Tree Surgeon Southborough

There's a big risk of damaging trees, property or even life, for those in Southborough who try to do tree work on their own, or by hiring an unqualified person. However, tree work isn't altogether safe for experienced tree surgeons, who are acquainted with all of the dangers involved. Tree surgery is definitely not a job for amateurs, and on average there are three deaths and 140 major injuries annually within the profession, making it among the most hazardous jobs in the United Kingdom.

With falling trees or branches causing around five deaths each year in Britain, a threat to life can even be posed by a poorly maintained or damaged tree. If an injury occurs, or property is damaged due to you hiring someone to carry out tree work, you may well be liable for any compensation to any third-party as a consequence of your actions. This is why using a competent Southborough tree surgeon to undertake the work on your trees is essential. (The source of the above figures was HSE).

There are 2 major trade bodies, one or both of which a trained Southborough tree surgeon should be a registered member of. Both the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) and the AA (Arboricultural Association) offers a website where you can check the membership and professional standing of any tree surgeon. On this page you can check membership of either of these 2 bodies, which gives the tree surgeon in question, Approved ARB Contractor status.

For mediation assistance and for help and advice at any stage during or after the work has been accomplished, you'll be able to speak to either of these trade bodies.

If a tree surgeon who you're unable to find on this directory offers to provide you with a quotation, you are advised to continue your search for a fully qualified and approved contractor, and politely decline their offer. Once their professional qualifications and associations have been thoroughly checked, you should try to get a minimum of 3 price quotes from different companies in Southborough. Because of the risks involved in the work, you should ask the below questions, making it abundantly clear that you need to know the answers:

• Could I contact some past customers so that I can inspect the quality of your workmanship? It's a good idea to carry out an independent check of any recent work.
• Have you got documents to demonstrate that you have the recommended qualifications, membership of the ISA or AA, and also a certificate for basic chainsaw use from the NPTC? Any worker/tree surgeon who uses a chainsaw, must by law hold NPTC/LANTRA certification. An experienced tree surgeon in Southborough might hold City and Guilds Certificates and Diplomas in Arboriculture.
• Exactly what is your level of insurance cover? Your tree surgeon should be able to show you an insurance certificate covering at the least five million pounds public liability, as stipulated by the ISA and AA.
• Can you give me a quotation in writing? You should only ever accept a written quote. NEVER settle for a verbal quote only.

On the written quote that you receive, you'll need there to be easily followed details about all the work that is being undertaken. Who is responsible for the removal of debris, tree branches and stumps should be stated, as should information on any trees which may be protected, and the steps necessary to get permission to carry out work on them. You should also make certain that VAT is included on the quote. It is crucial to realise that you've got a responsibility to employ only competent tradespeople to work on your property and trees.

PRIOR TO WORK BEGINNING - Finding out whether any of your trees are protected, your chosen Southborough tree surgeon should ensure that any work can get the green light from the appropriate local authority department. To ensure public safety, even protected trees need to be maintained so as to cut back old or dead wood, so finding that a tree is protected does not imply that you are unable to carry out important work.

If your property in Southborough is inside a conservation area then no less than six weeks written notice must be given to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) before any tree work can be conducted. This is only applicable to trees with a trunk diameter of over 7.5cm in diameter, at a point 1.5 metres above ground level. If a protected tree's branches need to be pruned or thinned to promote and sustain growth, it is also not necessary to supply notice.

After assessing the health of the trees on your property, your chosen Southborough tree surgeon will determine the appropriate treatments and how the best outcome can be safely accomplished. Your property, public areas and any section of a neighbour's property that could be affected by falling branches will all be given a risk assessment. At this point, the quantity of workers needed and the level of protection required will also be ascertained. This could include a number of safety precautions along with PPE to ensure the safety of passers-by and nearby property.

ON THE DAY OF WORK - To keep unauthorised persons and passers-by away from the area of work, safety measures, cones and barriers will be put in place before any cutting of branches, tree felling or climbing begins. When there's the chance of debris falling onto a highway, it may be necessary to stop the traffic temporarily.

Different kinds of tree work will require the tree surgeon to have varying degrees of protection. When doing chainsaw work, they will as a bare minimum be wearing protective clothing to prevent serious cutting injuries to the hands, torso and legs. Eye and head protection, and high visibility clothing, should be worn by all operatives involved in the work.

Safety climbing equipment and ladders will need to be deployed if working at height is involved, and to help with the removal of high branches and large sections of tree trunk, additional personnel will be needed. A skip or other means of transporting the waste materials away will be parked as close to the work area as possible, therefore it is a good idea to inform your nearby neighbours of the need for easy access.

