About Uss

At Tree Diagnostics, we provide a range of equipment for testing trees and help you answer the question:

“Is that tree safe?”

Experts In Tree Stability & Risk Assessments

Welcome to Tree Diagnostics and Growth Diagnostics. These departments and this website grew out of a fascination for trees, plants and the landscapes they grow in.

Run by Ian and Sue Barnes, who are lifelong Horticulturalists and Arborists, now measuring their careers in decades. Having worked in Local Authority Parks, Commercial Horticulture in Food, Flower, and Fruit production, and Nursery Stock Trade. They have been Horticulturalists, Landscapers, Garden Designers, Climbing Arborists, and run a Tree Contracting Firm. Now, primarily Arboricultural Surveyors, Ian Barnes, being an AA Registered Consultant, we can speak your language.

Throughout their work, they have been intrigued by how plants grow and establish, and how mature trees grow and survive, how they fail and more importantly, why they don’t.

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Services

This fascination led to them to be early adopters of Sonic and then Electrical Impedance Tomography, and Thermal Imaging, providing site and tree investigation. Then delved deeper into tree stability (Static and Dynamic), Root Mapping RADAR, then soil appraisal, and Chlorophyll Fluorescence.

As with all things, along comes another piece of research, technique or methodology to enable you to look at the world differently and make better decisions. A few years ago, we were approached to help share our experience and introduce and support some very specialist and amazing equipment, software and methods to help extend the safe life of trees and plants, along with improved soil and site management.

Tree Diagnostics was born, specialising in tree safety and monitoring equipment to help improve tree establishment or extend the safe life of trees.

Move on a few years they realised that the same issues seen in trees were there in the wider Horticultural, Agricultural and Sylvicultural trades, where small changes in approach and the use of appropriate technology, which can see or detect things that we can’t, provide a new insight into management. This led to the formation of Growth Diagnostics, where we can introduce equipment to help better measure soil structure, water content, fertility or monitor or manage the growth rate of plants. Allowing a better understanding of plant establishment, growth and stability. Improved efficiency, early intervention reduces failures and avoids waste or having to repeat the planting process, with huge savings in both carbon and resources. Helping manage and extend the safe life of plants and trees, and in particular mature or veteran trees, extends all of the benefits of trees for as long as possible, while growing trees will continue to lock up and sequester carbon from the atmosphere to provide a helping hand in our goal for a low-carbon economy.

If you need any further information or have any questions, please feel free to contact us, and we will do our best to help.

Stress Wave Timer – Microsecond Timer
Sonic Tomography – Arborsonic 3D Tomograph
Electronic Impedance Tomography – ArborElectro
Static Tree Stability Assessment – Tree Pulling
Dynamic Tree Stability Assessment – DynaTree & DynaRoot
Wind recording systems – Cup / Ball & Ultrasonic Anemometer
Sonic Root Detectors
Soil Penetrometers

We specialise in detailed further investigations (Level 3 assessments), providing assessments based upon evidence and site-specific appraisals.

Our Specialist Products:

Stress Wave Timer – Microsecond Timer
Sonic Tomography – Arborsonic 3D Tomograph
Electronic Impedance Tomography – ArborElectro
Static Tree Stability Assessment – Tree Pulling
Dynamic Tree Stability Assessment – DynaTree & DynaRoot
Wind recording systems – Cup / Ball & Ultrasonic Anemometer
Sonic Root Detectors
Soil Penetrometers

What Assessment Guide

Occasionally, trees just like any living organism can have issues that need an investigation to enable better-informed decisions, for their management or safety. Some problems cannot be commented on accurately by simply looking, kicking, or hitting with a mallet. Just as a Doctor would refer us for further testing before a diagnosis is arrived at or therapy is proposed.

As tree managers, we often need more detailed information upon which to make balanced decisions.

The removal of doubt helps avoid knee-jerk recommendations and the early needless loss of trees. If in doubt have it out,” and the impacts or ‘risk-adverse’ approaches can all lead to unneeded tree losses.

Tree Diagnostics offers clients and the industry an alternative; our tools, equipment, and knowledge can prove or disprove the safety of a tree based on the site conditions, tree characteristics, and test data rather than just a feeling or opinion.

Using one of our latest additions, the Ground-Penetrating Radar system (GPR) TreeRadar, we can map tree rooting through soft or hard surfacing to an accuracy of 1cm taking the guesswork out of where trees are rooting in pre-development surveys, neighbour disputes, and subsidence claims.