Conor Wright

They're all much the same. I've used gtm, greenmech, lumag and jansen machines and there is very little between them all. Keeping blades razor sharp is the key to them all. Id say get whichever one has the swivel chute and biggest tyres for the money you want to spend. Wouldn't focus too much on which brand it is. Saying that I'm happier with my gtm than I would have been with a lumag, build quality is a bit better, again not a lot in it.

Bargain, what else would you get for that money? Bullet proof old machines, an uncle of mine still runs an identical one today. its 3 generations in the family now and has never had a thing done to it, apart from blades as needed and a switch box when he moved it into his new (20 years ago) workshop. be gentle transporting it though, they can be hard to get back true again if they get a whack or twist. Hope you have an extractor!

Pm sent

Few pics from an interesting job I was involved in a while back. The actual tree work was beyond my capabilities so I called in the legend that is @s o c and his crew to do what I couldn't. The log splitting marathon that followed is slowly coming to an end! The wiggly eucalyptus gave the splitter a proper battering. Lovely site to work on and very sound client. 20230327_085953.mp4 20230411_140040.mp4

Neither did I to be honest. A friend of mine runs a company selling and hiring landscape machinery and he is getting two just to gauge the market, its coming from the same company that sells muratori, I had a muratori hedge cutter and it was of reasonable quality, if that's any guide to the quality of these or not I don't know. I'm going to put a few hours on it and report back my thoughts on it. Not that I've a lot to compare it to, but I think I've become a good judge of the build quality of equipment. Sadly its been through trial and error at personal expense. If I was to buy I'd be trading the compact with fel and getting a dedicated loader and another compact, but without a loader. Not sure of the price yet but I've seen them at €33k in germany https://www.landwirt.com/en/used-farm-machinery,3305079,Sonstige-Neomach-NOVA-X30-Radlader-Knicklader-Hoflader.html

Both the wee chipper and hinowa mewp are just out of shot on that laurel pic! It didn't warrant bringing the digger and grab. Have a crate on the front loader of the compact tractor too but rarely use it. I don't mind big "chop em down" jobs so much, it's easier than the "light trim" jobs in many ways. Pissing rain here today so I'm bagging kindling and I'll probably make as much or more money for far less effort than hedge trimming. I'm thinking of getting a mini loader, avant or similar, bigger than a sherpa as I need to be able lift pallets of logs. Waiting on a demo of a neomach nova x30 https://neomach.com/en/products/nova-x30-en/

The reality... we should do an arbtalk "real life" catalog. Wide hedges, stuck saws, blowers splattering dog shit up the side of the van etc. The cover will be whoever has the wettest, most miserable looking selfie with a row of leylandii in the background and a recoil spring in one hand. 20220803_163757.mp4

If you really want to do something arb related on the side, become a physiotherapist.

Hedges destroyed my shoulder and lower back. You cannot charge enough for them. I still cut a few for regular customers but it is heavier work than forestry cutting, albeit in a nicer environment. Not sure about prices where you are but between 350 and 500 (euro) per day is my hedge cutting rate. Customers can take it or leave it. Mewp is extra if required and removing clippings is extra. Calling leylandii palms is extra, not supplying strong tea and chocolate biscuits is a breach of contract and incurs a reduction in productivity. Dog shit on the shoe is extra, dog shit on the ladder is charged per rung. Any hedge wider than it is tall is charged as two cuts. Thorny hedges are extra. Brambles and ivy will be left as habitat and anyone that watches you work all day in the rain from the comfort of their kitchen window, waits for you to clear up, put the gear in the jeep and then asks for it to be cut six inches lower, will from now on be carefully dismembered and disposed of as compostable material.

I'm guessing one of these. Can't beat a simple solution.

Non runner imo. wrong time of year, tree is behind the fence so no access for truck mounted spade, (looks too big anyway) tree is also too well established meaning a lot of root loss which reduces its chances of surviving even more. Then there's the cost of it. Spend 500 quid on a bagged specimen beech from a nursery and it'll do better than that one ever would, even if the transplant was a success. I'd estimate moving and repositioning that properly to be a 10 to 15 k job (tree spade, crane, diggers, crew, transport, aftercare etc) total guess as I've never moved anything of any real size. So if anyone wants to correct me there I'm happy to be wrong.

I personally know only one self employed person surveying full time here. (Im sure there’s more). there is a shortage of registered foresters though, if you were interested in that side of the market there is work. The man I know who is surveying also hires large stump grinders and a truck mounted tree spade, not sure if that's out of necessity or not. I think it will be an expanding area of business over here. There isn't anywhere near the level of protection orders or the complexity of getting felling licences as the uk but I can see it becoming more regulated, especially near towns and cities. If you were willing to do forestry licence applications (planting, roads, thinning, felling etc. all need seperate applications. All in some way related to grants and subsidies so they can be time consuming) or freelance as a forester acting as a go between for the client, fallers or mills it would give you a base load of work to "branch out" from. The south, east and Midlands areas within the Dublin commuter belt is where the majority of that kind of work is located. Parts of the Midlands and most of the West Coast area would be difficult markets, partially due to less trees and partially due to a more relaxed attitude to laws and governance! If you wish, I can put you in touch with the man I know, he'll know better than I what the job opportunities are. Might be worth checking out itca's website, the Irish tree care assoc.