AFTER COMPLETION OF WORK - All of the waste and branches will be transported away and the site cleared of all debris, as soon as all of the work has been completed. Your tree surgeon will then put together and sign off a certificate of work, a copy of which will be presented to you. This is particularly important where trees covered by a protection order are involved. Footpaths and highways can then be re-opened to the public, with any safety measures in public areas being removed.

If you have any problems or issues with the completed work, you should first address them with your tree surgeon so that they can be fixed immediately. If your tree surgeon is an approved member of a professional body, you can receive help and guidance from the International Society of Arboriculture or the Arboricultural Association so as to reach a satisfactory conclusion, if any further arbitration is needed.

Locally based Southborough tree surgeons will likely have the telephone dialling code 01892 and the postcode TN4. They will work in Southborough itself, as well as nearby areas such as Bidborough, Blackham, Tunbridge Wells, Denny Bottom, Matfield, Fordcombe, High Brooms, Brenchley, Rusthall, Penshurst, Langton Green, Leigh, Speldhurst, Groombridge, Pembury, Tonbridge, and these postcodes: TN4 0ND, TN4 0PP, TN4 0NL, TN4 0AP, TN4 0QB, TN4 0RR, TN4 0RX, TN11 0NG, TN4 0QQ, TN4 0PD.

For this type of assistance it's certainly a good idea to bring in a trusted tree surgeon. Southborough property owners can benefit greatly from the skills and knowhow that are the trademark of a fully trained professional.

Tree Surveys Southborough

There are a number of occasions when a tree survey may be needed, property extension and land development being the most commonplace. If, for example, you are clearing a piece of land in Southborough to make way for an extension to an existing property or a brand new home, and trees exist on that land, you might need to perform a professional tree survey to British Standards BS5837. Whether a survey is being carried out on a public or private property, it must be completed by a certified Southborough arboricultural surveyor or tree surgeon.

Within the defined area, a correctly done tree survey will produce a wide range of information about all of the trees. For example:

• The height of each tree in metres.
• The branch spread towards the West, East, South and North.
• The allocation of a unique reference number for every tree.
• The structural and physiological health of the trees.
• The number of trees (those of more than 75mm diameter 1.5m from the ground).
• The diameter of each tree (measured 1.5m above ground level).
• The expected lifespan of the trees.
• Tree management guidelines.
• The species of trees (either common or scientific).
• The ages of the trees.
• The existence of any TPOs (Tree Preservation Orders).

You probably won't need a tree survey if you happen to be doing work on an existing home in Southborough but you aren't changing the building's footprint and are not changing the access points or service lines.

The Use of Chainsaws

The most dangerous and perhaps the most common piece of equipment that's used by experienced tree surgeons in Southborough, is the chainsaw. Although battery and mains electric models of chainsaw are available, the most preferred by professionals are powered by petrol, thanks to their ease of use and greater mobility. For substantial tree work, the only realistic choice is to use petrol chainsaws, because they're able to cut through branches and tree limbs of any dimensions, and are exceptionally powerful.

Basically, a chainsaw consists of a rotating motor-driven chain which has a row of sharp teeth for cutting through bark and inner wood. Besides what drives them, there are also different styles of chainsaw for various operations, pole saws for long distance pruning and hard to reach branches, rear-handled for working on the ground (two handed) and top-handled for working at height (and which can be used with one hand).

Although clambouring up a tree with a spinning blade in your hand is an incredibly dangerous form of activity, it is rare to see a tree surgeon in Southborough who doesn't use a chainsaw. One of the main requirements for membership of the Arboricultural Association (AA), is that professional tree surgeons must be fully trained in the safe use of chainsaws.

For anybody interested in purchasing a chainsaw in Southborough, there are quite a few makes and models to choose from, but the most preferred by tree surgery specialists are Husqvarna, Stihl, Makita and Hyundai.

Storm Damage Prevention Southborough

At first glance, trees seem strong, sturdy and able to withstand just about anything that Mother Nature can throw their way. Some varieties of trees can in actual fact live and continue to grow for several hundred years and will do so happily in most conditions.

Even so, when faced with certain conditions they can be very vulnerable to the elements, and it's not only falling limbs or branches that can result, but the whole tree can fall over in extreme circumstances. The principal enemy of, and danger to trees, is high winds, and with increasing numbers of violent storms and extreme weather events this kind of damage is becoming more and more commonplace in Southborough. Soil that becomes saturated during floods or extended periods of rainfall can be another problem, as can heavy snowfall.

