Tree Surgeon Birmingham

There is a big risk of damaging trees, property or even life, for those in Birmingham who attempt to do tree work on their own, or by using a non-qualified individual. However, even for trained tree surgeons who are aware of all the risks, tree work is not entirely safe. On average there are three deaths and 140 severe injuries a year within the industry, making it among the most dangerous jobs in the United Kingdom and certainly not for amateurs to try.

A damaged or poorly maintained tree can also be a danger to life, with around five people a year being fatally wounded by falling branches or trees in the United Kingdom. If you hire someone to conduct tree work and there is an injury, or damage to property, you could be liable to third-party compensation claims. The above are merely some of the reasons why it is essential to retain the services of an experienced tree surgeon to do the work on your trees in Birmingham. (The above figures were sourced from HSE).

PICKING A TREE SURGEON IN BIRMINGHAM - There are two trade bodies that a decent Birmingham tree surgeon should really be an approved member of. The websites of both the AA (Arboricultural Association) and the ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) allow you to view the professional status and membership of any tree surgeon in Birmingham. Membership of either of these organisations will give the tree surgeon recognised Approved ARB Contractor status which can be checked out on this website.

If a problem develops during or after any tree work has been carried out you can communicate with these professional organisations for mediation assistance and for guidance and help at any point.

If someone offers to provide you with a quote for any tree work and they aren't on this directory list, you should politely decline their offer of work and find an approved contractor. As soon as you've reassured yourself of their accreditations and professional associations you should try and get at least three price quotes from different companies in and around Birmingham. Whilst obtaining the quotations you should ask the questions below, making it abundantly clear that you need to know the answers because of the risks involved with tree work:

• Can you provide a NPTC certificate for chainsaw use, and documentary evidence of your qualifications and professional memberships? It's required by law that any operative/tree surgeon using a chainsaw must have a NPTC/LANTRA certificate. A seasoned tree surgeon in Birmingham will probably hold National Diplomas and Certificates in Arboriculture.
• Is It Possible To contact a recent person you've worked for so that I can check the quality of your workmanship? It's recommended that you do an independent check of any recent work.
• Do you supply quotations in writing? You should only ever accept a quote in writing. NEVER accept a verbal quote alone.
• What insurance cover is provided? Don't entertain a tree surgeon in Birmingham with less than £5 Million public liability insurance as set out by the AA and ISA.

The written quotation must include clear and precise information on the work to be undertaken. Who is responsible for removing debris, tree branches and stumps should be stated, as should details of any trees which could be protected, and the necessary steps to get permission to carry out work on them. Double check that they have also included VAT on the quotation. You've got a responsibility for employing only qualified tradespeople to work on your property and trees, and it is important to understand that fact.

PRIOR TO WORK - Making enquiries into the possibility of any trees having protected status, your selected Birmingham tree surgeon should make sure that any tree work gets the green light from the relevant local authority department. Even protected trees require maintenance in order to cut back old or dead wood and ensure public safety, so discovering that a tree has protected status does not mean that work cannot still be carried out.

If your property in Birmingham is located within a designated conservation area, the Local Planning Authority will require a minimum of 6 weeks written notice of any tree work you're planning to do. This written notice is not required if the stem of the tree is under 7.5cm in diameter when measured at 1.5m above ground level. If the thinning or pruning of a protected tree's branches are required in order to promote and sustain growth, written notice is also not necessary.

On site they'll complete a thorough assessment of your trees and decide on the necessary remedial treatment and how best to achieve the required outcome in a safe manner. This will involve a risk assessment of any areas that could be impacted by falling branches, such as on your property, in public areas, and on neighbour's properties. At this point, the amount of operatives required and the level of protection needed will also be determined. This will include various safety measures together with PPE (personal protective equipment) to guarantee the safety of the general public and adjacent property.

ON THE DAY OF WORK - Before any tree felling, cutting of branches or climbing is started, barriers and safety measures will be put in place to keep passers-by and unauthorised persons away from the area where work is going on. If there is a danger of falling debris into a public road, traffic might need to be temporarily halted.

Varying levels of protection will be needed by the tree surgeon subject to what work needs to be carried out. When carrying out basic work with a chainsaw, to prevent serious cutting injuries to the hands, torso and legs, they will at the very least be wearing protective clothing. Every worker involved in the operation, must at all times be wearing hi-vis clothing, together with head and eye protection.

