decided they liked it after all. Sometimes I think it would be easier to mow it all off to stubs, customers probably just as happy.

Good feedback, thanks.

If Mark posts on here when they arrive we can form a posse, police won't have enough notebooks so have to forget about the wood. Boom it's a plan.

Surely get in the way snedding?

If you haven't already, sign up for an account on L&S Engineers website and they then show you all the manufacturer parts diagrams which can be pretty helpful about the assembly.

Presumably that's this business https://arboraeration.com/ Interested in the outcome, it seems a bit overcautious compared to the normal level of risk something will be wrong when buying a property.

I said to my son earlier this week (who wasn't born during our blockades in 2000) prices are plenty higher now than they were then. Where are our farmers?

... started watching but fell asleep in the armchair?

I worried about that too, looks more Lidl than Dolmar? @shavey ?

... and none of the wiring is LR so all good.

If the moisture is right then nutrients would be next. All that water poured through might be washing nutrients away.

Nightmare. Glad mine has absolutely minimal electrics, not even a built in radio.

That's criminal, people have known not to do that to shafts since the invention of steam engines.

I don't think they are anywhere near the last few victims, more like dropped the price to get a few starters to sign up. As they say on dragons den, I'm out.