Re: City tree trimmers alert! :)

[B.Server]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003 14:21:56 -0600, "Victor M. Martinez"
> wrote:

>The city tree butchers, er... trimmers are active in north-central Austin,
>near Park Place nursery.
>
>Victor M. Martinez

>http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv
>

Damn, where did I put the blunderbuss?

[Babberney]

On Tue, 14 Jan 2003 14:21:56 -0600, "Victor M. Martinez"
> wrote:

>The city tree butchers, er... trimmers are active in north-central Austin,
>near Park Place nursery.
>
>Victor M. Martinez

>http://www.che.utexas.edu/~martiv
>
>
FWIW, the guys who clear wires are on contract to the city. One side
of town gets Asplundh, the other gets Davey. No doubt there are some
good pruners working for both, but since they make less money than
everyone else in the iindustry (for the most risk), they tend to move
on quickly, so you get inexperienced workers and/or the dregs that
nobody else wants.

The City has crews that work in parks and along right-of-ways. These
guys generally stay in their jobs for years, and probably most of them
know how to prune trees properly. You might not notice this much,
though, since they tend to spend their time cleaning up messes when
trees break or die more than they prune nice trees.

k
For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
For consumer info about tree care, visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/consumer/consumer.html

[David H]

"Babberney" > wrote in message
news:4F77A2129B62703F.12F5B4B8BDDDD4BF.5A86C8CE1B4 ...
> On Tue, 14 Jan 2003 14:21:56 -0600, "Victor M. Martinez"
> > wrote:
> FWIW, the guys who clear wires are on contract to the city. One side
> of town gets Asplundh, the other gets Davey. No doubt there are some
> good pruners working for both, but since they make less money than
> everyone else in the iindustry (for the most risk), they tend to move
> on quickly, so you get inexperienced workers and/or the dregs that
> nobody else wants.
> For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please
visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
> For consumer info about tree care, visit
http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/consumer/consumer.html

I just stopped in here first time. I have a service in NW Houston that does
trees "properly". Good to see a promoter of good arborculture hanging out
here. Tell me, Babberny, do you guys have a lot of pine bark beetle there?
We have pines all over the place here turning light green to brown. I've
found beetle larvae in every one of these we've removed a square of bark
from. Ag extension says stressed trees are the ones most often attacked by
bark beetles and our long periods of no rain last summer are partially to
blame. My yard is strictly organic and my pines look great. The property
with the most dying pines are the ones you see bags of organic material out
at the curb every week. No organic material left in soil. Dries out quicker.
Oh welll, soon as weather dries out and gets warm every tree service in
Houston will be getting rich. My best to Austin.

David H.
All Organic Lawn & Tree Service
NW Harris County
281.415.7953

[Babberney]

On Tue, 28 Jan 2003 08:31:26 -0600, "David H"
> wrote:

>I just stopped in here first time. I have a service in NW Houston that does
>trees "properly". Good to see a promoter of good arborculture hanging out
>here. Tell me, Babberny, do you guys have a lot of pine bark beetle there?
>We have pines all over the place here turning light green to brown. I've
>found beetle larvae in every one of these we've removed a square of bark
>from. Ag extension says stressed trees are the ones most often attacked by
>bark beetles and our long periods of no rain last summer are partially to
>blame. My yard is strictly organic and my pines look great. The property
>with the most dying pines are the ones you see bags of organic material out
>at the curb every week. No organic material left in soil. Dries out quicker.
>Oh welll, soon as weather dries out and gets warm every tree service in
>Houston will be getting rich. My best to Austin.
>
>David H.

David,

No, we don't have a problem with the beetles because we don't have any
pines to speak of. Austin soil sits on a bed of limestone and the
resulting alkalinity precludes their success. Bastrop is the closest
pine forest, but I don't know if they have beetles or not.

I'm glad to see there are actual arborists in Houston. In my in-laws'
neighborhood, hiring the lawn guys to strip out trees seems to be the
standard. When I let slip my prices, the Houstonians I talked to just
blinked and moved on.

keith
>All Organic Lawn & Tree Service
>NW Harris County
>281.415.7953
>
>

For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
For consumer info about tree care, visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/consumer/consumer.html

[David H]

"Babberney" > wrote in message
news:01E4FC44D45C4292.D2A14FC70E7EC652.E283BDB6D9E ...


> No, we don't have a problem with the beetles because we don't have any
> pines to speak of. Austin soil sits on a bed of limestone and the
> resulting alkalinity precludes their success. Bastrop is the closest
> pine forest, but I don't know if they have beetles or not.
>
> I'm glad to see there are actual arborists in Houston. In my in-laws'
> neighborhood, hiring the lawn guys to strip out trees seems to be the
> standard. When I let slip my prices, the Houstonians I talked to just
> blinked and moved on.

> For more info about the International Society of Arboriculture, please
visit http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/.
> For consumer info about tree care, visit
http://www2.champaign.isa-arbor.com/consumer/consumer.html
Welll, I'm not really certified arborist. Just studied it a bit. Try to do
minimalist shaping up of trees I work on and organic methods on ground. Of
course we cut some down too. When they have beetles there's not much choice.
Also been taking out a few over hanging ones that make home owners nervous.
Did one the other day est. 80 ft. tall. Grew up from back yard, bent over
house from about 25 ft. on up. some of top limbs reached past front edge of
roof. it was a lot of fun. We had to rope it down a piece at a time. I went
up at 9:25 am and didn't come down to ground till almost 4. By the time I
helped ground crew cut up and load what was left and we collected and left
it was almost 6. Went home and had a full Six Pack Attack and two big home
made cheese burgers. Whew, what a day. Well, next time you get to "get
high", have fun and be safe.
David H.