EXPLANATION OF TERMS:

Clean out crown: Being the removal of dead wood, dying, diseased, weak, suppressed, split, broken, hanging crossing and rubbing branches and epitomic growth (small shoots emanating from the main trunk and stems) from the crown.

Remove dead wood: Being the removal of all major dead wood in the tree down to 3-4cm.diameter.

Formative prune: Being the minimal pruning of, usually, young trees to maintain optimum initial branch structure and crown balance in order to pre-empt potential future problems.

Trim/Shear: Usually refers to hedging and shrubs both evergreen and deciduous. Being the pruning back to flatten off or round off of growth to contain spread and maintain control/optimum visual appearance and shape.

Crown lift: Being the complete removal of lowest branches to main trunk and/or the reducing back in length of lowest branches thus increasing the height of the main crown line above ground level. Usually expressed in metres.

Crown thin: Being the removal of all branches as in ‘Clean out crown’ and the removal of further smaller diameter branches evenly throughout crown in order to lessen the crown density and thus improve light through the tree. Crown thinning will not result in any major alteration in the outline of the tree. Usually expressed as a percentage.

Crown reduce/reshape: Being the all round reduction of the crown size of the tree (not the trees’ overall height) unless otherwise specified. Usually expressed as a percentage. In some cases only partial crown reduction is specified in order to clear buildings, street furniture etc. usually expressed in metres.

Pollard: Being the removal of all growth back to main trunk or trunk knuckles, unless otherwise specified.

Fell: Being the complete removal as near to ground or surrounding soil level as possible of the tree, leaving a stump. Usually entails the dismantling of the tree in sections.

Grind down stump: Refers to the stump at or near ground level. Being the mechanical chipping out of the stump to 0.3 below ground level only. The trees’ radial root spread remains intact unless otherwise specified. Arisings are removed to leave area level.

Grind out stump: In some cases, usually with smaller shallow stumps, it would be possible to grind out the whole stump. On larger stumps the grinding of radial roots down to a certain diameter may be specified.

Grub out: Refers to the stump and roots of a tree. Being the physical /manual digging out of a stump and its root system. Usually applies to smaller trees.

Winch out: Refers to the stump and roots of a tree. Being the physical/manual excavation of the area around the tree/stump, the severance of major radial roots and the mechanical winching out of the ground of the stump then the backfilling of the area where possible to level. Usually refers to larger trees.

Treat stump to prevent regrowth: Being the poisoning of the stump at ground level following felling work effectively to prevent the tree from reproducing Product used: Amcide; a systemic product which breaks down to a nitrogenous fertiliser after 6-8 weeks. Treated stump to be kept covered until such time.

Spraying: Tree/shrub spraying with insecticide/fungicide can only be carried out with the appropriate licence. Arbforce currently carry out spraying operations.

Brace: Being the support of the trees’ branch/limb structure by mechanical means in order to extend its safe useful life expectancy. Cable bracing involves the use of bolts drilled through the trunks and connected by steel cables. Cobra bracing involves the use of nylon rope encircling trunks and connected to itself. Similarly tree branches/limbs can be supported with steel props installed into the ground.