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quercus · 6th January 2008, 04:35 AM

I'm gonna have to go with Ekka on this one... This how I see it, and why I see it that way...

The stuff that makes you an arborist is the ability to perform high-end work on all trees, both big and small, and everything that is related to trees. I think it's better to know everything about something (trees) then to know something about everything (landscaping). Apart from looking at gear and related stuff, I think that an arborist could be a landscaper too, but not the other way around.Comparing this is the same as comparing a regular doctor and a heart surgeon. The heartsurgeon will be able to do what the doctor does, but could it work the other way around? I've seen some devastating tree work around here, done by landscapers who couldn't climb. They cut whole limbs off a tree because there were some dead branches on them. If they were able to walk out on that limb, they didn't have to do that. Therefore the tree came on a second place, first place was not having the knowledge to do their work correctly.Better said, they did have the knowledge because they knew that what they were doing was a complete failure... But they did it anyway because they couldn't reach their jobsite sort o' speak.What they should have been doing is call a REAL ARBORIST to do the job for them, instead of doing it themselves and by doing so, mutilate another tree. 80% of all trees that we work on, are not reachable by bucket. Say if we were to climb them with a ladder we'd go back to the beginning of tree-care and therefore placed ourself and our crew in harms way.The ability of climbing is a way to distinguish yourself as a master arborist and tree-care and climbing and safety go hand in hand. For me there's no other way. And it doesn't take a lot of gear to climb a tree safely and to walk out on a limb safely. In fact, I could do almost everything I can do right now with the use of 1 flipline, 1 helmet, 1 climbing line and 1 saddle and absolutely nothing else. All the other gear is just meant to make the work faster and therefore more efficiency is guaranteed. It's just a choice you have to make in the beginning.But if you cannot climb you have no choice to make. It's the bucket or... you can't do it.Hacks are recognized by this method. The tree has to be reachable by bucket, or it has to be felled in one piece, without knowing it's even needed to remove the tree.Come on guys, this cannot be what we stand for? This may come as a shock to some of you, but it is the ability to effectively do what's right on trees is what makes you an arborist, not only the knowledge wich you have on the ground...

Say you have to inspect a big tree for a client. There are two ways in accomplishing that. One is with a bucket, the other possibility while climbing. Compare the costs and then see wich one the client prefers. If costs for inspection are high he'd want to have the tree removed to be sure and to avoid more costs later.On the other hand if costs were low, chances are you and the tree will benefit from that because maybe a tree can be saved.And you are gonna be the one working on the tree because you, compared to one million of hacks, don't need an expensive bucket truck.

6th January 2008, 04:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
quercus Mature tree Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: belgium Posts: 421	Re: Counterfiet in Tree Care I'm gonna have to go with Ekka on this one... This how I see it, and why I see it that way... The stuff that makes you an arborist is the ability to perform high-end work on all trees, both big and small, and everything that is related to trees. I think it's better to know everything about something (trees) then to know something about everything (landscaping). Apart from looking at gear and related stuff, I think that an arborist could be a landscaper too, but not the other way around.Comparing this is the same as comparing a regular doctor and a heart surgeon. The heartsurgeon will be able to do what the doctor does, but could it work the other way around? I've seen some devastating tree work around here, done by landscapers who couldn't climb. They cut whole limbs off a tree because there were some dead branches on them. If they were able to walk out on that limb, they didn't have to do that. Therefore the tree came on a second place, first place was not having the knowledge to do their work correctly.Better said, they did have the knowledge because they knew that what they were doing was a complete failure... But they did it anyway because they couldn't reach their jobsite sort o' speak.What they should have been doing is call a REAL ARBORIST to do the job for them, instead of doing it themselves and by doing so, mutilate another tree. 80% of all trees that we work on, are not reachable by bucket. Say if we were to climb them with a ladder we'd go back to the beginning of tree-care and therefore placed ourself and our crew in harms way.The ability of climbing is a way to distinguish yourself as a master arborist and tree-care and climbing and safety go hand in hand. For me there's no other way. And it doesn't take a lot of gear to climb a tree safely and to walk out on a limb safely. In fact, I could do almost everything I can do right now with the use of 1 flipline, 1 helmet, 1 climbing line and 1 saddle and absolutely nothing else. All the other gear is just meant to make the work faster and therefore more efficiency is guaranteed. It's just a choice you have to make in the beginning.But if you cannot climb you have no choice to make. It's the bucket or... you can't do it.Hacks are recognized by this method. The tree has to be reachable by bucket, or it has to be felled in one piece, without knowing it's even needed to remove the tree.Come on guys, this cannot be what we stand for? This may come as a shock to some of you, but it is the ability to effectively do what's right on trees is what makes you an arborist, not only the knowledge wich you have on the ground... Say you have to inspect a big tree for a client. There are two ways in accomplishing that. One is with a bucket, the other possibility while climbing. Compare the costs and then see wich one the client prefers. If costs for inspection are high he'd want to have the tree removed to be sure and to avoid more costs later.On the other hand if costs were low, chances are you and the tree will benefit from that because maybe a tree can be saved.And you are gonna be the one working on the tree because you, compared to one million of hacks, don't need an expensive bucket truck.