Liphook Community Magazine Summer 2020

PARISH PEOPLE
James Enticknap-Green
Most people associate the
job of a tree surgeon as one
occupied with chopping
down trees, but as I was to
learn from a meeting I had
with James Enticknap-
Green of Liphook Tree
Surgeons, reality is quite
the opposite. Arboriculture
has always been the
focus of his work and
the removal of trees is
more often than not
done only when, through
disease or natural die
back, there is no chance
of saving the tree.
James, known to one and all as ‘Jimmy the Tree’ established his
company ten years ago after seven years training as an arborist
when he attained his qualifications, NPTC, & Lantra BTI. He is
also Safeguarding Manager & Trustee of DART (Disaster Arborist
Response Team) International UK. His team of four all fully
qualified and ex Bohunt pupils, work extensively in Hampshire,
Surrey and West Sussex and are retained by both the National
Trust and Waverley Borough Council for their arboreal skills.
Liphook Tree Surgeons offer a full arboriculture service from
advice on planting of trees suitable for the environment, right
through to the care of veteran trees which may be in preservation
areas or are protected by tree preservation orders (TPOs)
Their customer base includes many commercial clients, developers,
landscapers and estate managers as well as domestic clients for
whom they trim and reduce hedges as well as crown reducing trees
and are up to date with the current British standards in tree works.
Cuttings and prunings are environmentally composted while
larger limbs are chipped and recycled as green energy for wood
fuelled biomass ingesters.
Size is not a problem. They were recently called in to examine a
100’ high Giant Sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) that had,
over a period of years, suffered from a fungal growth to its base
which left no option but to dismantle the tree from the top down
and lift it out in 8 sections, the largest of which weighed 7.8 tons!
The beginning of the tree’s decline was instigated when the development
had damaged some of its root plate during landscaping
and construction of the properties. Removal of the tree called for
a 160 ton mobile crane in order to lift the trunk out from the garden
over the house. This was just one of over fifty difficult removals
Liphook Tree Surgeons has completed, the latest of which
concerned a tree on a road in Woking which is totally land locked
and could not be done by hand due to its size. It had to be lifted
out over three houses and unfortunately had a type of disease
that makes it become brittle and it had been shedding limbs.
Ash dieback management has been a big part of their work
recently, also called Chalara, it is a fungus which originated in
Asia. It doesn’t cause much damage on its native hosts of the
Chinese ash in its native range. However, its introduction to
Europe about 30 years ago has devastated the European ash
because our native ash species did not evolve with the fungus
and this means it has no natural defence against it. This insidious
disease can devastate an otherwise handsome stand of trees and
when this occurs next to roads and footpaths, have to be
removed in the interests of public safety.
For help and advice on the selection and planting of trees or, in
the case of removal of diseased or unwanted trees or any other
tree related issues, contact James Enticknap-Green on 07920
057009 or e-mail liphooktrees@gmail.com
Paul Robinson