To lessen the likelihood of problems with your trees in severe weather conditions, it's a good idea to get an experienced Southborough tree surgeon to examine them now and again, and trim any dead, dying or overhanging branches.

To prevent bigger trees being struck by lightning, and to safeguard nearby buildings and property which might be vulnerable to "jumps" or side-flashes, it is also a good idea to fit them with lightning rods, copper conductors, or other lightning protection systems. A tree that is struck by lightning can be killed or severely weakened, a weakened tree can be left susceptible to disease, pests or decay. For any of you who think that lightning isn't that common, there are about 300 thousand strikes in the UK annually.

Ask your local Southborough tree care specialist what can be done to safeguard your trees from being damaged by storms and lower the chances of severe consequences should an unsound tree crash down due to extreme weather. (Tags: Storm Damaged Trees Southborough, Storm Damage Prevention Southborough, Storm Damage Southborough).

Air-Spading Southborough

When a tree's health is causing concern, this could be due to any number of factors, but is very often because of problems with the root system. An experienced Southborough tree surgeon might need to get at a tree's roots to check for soil compaction, root rot, or other problems.

Because there's a likelihood of inflicting damage on the roots during the digging process, until recently this was difficult to achieve. Many modern day tree surgeons in Southborough use a technique called "air spading", which employs compressed air to effectively break down and blow away compacted soil without any risk of damaging the tree's roots.

When the soil around the base of a tree becomes compacted by building work, heavy foot traffic or passing vehicles, the health of the tree can be negatively affected. When a tree lacks water and nutrients it can quickly become "stressed", and this makes it more vulnerable to attack by insects, disease and pests. Root flare problems can also be an issue, when the flare around the base of a tree becomes covered with too much soil, causing it's tissues to break down, and heightening the chance of root rot. Air-spading is useful for resolving this.

By forcing air into spaces in the soil at a speed of twelve hundred miles per hour by means of an air compressor and an air-spading tool, the air-spading process swiftly breaks up the soil without harming or damaging the tree roots. Immediate inspection is possible, as the flow of air blows the soil away from the roots. A solution can then be implemented for any any obvious problems, and the previously compact soil replaced with a looser layer of wood chips and fertiliser to help encourage the tree to revive.

Ash Dieback

A damaging fungal disease which is likely to decimate approximately 80% of the current UK ash trees, in the next few years, ash dieback (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus) was first documented in the British Isles in 2012, when a nursery brought in a significant number of trees from the Netherlands. Ash dieback is going to have huge repercussions for our beloved countryside, exacerbating the devastation resulting from the Dutch Elm Disease (DED) crisis.

A fatal disease of trees of the Fraxinus genus, ash dieback has a particularly devastating effect on the Fraxinus excelsior (common ash), British Fraxinus excelsior (common or European ash). Originating in eastern Asia where the native Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica) and Chinese ash (Fraxinus chinensis) are less seriously affected by it, the fungus which causes ash dieback is called Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, and it kills a tree by obstructing its water transport systems.

Ash dieback (or chalara ash dieback as it is often known) has now spread to most parts of the British Isles, and is dispersed by wind blown spores which can travel for many miles, speeding up the whole process.

Affecting tree of every age group, ash dieback can be recognised by symptoms such as:

• Wilting leaves that turn black in colour and fall early.
• Dark brown necrotic lesions (often diamond shaped) form where limbs join the trunk, and the inner bark under the lesions looks brownish grey.
• New epicormic growth appearing from buds that were previously seen to be dormant.
• Dying shoots and leaves which are visible during the summertime.
• Dark patches on leaves during mid to late summer.

Sometimes ash trees are seen to combat early infections of the disease, but as it returns year-on-year, they eventually die. There is not yet any cure for chalara ash dieback, and as it's an airborne disease, no effective way to stop it spreading.

While you can report instances of ash dieback to the Forestry Commission's "Tree Alert Service", it's now so commonplace throughout Great Britain that they're only really interested in hearing about cases which are found in locations not affected previously. If you believe you have a tree suffering from ash dieback in your garden in Southborough, you should speak to a local tree surgeon, who'll offer guidance and advice about how to proceed - ultimately the trees or tree will have to be chopped down and removed.

Tree families affected: the Fraxinus genus.

Woodland Clearance Southborough

Woodland clearance in the Southborough area is a sophisticated process that can be impacted by numerous restrictions and regulations. A specialist tree surgeon in Southborough can offer a full end to end service that will follow all laws and covenants on the land, and also do the clearance in an environmentally friendly way.