Safety climbing equipment and ladders will be required if working at height is involved, and to help with the safe removal of high branches and heavy sections of tree trunk, additional operatives will be essential. It's recommended that you inform your next door neighbours of the need for access, because a skip or other means of transporting the waste materials away will be parked as close to the work area as possible.

UPON COMPLETION OF WORK - Upon completion of all the work, the area can be cleared of any debris, and all the waste can be transported away. Your tree surgeon will then put together and sign off a certificate of work, a copy of which will be given to you. This is particularly important where trees with TPOs are concerned. Any safety measures that were put in public spaces can then be taken away, with roads and paths being re-opened to the public.

If you have any complaints about the work, you should get them rectified immediately by firstly taking them up with your tree surgeon. If your tree surgeon is a registered member of a professional body, you can obtain guidance and advice from the AA or the ISA so as to arrive at a satisfactory solution, if there's any further dispute or arbitration required.

Locally based Birmingham tree surgery services will probably have the postcode B1 and the phone code 0121. They will work in Birmingham itself, as well as nearby areas like Lea Hall, Handsworth Wood, Edgbaston, Bromford, Small Heath, Druids Heath, Highgate, Birchfield, Smethwick, Ladywood, Hockley, Selly Oak, Aston, Bordesley Green, and these postcodes: B1 2LN, B1 1HQ, B1 1LP, B1 1JG, B1 1NH, B1 1WB, B1 2HZ, B1 1LS, B1 2JJ, B1 2LB.

If you need this kind of service it is definitely better to bring in an experienced tree surgeon. Birmingham business and home owners can benefit from the skills and knowhow that are the trademark of a seasoned professional.

Chainsaws in Tree Surgery

The most commonplace piece of equipment that tree surgeons in Birmingham use is the chainsaw. It's a versatile and effective tool, but in the wrong hands, also a dangerous one. Because of their ease of use and portability, petrol powered chainsaws are the most popular with professionals, although mains electric and battery models are available. For slicing effortlessly through thick limbs and tree trunks, petrol chainsaws are the only serious option option, being extremely powerful and able to deal with even the most substantial of tree work.

A chainsaw is composed of a motor and a revolving chain with a series of razor-sharp teeth that cut through the wood and bark of a tree. Chainsaws are also available in a variety of designs, each having its own distinct use - top-handled for working at height (and which can be used with one hand if required), pole saws for hard to reach branches and long distance pruning and rear-handled for work at ground level (two handed).

Whilst clambouring up a tree with a rapidly spinning blade in your hand is a fairly dangerous form of activity, you will rarely see a professional Birmingham tree surgeon who does not make use of a chainsaw. So as to gain membership of the Arboricultural Association, being trained in the maintenance and safe use of chainsaws is one of the key requirements for professional tree surgeons.

There are a lot of different brands and models of chainsaw, but the most popular ones used by specialist tree surgeons in Birmingham are Hyundai, Husqvarna, Stihl and Makita.

Hedge Cutting Birmingham

Despite the fact that tree surgeons in Birmingham are mainly involved with the care and maintenance of trees and shrubs they are often called in to trim hedges. In particular this is helpful if you've got conifer hedges such as Leylandii which will often grow too tall for most gardeners to handle.

When a hedge is uncared for or poorly maintained, it can get out of control and overgrown very quickly. Frequent clipping is advisable if you do not want a hedge to overwhelm large areas of your garden in Birmingham, and in addition to making the hedge stronger it will also make it more visually appealing.

Tidy hedges help make your garden and property neater and more appealing, which could be an advantage if you're considering selling your home in Birmingham in the near future. You can also get hedge trimming in Lea Hall, Handsworth Wood, Edgbaston, Bromford, Small Heath, Druids Heath, Highgate, Birchfield, Smethwick, Ladywood, Hockley, Selly Oak, Aston, Bordesley Green, and Birmingham, West Midlands. (Tags: Hedge Trimming Birmingham, Hedge Cutting Birmingham, Hedge Clipping Birmingham, Hedge Maintenance Birmingham).

Cable Bracing Birmingham

When a tree presents a risk to nearby property or pedestrians, or if it's showing warning signs of decay or damage, the tree can be offered extra support using a method known as tree cable bracing. Cable bracing is frequently used on valuable or older trees in Birmingham where the aim is to avoid chopping down the tree or removing large unsafe sections.

A cable bracing set-up can be used for supporting V-shaped forks, weak limbs and poor joints. By the fitting of cables and rods most tree surgeons in Birmingham will be prepared to redistribute structural tension and extend the life of old and valued trees using various kinds of bracing work.

