Excuse me for my technical english. Maybe I'm not saying it right or something. That's maybe because I am a belgian guy and english is not a native language here. I'll try to get it right this time.
I think we're on a different level here. I fully understand what you are trying to say and I'm not saying that I know it all...
A tree is always part of landscape and it's certainly not the landscape itself. Of course it's very important to know as much as there is to know about the landscape, if you call yourself a landscaper, and of course it's very important to know as much as you can about trees, if you want call yourself an arborist.
But I do feel that someone who calls himself an arborist should be able to carry out the work itself, and it seems like that isn't the case. How on earth are you going to provide the correct information to your client for let's say crown-bracing if you can't see that there's a problem at 50 feet above the ground? How are you going to justify a cure to a client if you haven't seen the symptoms up in the tree yourself ?How are you ever assessing ,let's say a platanus occidentalis, for masaria disease if you can't see the wounds on top of the limbs? Are you going to pull on a limb and see if it falls off? You hire another guy to go and take a look to see if it's necessary? To be your eyes and ears? Any good arborist knows that there are things you see up in the tree whom can't be seen from the ground. How do you feel about that? How would you feel if you are providing an advice, knowing that there's maybe a lot more going on in that tree than meets the eye? Would you feel secure and confident in your advice?
As for the relationship of tree and landscape... You are absolutely right that an arborist has to know a lot about turf care... since that is in direct relation to the tree...
If a client asks me for advice on a tree that has to be planted, I take a look around and see what would fit. I take a look at the plants whom thrive in that garden and automatically I have a good idea of what kind of soil it is or what the groundwater- level is like... I drill a hole in the ground and take samples for the lab to analyze... I look at the space we are going to use and what the client wants regarding to colour and natural form. I ask what kind of tree they would prefer and what the actual objective is in say about twenty years from now. I ask why the tree has to be planted? Does it have a use and if so... What will be it's use? Are they thinking of getting a pool or pond? Are they thinking about installing driveways or porchesafter planting the tree? Do they care a lot about the aftercare that's going to be needed? Will they have a certain budget for the future if something would happen to the tree? Will they perform work on the tree themselves? What are they expecting when the tree is full grown? See these are a lot of questions that must be answered in order to provide a good advice. Everyone of these questions is vital to the future of the tree and some don't seem to have anything to do with it. By asking all these questions I do relate the tree to the clients demands but also to the landscape he already posseses. But it certainly does not make me a landscaper. The same thing goes for someone who can create a beautiful landscape around an existing tree. They probably could tell a lot about ground and soil,they'll probably know how to prune the tree, know a hell of a lot more plants then me, probably ask ten times as many questions as we do in order to provide the proper advice about the landscape and everything. But that certainly does not make one an arborist. Every single one of us can provide a 500% quality job,with a matching or even maybe exceeding quality compared to yours, if we hire qualified subcontractors to do certain specific jobs for us... See if you call yourself an arborist but you can't, for example, climb, then you are only half an arborist and therefore cannot provide a good service for a client = 50%. Except, of course, when you hire equipment like bucket trucks or qualified climbers again, who could do that job for you. Then you are again where we , the CA's ,are now... at 100%. There's, IMO, no grey zone about wether you are an arborist or not. To be or not to be... that's the question. Do you consider yourself an arborist or do you prefer landscaper technician? or both?
I do have a small problem with this...
What's more important?
The non-hort aspect? Or the hort aspect?
Gear, climbing, rigging? Or comprehensive plant ID and cultural care knowledge?
If you f... .. in ID'ing a plant, it could die...So you buy another one = BIG DEAL?
If you f... .. your rigging, gear, or your climbing once (1 TIME) chances are that
you, or someone else dies... VERY BIG DEAL!!! You tell us... What's more important?
Please don't compare apples to skyscrapers... Because that's exactly what you are doing here...
And I'd love to see that bigfoot/sasquatch trap, MD. Looks like something really cool to me. But for some reason the link is not working...
