Category: Did You Know?

13th Annual Tennessee Tree Climbing Championship

· April 19, 2012 · 9:44 am · Did You Know?, Tree care, , ,

On October 1st, professional tree climbers from all over the Southeast were converging upon Nashville for the 13th annual Tennessee Tree Climbing Championship! This exciting and highly anticipated event took place at the Ellington Agricultural Center and  showcased some of the best climbers in the region. Winners eventually move on to compete at an international level! There is now more gear and technology available than ever before. This championship has helped increase safety and productivity in the tree industry, brought climbers together to share the fruits of knowledge, skill and talent, and continually created and shattered WORLD records! If that doesn’t riddle you with goose bumps from excitement, then I don’t know what will.

There are five events at these competitions that are directly related to the every day tree work that you can usually observe us doing in your own yard and trees. They are as follows: Throw Line, Belayed Speed Climb, Secured Foot Lock, Work Climb and Aerial Rescue. The three highest scoring competitors will go on to compete in what  is called the Master’s Challenge.

The Throw Line event judges how accurately one can hit different target zones. They range from 40 to 60 feet high throughout the canopy of the tree. Competitors have to hit these targets by swinging a small weight attached to a “diameter line” by hand which is then used to secure climbing liners (the ropes that climbers use to pull themselves up into the tree).

The Belayed Speed Climb is a timed climb! We have to try to fly up 60 feet of tree as fast as monkeys using either the rope or tree itself. That one is fun to watch!

The Secured Foot Lock is a seriously physically challenging event. It’s a timed 49 foot climb in free space. That means that we have to pull ourselves up a rope, without any assistance, as fast as we can. Like in gym class! The world record for this is 13.65 seconds. That may not sound impressive but that is a vertical ascent of 23.5 feet per second! Geez-louise!

The Work Climb is designed to simulate a job task, like pruning, throughout the canopy of a tree. The climber’s are judged on speed, safety and efficiency.

The Aerial Rescue is another crowd favorite because it presents a dramatic situation in which a climber has been gravely injured and must be rescued! The competitor has to rush up there and bring them down safely so that medical personnel can begin treatment. This event displays the creativity and dedicated drive that tree climbers embody, especially in emergency preparedness.

The Master’s Challenge tests the climber’s ability to assess the tree, install a climbing line from the ground, enter the tree, and make it to several work zones positioned throughout the canopy of the tree. This event has a time limit BUT the fastest time does not always win. Criteria like safety, ingenuity, preparedness and skill are where all the points are racked up. Points can be deducted, too, for unsafe work practices, poor time management, multiple attempts at a target and a variety of other crucial aspects.

I would like to congratulate Aqualina Amador on his victory in this year’s competition.  It was a fun-filled day with climbers from as far as Maryland participating.  Every person that competed in this event walked away with a new skill or idea that furthers safety, efficiency and overall professionalism.  Once again, congrats Aqualina, I’ll get you next year.

By: Joe Giansante

Positive Thinking

· February 21, 2012 · 6:06 pm · Did You Know?,

Positive Thinking

“You can shoot yourself in the foot by being your own worst enemy,” my grandfather tells me at the kitchen table one sunny afternoon. He’s explaining the biggest lesson he learned early on in his life: If you don’t equip yourself with positive thinking, you’ll be defeated before you can even get started. His words have been echoing in my head ever since.
We all personally experience the effects of negative thinking, and sometimes we can even see its effect in the actions of others. We cripple ourselves with the fear created by negative thinking – the fear of the unknown, of failure and even fear of success. We watch as our friends and family come up with reasons or excuses not to try something new or make a change, big or small, which has been keeping them emotionally imprisoned for too long.  But, as Granddad learned in the Army, developing a habit of positive thinking can be an infinite source of help when it comes to coping with life.

I’m sure you’ve heard of training your brain to think a certain way.
You can train it to focus on getting things done like finishing important proposals before a deadline or motivating yourself to run one more mile. Pep talks encourage a confidence that the interview will go splendidly or that this date will be a success. In fact, according to the History Channel, we talk to ourselves using 300 to 1000 words per minute! So it’s no surprise that when those words are positive, our brain overrides the goofy fears and anxieties that make life’s curveballs more stressful. Just like warriors have done since ancient times, by focusing the activity going on in your mind, you can transcend whatever it is you thought your limitations were.
Back to Granddad’s wisdom, the reminder I’d like to pass on here is that we all have a choice in our attitudes. We can equip ourselves with the “come hell or high water” determination to succeed or fall victim to the self-fulfilling prophecy of “I can’t because of this inconvenient reason and these extraneous excuses.” But you can’t have both! The real nice thing about being a self-aware human is that you get to choose.
We can’t predict the future but we sure can create it. And, with a positive attitude, a whole world of opportunities will find you.

