Tree pruning

Do not pay your tree surgeons a penny, if you employ them, until the work is totally completed to your satisfaction despite their sob stories, they have plenty. If you do they'll never come back. Then of course they want paid in cash.

 

You all have better eyes than me.

 

Jeez, im getting worried about getting it done now...! seems like a lot of you have been burnt before by tree surgeons...!

This is the guy im getting a quote from:
Advanced Tree Care & Landscape Services | Fencing / Gates | Swindon | Checkatrade

 

In the past few years I've used two different firms of local tree surgeons, both have been established quite a number of years. Both did good jobs with no fuss and lest the site tidier that it had been when they started.
Both were happy to submit a quote at the start of the process after a site visit, both submitted invoices which I paid by bank transfer, no mention of cash payment and was perfectly happy with their work and would use either of them again.

 

I haven't been burnt by tree surgeons but I regularly get people knocking at the door asking if I want my tree pruned. It's a form of prunus and very obviously so (purple-leaved plum) and it's never the correct time of year so clearly they don't know what they're doing.

Looking at your link, it looks like they're landscapers rather than tree surgeons, but I didn't look right down through all the reviews. Maybe there are some tree ones further down.

This is what I got when I searched checkatrade for tree surgeons in Swindon
https://www.checkatrade.com/Search/Tree-Surgeon/in/Swindon

 

Thank you - will take a look.

 

RE " It's a form of prunus and very obviously so (purple-leaved plum) and it's never the correct time of year so clearly they don't know what they're doing." - can you point me to any info about best time to prune?

I did some very quick research and i have found conflicting info!

The guy i'm getting a quote from says the best time to prune is towards end of September.

 

normally trees should be pruned when dormant but prunus can contract silverleaf disease when cut in winter so should be cut while the days are still dryish and the plant can heal. personally im pruning the moment my fruit is off my plums which will be mid to late august

 

so "towards end of september" is wrong then...?

 

I've not been burnt, but I'd personally be wary of any tradespeople who use checkatrade.
I'd ask around people I know, or knock on the door of any property with a healthy looking pruned tree to ask if they'd recommend someone.

 

Yes - if it's that type of tree @collinsc [ie Prunus/cherry] end of September isn't right, and I'd agree that it looks like a Prunus, so you'd do what @Adam I is doing. At the risk of sounding cynical, perhaps the bloke who quoted you has a quiet spell at the end of September....
Most trees are done when dormant, which is winter, but that's where the problem lies if it's a Prunus because they're the exception. Beech hedging can be done late September without a problem, but that's not the same as cutting back a tree - even if it WAS beech.
Can you take some close ups of the foliage? That will help people to ID it more accurately, and then give the best advice.

If you just get a bog standard 'gardener' or worse - a landscaper, they don't have the correct horticultural knowledge. I get the same problem that @JennyJB describes with those cowboys knocking the door. I put the last one straight. He wasn't happy.

 

Thanks for clarifying on that.

Here are close ups.... i'm pretty sure it will be the "Wild Cherry" mentioned earlier (that an App identified).

 

beech would be fine and normal in winter in my opinion hence the confusion probably

 

Yes - i've confused it by saying i thought it was a Beech - thanks for clarifying.

 

Late September is OK for some trees but not for Prunus. Here's the RHS web page on tree pruning to reduce size, and there's lots more material on their website. It's generally a reliable source of information for UK gardeners.