Tools in the Wrong Hands?

There are many famous tool-related quotes that could be used to start off this article – but perhaps we can avoid the clichés and focus on the key problem: good tools put into the wrong hands don’t end up doing much good!?

As a child, I was lucky to have relatively unlimited access to a wide range of hand tools – and a woodland area to use them in. Even so, as I started to take an interest in trees and then went into arboriculture as a ‘groundie’ in my late teens, I also progressively took my ‘tickets’ and learnt a lot by doing so, rather than working on trees based on my childhood experiences. This is the recommended route to becoming a skilled arborist, through in-depth training and accreditation, accompanied and followed up with extensive experience (Arboricultural Association, 2023).?

You can, however, take on a basic operative role in grounds maintenance or tree care without having much experience or training to start with – and perhaps never ending up with NPTC ‘tickets’ or other recognised accreditations. On the positive side, our industry is easy to enter; on the negative side, relatively untrained personnel are often going to be doing bad things with good tools.?

Strimmer Killers?

Of all the things killing amenity trees, the misuse of grass strimmers (or “weed whackers”, as they are commonly called in the States) must be one of the most frequent and most depressing ways in which young and newly planted trees die (Fig 1). I get to see this very often, and I know many other arboriculturists do too. Often, it is ‘repeat business’ that finishes off a young tree – amenity grass is often cut 10-15 times a year, so just a few of such visits where there is some nicking and notching of the base of a small tree, and that will be enough to cause dysfunction and then death (Fig. 2).?

Those wielding a grass strimmer need to resist the temptation to cut every blade of grass, right up to the tree’s stem, to make such a site “look tidy”. They need an understanding that trees are very vulnerable to such damage, as most of the life in the stem of a tree lies just underneath the outer bark (within the inner bark).

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It is literally in our hands whether this sort of damage occurs – or not. Trees can recover from the damage caused by mower and strimmer damage (Figs. 3 & 4) – and there are some obvious solutions to prevent it happening in the first place, whilst providing a better growing environment for the trees too. Strimmer guards are a quick and easy fix – establishing and maintaining a mulch circle around the tree’s base is better as it provides multiple benefits – and putting in some form of more permanent barrier to prevent grass-cutting equipment ever being able to come close to the tree’s base might be the best insurance against it happening.

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Hedge Trimmer Killers?

You would think that a simple rule, such as not to cut scale-needled conifer hedges ‘into the brown’, would be an easy thing to understand; however, I’ve seen too many instances where “Ignorance + hedge trimmer/chainsaw = death of a conifer hedge” (Fig. 5). Some examples I have seen are shaped and pruned quite proficiently – so the operator had good cutting skills - but what he/she clearly lacked was the knowledge that there’s no coming back for such conifers (e.g., Chamaecyparis, X Cuprocyparis, Thuja) if they are pruned in this way.?

Chainsaw Carnage?

Unlike a strimmer or a mower, if you are using a chainsaw on someone else’s land for monetary gain in the UK, having a ‘ticket’ (namely NPTC 201/202 (previously CS 30/31)) is kind of expected of you – although, as far as I know, it’s not a mandatory legal requirement. However, there is a large suite of such ‘tickets’ available, and some are less popular for those entering the industry: particularly the pruning ticket – NPTC 302 (previously CS 40). Essentially, a lot of trainees stop at NPTC 308 (previously CS 39) – “using a chainsaw from a rope and harness” – and, thus, how they use that chainsaw up in a tree varies considerably; one arborist’s “pruning” of a tree can be much drastic than another’s.?

In the northwest of England, the chainsaw is often a tool found in the wrong hands, when it comes to tree pruning, as my ever-extending library of images of poorly pruned trees attests to (Figs. 6 & 7).?

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In some ways, it is unfortunate that established trees are so resilient – as they can get treated poorly but will seem, to the layperson, to still be OK quite some time after such a brutal ‘attack’ (Fig. 7). Looking at it the other way around, though, if trees weren’t so resilient then even more of them would be dying off more quickly, due to how prevalent these poor practices are.?

Lessons Learnt?

Our new tree plantings face a substantial number of challenges, unfortunately, but at least this one, of poor use of the tools, is solvable. It is often touted that the answer to all this unnecessary damage to publicly owned amenity trees is “Education, Education, Education” – and undoubtedly this can help: i) education in the correct use of these tools – ii) education in how trees are vulnerable to wounding and poor pruning – iii) and more general education about having respect for the environment, for community spaces, and why one should do such maintenance tasks to the best of one’s abilities.?

However, we’ve been trying the use of education to solve this problem for several decades now – and this problem hasn’t gone away – if anything, it’s worse (Schuck & Slater, 2018). Perhaps, as with a lot of things, we need ‘money to talk’ – and we could establish penalties and enforcement for poor performance by greenspace contractors, if their actions lead to the death or damage to public assets, like the new urban trees that are much needed by our communities.?

Another approach is to revisit those ‘tickets’ – ensuring that the training involving these tools requires a clear demonstration by the candidate that they are aware of the damage that can be caused by them – and that they can also carry out good practice in-the-field: a bit like the theory and practical one must go through to gain a UK driving license. It may seem excessive to put someone through this sort of training just to cut the grass or to prune a tree – but with probably thousands of trees dying from these problems each year in the UK alone, it’s surely worth trying something different. For it is insanity to do the same thing over and over again and then to expect different results – which is not a quote I have borrowed from anyone in particular!?

References?

Arboricultural Association (2023) Careers web page. Available at: https://www.trees.org.uk/Careers. Last accessed 17.07.2023.?

Schuck S and Slater D (2018) The effects of strimmer damage to young ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior L.). Arboricultural Journal 40 (4), 210-233.?

About the Author?

Dr. Duncan Slater is a senior lecturer in arboriculture at Myerscough College, Lancashire. He holds six university degrees, including an MSc in Resource Management, an MSc in Environmental Management and a PhD in Plant Sciences. However, there is still much more to learn about trees and their associates!

***THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE SUMMER EDITION OF PRO ARB MAGAZINE, Summer 2023***