Cable bracing doesn't cause further damage to the tree by drilling and bolting the branches, and delivers a flexible and shock-absorbing method of support that is pretty much non-invasive. A thorough risk risk assessment, to guarantee the safety of the tree and adjacent areas, needs to be completed before the commencement of any tree cable bracing work in Birmingham.

Tree Preservation Orders & Conservation Areas Birmingham

Before you schedule any major work on your trees in Birmingham, you should make sure that none of them have Tree Preservation Orders (TPO's) To check whether any of your trees are protected by TPOs, speak to your local authority. A Tree Preservation Order prevents the topping, uprooting, lopping, wilful destruction, wilful damage, removal or felling of any tree that is protected. Ask your tree surgeon about this - they'll be happy to check all this out for you.

If your house is inside a conservation area in Birmingham, and propose to carry out any work on a tree with a diameter of seventy five millimetres or more (1.5m from the ground), you must give at least 6 wks notice in writing to your local council. (Tags: TPOs (Tree Preservation Orders) Birmingham, Tree Preservation Orders Birmingham, Tree Preservation Order Birmingham).

Required Skills for a Tree Surgeon in Birmingham

• Good customer skills.
• Have the ability to work with your hands.
• Have a methodical way of working.
• Be capable of repairing, using and maintaining machines and tools.
• Be professional and capable of completing tasks within a specified time frame.
• Be mindful of the dangers and complexities involved with the various areas of tree work.
• To be able to undertake basic tasks on a hand-held device or computer.
• Have a good understanding of public safety measures.
• The capacity to work efficiently with other folks.
• Patience and the ability to stay calm in stressful circumstances.
• Physical skills such as coordination and movement.

Ash Dieback

Likely to devastate around 80% of the current United Kingdom ash tree stock, over the coming years, ash dieback is a chronic fungal disease of ash trees that was first reported in the United Kingdom in 2012. Ash dieback is going to have huge ramifications for our countryside, contributing to the damage caused by the earlier Dutch Elm Disease (DED) outbreak.

A fatal disease of the Fraxinus genus of trees, ash dieback has an especially disastrous effect on the Fraxinus excelsior (common ash), British Fraxinus excelsior (common or European ash). Believed to have originated in eastern Asia where the native species of ash (the Manchurian ash and the Chinese ash) were less susceptible, the fungus which causes ash dieback is called Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, and it obstructs its water transport (vascular) systems, causing it to die.

Now present in most regions of the British Isles, ash dieback is dispersed by wind blown spores produced by the fruiting bodies of the fungus, and are able to travel for many miles.

The unmistakeable symptoms of ash dieback are:

• Dying shoots and leaves that are visible during the summertime.
• New epicormic growth appears from previously dormant buds.
• Leaves that develop dark patches during mid to late summer.
• Wilting leaves that turn black in colour and fall early.
• The formation of lesions where limbs meet with the trunk.

Sometimes ash trees have the ability to fight off initial infections, but as the disease returns year-on-year, they ultimately succumb. As it's an airborne disease there's no obvious method for stopping its spread, and no cure for chalara ash dieback.

If you suspect that you have discovered a tree infected with ash dieback on your property in Birmingham, or somewhere else in the local community, you can report it to the Forestry Commission's "Tree Alert Service", although the disease is so prevalent throughout Britain that they are only really interested to know about cases discovered in areas not affected previously. You should still however get in touch with a local tree surgeon, who can offer guidance and advice on how to proceed.

Trees affected - the genus Fraxinus.

Logs & Firewood Birmingham

Of course, you may be looking for a tree surgeon for an entirely different reason, because they are normally a great source for firewood and logs in Birmingham. This is no great surprise, as tree surgeons spend the majority of their life chopping down branches and trees.

Recently felled logs and branches are often available "free to collector" from certain Birmingham tree surgeons, who are just glad to get rid of them. Other local tree surgeons, with the space to store them, will season and dry the logs and sell them off by the lorry load or bagged, and will often even deliver them to your home.

Logs with a moisture level of less than 20 percent are ideal for burning on your log burner or open fire, and these will have been left to dry out for a year or more. Most often tree surgeons in Birmingham will have supplies of hardwood logs, and the good thing about these is that they give a sustained burn, providing 3 or 4 hours of heat. The downside of hardwood is that it can be quite difficult to get going, therefore if you are able to get your hands on a few softwood logs, these are wonderful for getting your fire started.