Pity the powers that be here in Ireland have completely banned future oil exploration and refused permission to extract what has already been discovered, then simultaneously also refuse permission to develop the port in rosaveel to be capable of providing docks for vessels to build the offshore windfarms designed to replace the aforementioned oil and gas. The lng terminal got the go ahead though, so at least we can store a couple of weeks worth of imported gas... if they ever finish it. It is a ludicrous situation where we line the pockets of dictatorships and countries who exploit the staff on the ground and pay mega high prices to buy resources we should be using and selling ourselves. Just in case you thought Scotland was alone in wasting opportunities.

This one has me scratching my head... I planted this laurel hedge for a client just over two years ago. I replaced a handful of failures last winter and noticed some other plants were not looking too good. I was passing today and saw that more had declined with some completely dead. most of it has done reasonably well however there are about 30-40 plants showing these symptoms. This hedge got the same treatment as all the others I've planted over the years and I've never encountered this many losses. Anyone have any ideas? Btw its Unlikely to be drought. Its a wet site, they wanted beech but I convinced them to go with laurel at the back as I thought it too wet and peaty for beech. Same batch of plants from the same nursery were used on other sites with little to no losses. The client did add sheep manure to the soil about a year before it was planted but I don't see this being an issue. About 20 of them are together with the remainder dotted around the site. About half the hedge is thriving. The ones I replaced are not doing well either. Anyone recognise a disease from the pics? I'm probably going to dig it out and replant either way but I'd like to know the cause.

Maybe it identifies as metal and we have no choice but to accept that? when it gets burnt to a blob it will be the fault of toxic masculinity, non veganism and climate change. It's always the ones with blue hair...

Polish news is saying Lukachenko has offered safe refuge for wagner forces if they pull back. Seems there was a lot happening over there while the world was looking for a missing submersible.

It's different to selling a manufacturing company with contracts, or even a larger arb business with commercial clients. you can't guarantee the customers that have been loyal to you will be transferable. They may not like the new owner and go somewhere else after one job, the new owner may work to a different standard, someone else may sweep in and take a portion of your work etc etc. Hard as it is to swallow, this type of business is not readily transferable and while it takes time, money and effort to build up a customer base, it's your customer base. Especially for a sole trader. Its value is to you alone imo. Best you could hope for is value of tools plus 5-10% goodwill payment. Others can feel free to correct me, but I don't think I'm far off the mark.

One positive thing I should note here is that I see a few of our friends putting up little tunnels or having a go with a few veggies in a window box etc. The worst of the ignorance appears to be in the 40-50 and teenage ranges, in my own anecdotal experience at least. You could forgive the younger ones, they may well learn. I had little interest in growing food until my mid 20s. There is a level of interest out there, its just a shame that what was common knowledge 2 generations ago is now lost to 90% of the population. The storage and preservation of the grown food is equally important too. Jam making, blanching and freezing, clamping spuds, pickling etc. This is where the real value is in growing your own. Modern life has ****************ed up a lot of people's eating habits too. No time to prepare meals, easier to stop at the deli, ready meals, take aways. I'm guilty of all the above, but you can't beat your own food. shank of lamb with homegrown veggies, fresh eggs, seasonal fruits... we probably manage one in 10 evening meals being 100% off our own land. This should really be the baseline but I see so many people who eat 100% bought food out of fear. Theres a perception that unpackaged food is "dirty" if you want dirty, take a swab of the screen of your phone.. Rant over!

Can't blame them really, an apple a day and all that...

Yeah, I feel your pain. we grow a bit if our own veg and fruit too, nothing special. Had a local beef farmer in visiting recently and he commented on how well our potatoes were doing. I had to point out that they were, in fact gooseberry bushes. You couldn't make it up. We gave a friend some fresh beetroot (stalks intact) a couple of years back and he had no idea what they were. These are country dwelling folk. How bad must it be in the towns and cities? Growing your own food should be a school subject imo.

Had one but sold it on. Couldn't get close to same quality finish as hand cutting. You also need to be able track and cut without losing power, ruling out most older machines with single pumps. They have their place, a long run of 5 or 6 ft hedge beside a road or track is ideal, wide back garden stuff with obstacles. Forget it, pure frustration.

A tow behind grass vac like an agrimetal or trilo would make short work of the clippings.

The majority of my work is rural (read easy access) so it's more cost effective to get a local digger operator to rip out the stumps. They usually have a dump trailer to bring in fresh soil and remove the waste, leaving me with a handy bit of raking and seeding/replanting etc. The odd grinding job I do get I either use my own little dosko grinder or hire a bigger tracked grinder in and operate it myself. I imagine it's tough going, keeping yourself fully booked just stump grinding. With a downturn on the way (don't argue, it's happening!) A bit of diversification might be necessary. As an aside, I've been asked to leave a couple of high stumps recently as people want to have them carved. It may be a combination of factors, cost, more tree companies providing full services incl grinding and the uptick in private tree owners getting carvings or utilising standing stumps as features that is causing a slowdown in work. Regarding the increase in landscapers using your services, it may be an insurance thing.

Have you much to process?

Nothing to do with me!