By:

Kaitlin Jones

 

The Business of “Growing” Successfully

· February 16, 2011 · 12:58 pm · Did You Know?, Employees, Misc., Tree care, , , , , , , ,

The Business of “Growing” Successfully

Ruel Jones

While I always hoped I’d be in the international banking business, I found my niche in nature, though ironically there are similarities.
Understanding how a plant operates is the key component to providing proper year-round care, much the same as with operating a successful business.
A tree is like a company, which has employees both below ground (roots) and above ground (leaves), and both play vital roles. A tree stores money (energy) in its fibers and cells just like a company does with a savings or checking account. In the spring this living, breathing company uses last year’s stored savings to build new leaves, or what we might call next year’s “employees” for the growing season. All winter long this plant was spend-ing money on root development to support the group of employees that will soon be coming on. After the leaves are built, they are now ready to start making money for the company to use in a new growth development season, while at the same time, of course, refilling the savings account now low due to all the money the company spent developing the current roots and leaves.
That is basically how a plant works. The leaves support the roots and the roots sup-port the leaves in a symbiotic relationship. The margin or profit from these two groups of employees is what the company uses each year for new growth.
Improper pruning or care of your trees and plants can cause them to dig further down into their “savings account” and spend more money to create additional leaves to do necessary work. The plant knows that without the proper amount of leaves doing the job and making money, the company will soon be filling Chapter 7.
So in the end, though the company’s name is Quality Tree Surgery, some might con-sider us in the financial and banking business for trees!

Slides

· February 16, 2011 · 12:20 am · Did You Know?, Lawn care, Tree care

Quality Tree Surgery, Inc.

Environmental benefits of a healthy lawn

· February 15, 2011 · 10:33 pm · Did You Know?, Lawn care, Misc., , , , ,


Healthy Lawn

Environmental benefits of a healthy lawn

Do you know the environmental benefits of a healthy lawn?

According to Joe Churchill of Rehbein Environmental Solutions, a healthy turf can reduce the amount of energy needed to operate air conditioners by 25%.

The front lawns of 8 houses have the cooling effect of about 70 tons of air conditioning!

Having a healthy lawn also removes dust and dirt from the air, approximately 12 million tons of it annually in the U.S.

Something you should know

· February 15, 2011 · 2:15 pm · Did You Know?, Employees, Misc., , , ,

Something You Should Know…

Twenty seven years ago when I started this tree care company, I had no idea I was lined up for a roller coaster ride of Feast or Famine as a career.  That’s right; a roller coaster job is putting it lightly because in the spring and summer, wonderful volumes of work come in like nobody’s business but then come the winter months where starvation and poverty-stricken days show up and surround us like buzzards on road kill.

Getting a tree job is like standing in a soup line with only enough food for half the people and everyone cutting corners to get in front.  It’s too funny I’m telling you!  I catch myself laughing at the irony of why in the world anyone would start a tree care company  – “Just kidding”.

Anyhow, facts are, the best time of year for tree operations are the winter months when trees are in a kind of sleep mode or should I say, “taking a rest and gearing up for the next growing season.”

Not only is it better for the tree but winter pruning is easier because it’s easier to see limbs without leaves blocking the view of dead or unproductive branches.  Pruning off undesirable live material is better because the tree hasn’t spent all that energy growing leaves.  It’s almost always more cost effective because of factors like less debris to clean up and no delicate flowers growing up under the trees to work around, of course,  there is less of a work load which means no over time hours.

Fact is, winter months are hands down the best time of year to have tree work performed regardless of what kind of maintenance it is, and,  of course,  above all other reasons,  the best time to have any kind of work done is when you are ready.  It’s not necessary to wait until spring or summer. If you have tree work to do and you are in a position to have it done, do it now; by doing so, you will probably save money, as well.

Ruel Jones

Wood Chips

· July 12, 2010 · 8:40 pm · Did You Know?

Did You Know?

Wood Chips…..

  • Are easy to recycle and store, making them more stable than the markets for other recyclable materials.
  • Will prevent weed growth
  • Conserve moisture in soil
  • Cool surface and stabilize soil
  • Reduce soil erosions on slopes
  • Keep fruits, vegetables, and flowers cleaner
  • Improve aesthetics of a land-scape and add to property values.

 

 

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