Dutch Elm Disease

A fungal disease which has wiped out many millions of precious elm trees throughout the British Isles during the last 50 yrs or more, Dutch Elm Disease (Ophiostoma novo-ulmi) isn't quite the concern that it was at one time. Spread by the elm bark beetle and caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, DED (Dutch Elm Disease) was unintentionally introduced into Great Britain from North America (Canada) in the Sixties.

After its arrival, it was rapidly spread through the nationwide transportation of elm products such as crates, saplings, mulching bark, and logs with the bark on. It was not just Great Britain that was affected by this horrific disease, since elm stocks were also ravaged in mainland Europe, North America and New Zealand.

DED typically first manifests in early summer, and the main signs are:

• Dark rings or spots in the cross-section of twigs.
• Twigs turning into a "shepherd's crook".
• Affected shoots dying back from the tips.
• Clusters of leaves turning yellow, wilting and falling.

The chopping down of infected, dead and dying trees, has effectively decimated the beetle's favourite habitat, and in recent years the spread of DED has been dramatically slowed down. The propagation of young elms which are so far resistant to DED is a continuing project.

You can request a diagnosis from the THDAS (Tree Health Diagnostic and Advisory Service), or you can contact your local tree surgeon for guidance, if you've got elm trees in your garden in Birmingham, and have suspicions they might be afflicted with DED.

Eco-Plugging Stump Removal Birmingham

The common method that is used for removing stumps by most Birmingham tree surgeons is stump grinding. However, "eco-plugging" is now becoming increasingly more popular as an easier and cheaper alternative to this procedure. It's not simply the fact that eco-plugging is cheaper that makes it an attractive solution for stump removal, but also that it can be used in hard-to-reach and awkward locations that are hard to get at with bulky stump grinding machines.

Eco-plugging is an exceptionally effective treatment for killing off tree stumps and doesn't affect any nearby vegetation and trees. Eco-plugs can be employed in any weather and at any time of the year, and they eliminate the stump by killing off the whole root system. Eco-plugs contain a kind of granular glyphosate herbicide which is suitable for treating a variety of trees, and is 95-100 percent effective.

Tree Surgery Tasks Birmingham

Birmingham tree surgeons can generally help you with damaged tree cutting and removal in Birmingham, formative pruning Birmingham, woodland management, tree management, tree felling, tree topping, tree reshaping, crown removal, retrenchment pruning, dead wood removal, tree lightening protection, woodchipping, hedge lowering, repair of storm damaged trees in Birmingham, tree lopping, emergency tree surgery, tree pruning, root removal, tree dismantling in Birmingham, tree planning Birmingham, crown reduction, air spading, crown cleaning, root grinding in Birmingham, pollarding, shrub maintenance in Birmingham, root flare exposure, hedge reduction, terravention, vegetation management Birmingham and other tree surgeon services in Birmingham, West Midlands. Listed are just some of the tasks that are undertaken by a local tree surgeon. Birmingham companies will tell you about their entire range of services.

Tree Surgeons Nearby

Also find: Edgbaston tree surgeon, Small Heath tree surgeon, Aston tree surgeon, Selly Oak tree surgeon, Birchfield tree surgeon, Bordesley Green tree surgeon, Handsworth Wood tree surgeon, Druids Heath tree surgeon, Ladywood tree surgeon, Bromford tree surgeon, Highgate tree surgeon, Lea Hall tree surgeon and more. Almost all of these places are covered by tree care companies. Home and property owners in these places can acquire estimates for tree surgery by clicking here.

Tree Care Services Birmingham

Find a Tree Surgeon in Birmingham Here

• Birmingham Eco-Plugging
• Birmingham Tree Replanting
• Birmingham Stump Treatment
• Birmingham Soil Terraventing
• Birmingham Hedge Planting
• Birmingham Crown Removal
• Birmingham Tree Care
• Birmingham Tree Removal
• Birmingham Tree Pruning
• Birmingham Tree Cutting
• Birmingham Crown Raising
• Birmingham Stump Removal
• Birmingham Crown Thinning
• Birmingham Tree Pollarding

For local Birmingham information check here

Tree Surgery B1 area, (dialling code 0121).

Tree Surgeons Birmingham - Tree Care Birmingham - Tree Management Birmingham - Vegetation Control Birmingham West Midlands - Woodland Management Birmingham - Tree Surgery Birmingham - Arboriculture Birmingham - B1 - 0121