A decent tree surgeon will find out if there are any felling restrictions, special planning permissions or ecological constraints by conducting a full habitat survey and liaising with local authorities. If it is discovered that protected animal or plant life is in the area to be cleared, it is necessary to relocate such species, on approval from the appropriate authorities.

On account of the equipment used in woodland clearances, i.e. chipping, mulching and felling machines, it is usually more economical to hire a qualified tree surgery company to execute the work. (Tags: Woodland Management Southborough, Woodland Clearances Southborough, Woodland Preservation Southborough, Woodland Clearance Southborough).

Accidents Through Tree Surgery

As has been stated previously on this page, the work carried out by tree surgeons in Southborough can be quite dangerous. When working on trees, there is a high risk of injury to both operatives and those on the ground, so all possible safety measures must be implemented.

According to figures gathered by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive), the use of chainsaws, falls from trees, and being struck by a falling tree or branch are the cause of a large majority of serious and fatal injuries. Surprisingly, tree surgeons and arborists are more at risk of being seriously injured than those involved in the construction industry.

In relation to insurance claims the most common tree care accidents involve lifting injuries, falling from ladders and being struck by objects (branches, trees, ropes, grapple hooks, cranes etc).

That is why choosing an experienced Southborough tree surgeon is so vital when you've got tree care work that needs to be carried out. Most accidents that happen in the tree care sector are down to inexperienced workers trying to tackle tasks that they are not fully trained in. Using a trustworthy and experienced company that's been trading in the Southborough area for a number of years, is the most effective way to avoid such issues, and get your tree care work done in the safest possible way.

Firewood/Logs Southborough

Tree surgeons are usually an excellent source for logs and firewood in Southborough, if you happen to be in the market for this particular commodity. Since tree surgeons spend a good deal or their time cutting down branches and trees, I guess this is no great surprise.

Some tree surgeons in the Southborough area might be prepared to let you have branches and logs free of charge, since they always have loads of them to dispose of, while others will charge a fee for seasoned and chopped logs which are dry and ready for burning.

Logs having a moisture level of below twenty percent are ideal for burning on your open fire or log burning stove, and these will have been dried out for 12 months or more. Tree surgeons in Southborough will mostly have stocks of hardwood logs and these are really good for a sustained burn that will throw out heat for many hours. Softwood logs are superb for starting a fire, therefore if you can get your hands on some of these too, that is going to be useful.

Tree Surgery Tasks Southborough

Southborough tree surgeons can usually help you with tree transplanting Southborough, tree reduction, woodland clearance, hazard assessment in Southborough, tree staking Southborough, air spading, hedge lowering in Southborough, forestry management, tree removal, woodchipping, tree topping Southborough, hedge laying in Southborough, root grinding, tree cabling, landscape clearance in Southborough, vegetation management, soil terraventing in Southborough, tree cutting Southborough, brush cutting, landscaping, tree planning, tree care services in Southborough, emergency tree removal in Southborough, tree surveys, tree replanting, tree pruning, crown removal in Southborough, damaged tree cutting and removal, tree dismantling, tree work and other tree surgeon services in Southborough, Kent. Listed are just a few of the activities that are conducted by a tree surgeon. Southborough providers will let you know their full range of services.

Tree Surgeons Nearby

Also find: Speldhurst tree surgeon, Fordcombe tree surgeon, High Brooms tree surgeon, Langton Green tree surgeon, Blackham tree surgeon, Bidborough tree surgeon, Matfield tree surgeon, Groombridge tree surgeon, Brenchley tree surgeon, Rusthall tree surgeon, Penshurst tree surgeon and more. All these villages and towns are covered by tree surgeons. Householders in these places can obtain tree surgery price quotes by going here.

Tree Care Services Southborough

Find a Tree Surgeon in Southborough Here

• Southborough Tree Reshaping
• Southborough Tree Dismantling
• Southborough Hedge Cutting
• Southborough Tree Transplanting
• Southborough Tree Topping
• Southborough Tree Maintenance
• Southborough Woodchipping
• Southborough Tree Planning
• Southborough Arboriculture
• Southborough Root Grinding
• Southborough Cable Bracing
• Southborough Crown Raising
• Southborough Crown Lifting
• Southborough Soil Terravention

To obtain local info relating to Southborough, Kent take a look here

Tree Surgery TN4 area, telephone code 01892.

Arboriculturalist Southborough - Tree Surgeons Southborough - Tree Removal Southborough - Stump Grinding Southborough - Tree Management Southborough - Woodland Management Southborough - Tree Pruning Southborough - Tree Surgeon Southborough - TN4