Bucket Editorial

[skew]

I'm writing in reference to the editorial piece in both Arborist news and TCI by the European consulting arborist who claims that the use of bucket trucks is responsible for bad pruning in Europe. Further more he goes on to state that it is not possible to properly prune trees while using one. I strongly disagree. Using an aerial lift enables you to do things that you simply cannot with out. I would never down play climbings' importance- instead viewing both lift use and climbing as more of as a complete package. Kind of a slap in the face to the lift manufacturers that are huge sponsors of our trade groups, don't you think? Any way I know it was just an ed piece but claptrap none the less

 

[NickfromWI]

I do notice that when you travel throughout the US, you see a lot of bad pruning, and you can tell (or you otherwise know) that it was done by a bucket. So the question is, is it the buckets fault or the operators fault. If all those trees had been climbed by the same people who bucketed them, would they look different? Would the trimmers have cut them the same because "that's the way a tree is supposed to look?"

I don't think it's all the buckets fault. But buckets to limit you. You can't reach everywhere with it.

love
nick

 

[skew]

I suppose my point being that it seems like it is more of a problem with the standards of what is considered acceptable rather than a problem with the tools used to do the job. "buckets don't top trees, people do" Charlton Heston

 

[BLUE_FIN]

bucket trucks don't make the cuts or make the decision to remove or save the growth that is being removed. so if a tree was improperly pruned its not the horses fault but the jockey's. and from my veiw most operators are not climbers and if they were not trained to climb and perform other tree care tasks they probably were not trained to prune properly. bucket trucks are a valuble tool in our industry and come in handy sometimes but it will never replace a climber. we have a 60 ft bucket with a 15 ft elevator and it is a sweet machine but even with that capacity it still can only be used on about 50% of our jobs. but to get back to the original post i think it would be a bad injustice to blame a valuble tool for poor pruning when its the man in the bucket performing the pruning. its never your fault its the equipment , the sun was in my eyes, the groundman never pointed it out , thats what the customer wanted etc etc

 

[Nathan]

Untrue indeed!!

IF it were phrased as companies that only have buckets and polesaws vs companies with climbers, then yes, I would say the bucket co's would do the shoddier work due to limitations.

I think they may be going the wrong way about getting at the fact that buckets are capital intensive and less labor intensive. Meaning you spend more upfront but the benefit is you can put an $8/hr jughead in the bucket. I am sure that unfortunately happens, but it isn't the bucket's fault and it is insulting to assume bucket operators are jugheads or less educated.

I think he is making the assumption that climbers are more educated and more trained.

I think there is a lot of truth in those assumptions but it is a rather broad brush to paint with.....

 

[klimbinfool]

Comming from the satnd point of being a bucket operator and climber , I can somewhat see thier point. I dont think thier really blamming the bucket truck, but the person who is actually doing the work in the bucket .They need to try and reach out and draw these people in to thier prunning seminars to educate them a little more.

The same occurrences happen in the US. I know they do because I see it happening all the time. Lions tailing , over prunning, taking out larger limbs that shouldn't be comming out and yes, bad cuts. Why ? because thier uneducated . Not only in the European countries , but everywhere.

A small amount of climbers will actually go the extra mile to do tip reduction where most of the prunning should be done. But instead, strip the limb or take off larger ones thinking thier doing weight reduction and doing justice as far as proper pruning.

I know for a fact, especially in large trees that are accessable with a tower , I can do a much more thorough job, especially when it comes down to tip reduction and making the proper cuts.Just cant always be done when climbing, Unless your right out there at the tip. other wise you have to use a pole saw or prunner and even at that, most of you know that when standing on the same limb that your trying to do tip reduction, you cant always get the right angle for a cut.

I see alot of bucket operators doing bad prunning , but then again So are alot of climbers.To try and condem or blame the use of buckets for bad prunning is foolish. They have a place in the industry, especially when it comes to hazardouse removals, larger trees that would be more time cunsuming to climb then to just tower ect.

The Eropeans are proud of thier traditions in the tree industry, but I also think ,that some of them need to realize that bucket operations is not the problem .

Greg

 

[NickfromWI]

Greg, what do you mean by "tower."

 

[klimbinfool]

Nick , the same thing as a Bucket truck

 

[skew]

Nathan- I guess I am writing this view point as an owner operator who had many years of experience climbing before I ever stepped foot in a bucket.I mean seriously- when I started climbing professionally I worked for a guy that used manilla rope because he was old school Although I suppose you are correct about the 8.00 / hour jughead- I look at it as a productivity thing. It just happens that in my part of the world there sre many places that I work that I can reach multiple trees from one spot. The best climber in the world would just take longer to prune 5 trees than I can do from my truck. As well as the fact that given the cost of an aerial lift these days I have a hard time imagining someone that has a lift but not a skilled climber. Most jobs we do require climbing. But when we can get the bucket close it sometimes gives us a competitive edge in this very cut throat market here. I suppose further more as I stated before that I am the owner of the truck and am trying also to do the highest quality work that I can- there aint no way I'm letting someone get in my bucket and do crappy pruning. Even though I am supporting my opinion on this matter I was particularly interested and amazed that both of the trade publications felt that this was a good editorial piece. They have both failed to print my follow up rebuttal.