He climbs like a monkey and cuts like a beaver. He's an arborist. But how much does he charge? Like a plumber? Like a gardener? Like a dentist?Like a wounded bull??
We were recently called out to inspect a massive old Bluegum on the outskirts of Korumburra, Victoria. We are huge proponents of retaining old trees whenever possible, but this time removal was the only (sensible) option. Our clients were becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of their tree....and with very good reason...
Ahh, the humble whipper snipper. Who doesn't love the sound of a throaty, smelly 2 stoke at 7am on a Sunday morning? Love 'em or hate 'em, they're an indispensable tool for neatening our green interfaces. But would you believe me if I told you they're a leading cause of tree decline in the backyard?
Do they!?!? Short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but... As Arborists we get a real mixed bag of jobs - from opulent hedge trims and fine tree pruning, through to monster removals and (often) reallllllly nasty stuff. Today we're going to look at 3 reasons why DEAD trees might cost you more to remove, and how to avoid paying too much...
An elderly lady named Elizabeth recently reached out to us for a quote to remove her massive Monterey cypress in The Gurdies (on the Bass Coast in Victoria). Despite her requesting a full removal, what immediately struck me was her overall fondness for the tree. She waxed lyrical about the trees immense stature and history, even presenting us with an apparent photograph of the young tree taken in 1937 (see below)...
There's no plant that divides public opinion more than Bamboo. Broadly speaking, there are 2 'types' of Bamboo - "clumping" and "running". Clumping species only spread very slowly and are the best option for the lazy gardener. "Oldhamii" is a popular, and adequate option for the Victorian gardener. On the downside, clumping species are slow to get established and sometimes not very cold hardy. Running species on the other hand are much more versatile and hardy, although as the name implies they spread very quickly using a network of underground runners (think Kikuyu grass x10). Although clumpers seem like the obvious choice, we'll be focusing on runners. Runners do very well in pots, but they can also be grown in the *eek* ground! Feeling brave? Welcome to...Jurassic Park...
The leaves are out, the trees have flowered, small fruit are beginning to set, it's SPRING - what an exciting time to own an orchard! Whether you have 1 tree or 100, there are a few simple tasks that almost anyone can get stuck into before Summer. Let's get started....
Coming to Netflix - the extreme sport of Fern Climbing! It's not every day we get a chance to climb a Tree Fern (which are only very distantly related to trees.) Tree ferns date way back to the Triassic period and are super weird - did you know that ferns have an intermediate growth phase between spore and adult called a Gametophyte that have free swimming sperm? Is that cool or what?!
Regular readers of our blog will already appreciate our borderline-obsession for tree cutting. As professional climbing Arborists, big trees are our bread and butter. So it may come as some surprise that we specialise in fruit tree pruning as well (primarily in Winter). For the last few seasons we've been trialling heaps of different manual secateurs, finally settling on a pair of Felco 7 roll handles in the right hand and a pair of Felco 10 roll handles in the left (Nature gave us 2 hands lazybones!) These have served us well, but a long day on the pruners had our hands and forearms totally wrecked. There had to be a better way...
