Essential Tree Care Training Courses for New and Experienced Arborists

Every good arborist we have worked with started in the same place: a chainsaw course, a patient instructor and plenty of practice on real timber. If you are brand new to tree work, or you have been climbing for years and need to refresh a ticket, the right training keeps you safe, employable and confident on site.

At the DTE Academy, our courses grew out of the training we give our own crews at Down To Earth Trees. Here are the courses we think every arborist should hold, and who each one suits.

What Training Do New Arborists Need First?

If you are starting from scratch, begin with City & Guilds NPTC Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting. Over three days, you learn to maintain and sharpen a chainsaw and cross-cut timber under tension without pinching the bar. You need no previous experience, and we supply the saws.

From there, most new starters move on to the Level 2 Award in Felling and Processing Trees up to 380mm, which teaches you to fell smaller trees safely and process them on the ground.

Which Courses Help You Work at Height?

Nearly every tree surgery job involves climbing at some point. Our five-day City & Guilds NPTC Level 2 Award in Tree Climbing and Rescue covers climbing techniques, work positioning and, most importantly, how to bring an injured colleague down safely.

Why Is Wood Chipper Training Worth Having?

A manually fed wood chipper is one of the most dangerous machines on site. Our one-day Level 2 Award in Safe Use of Manually Fed Wood-chipper covers pre-start checks, blade inspection, safe feeding and hearing protection. It suits groundworkers and landscapers as well as tree surgeons.

Is There a Single Route to Becoming Fully Qualified?

Yes. Our Qualified Arborist Suite brings the core qualifications together in a six-week programme. Learners who complete it successfully are offered a job with Down To Earth Trees, so you can move straight into paid work.

What Should Experienced Arborists Focus On?

A certificate shows you were competent on the day of your assessment, but habits slip over time. Many of our learners are experienced climbers refreshing their skills or staff picking up new tickets. Alongside the assessment criteria, we spend time on the commercial side of the job: working efficiently, dealing with clients and planning your next step.

Train with People Who Do the Work

Our instructors are working arborists, and training takes place on real trees around our base in Shoreham, Kent. We provide a hot breakfast, lunch and drinks throughout the day.

Browse our upcoming course dates or get in touch and we will help you find the right course.

Why Is Professional Tree Care Training Important for Arborists?

Professional tree care training is important for arborists because it keeps them safe, keeps them legal and makes them employable. Tree work combines chainsaws, heavy timber and working at height, so there is very little room for guesswork. Proper training gives you the skills, the recognised certificates and the judgement to do the job well from day one.

At Tree Care Training, we have trained hundreds of arborists from our base in Shoreham, Kent.

It Keeps You and Your Team Safe

Arboriculture is one of the higher-risk trades in the UK. A single misjudged cut on a branch under tension can cause serious injury. Structured training teaches you how to carry out risk assessments, check your equipment before use, read a tree properly and choose the right technique for each situation. It also covers aerial rescue, so you know what to do if a colleague gets into trouble.

It Gives You the Certificates the Industry Expects

HSE guidance states that anyone using a chainsaw on or in a tree should be properly trained and hold a certificate of competence, unless they are working under direct supervision as part of their training. City & Guilds NPTC qualifications are the accepted way to prove this. Without them, most employers will not put you on site and many insurers will not cover you.

Our courses lead to these recognised awards, including chainsaw use, tree climbing and rescue, and wood chipper operation.

It Makes You More Employable

Tree surgery firms want people who can contribute straight away. A trained arborist understands site safety, PPE standards and how a commercial crew works together. That makes you a far easier hire.

It is also why those who successfully complete our six-week Qualified Arborist Suite are offered the chance to start work with Down To Earth Trees.

It Protects Trees and Clients

Good tree care is about more than cutting. Training helps you understand how trees grow and respond to pruning, which means better results for both the tree and the client. Poor work can leave a tree weakened or open to disease.

It Builds Confidence for the Future

Whether you want to join an established firm or start your own tree surgery business, professional training gives you a solid footing. Our trainers also help you plan where your career goes next.

Start Your Arborist Training Today

All of our courses are delivered by commercially experienced tree surgeons in a friendly, practical setting, and no prior experience is needed for our entry-level courses. View our courses and book online, or get in touch to find out which course suits you best.

Common Tree Diseases Every Trainee Arborist Should Know

In more than 45 years of tree work across Kent and the South East, we have seen how quickly a single infection can change the condition of a tree. Recognising disease is part of the job, not an optional extra. Whether you are thinking about a career in arboriculture or brushing up before an assessment, these are the problems you are most likely to meet on British sites.

Ash Dieback

Caused by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, ash dieback has spread through woodlands across the country since it was confirmed here in 2012. Look for blackened leaves wilting early in the season, diamond-shaped lesions where branches meet the stem, and crown thinning that works from the top down. Infected ash turns brittle and behaves unpredictably under load, which makes it one of the riskier species to work on. No one should climb a heavily affected ash without a proper assessment first.

Honey Fungus

Honey fungus, or Armillaria, attacks the roots and lower trunk of a wide range of species. The clearest signs are honey-coloured toadstools at the base in autumn, a white fungal sheet beneath the bark, and black bootlace strands running through the surrounding soil. It travels underground between hosts, so one infected tree often points to a wider issue across the garden or site.

Bleeding Canker of Horse Chestnut

Dark, sticky fluid seeping from splits in the bark is the giveaway here. The bacterium Pseudomonas syringae pv. aesculi is usually responsible, and over time the cankers can girdle the stem and bring on crown dieback. Plenty of trees hold on for years, so felling is rarely the first answer.

Phytophthora Root Rot

Phytophthora species thrive in wet, poorly drained ground and rot the root collar. Above ground you will notice sparse foliage, undersized discoloured leaves and slow decline. The soil is where the trouble starts, which is why drainage work often forms part of the remedy.

Learning to Spot Disease on Site

Photographs in a textbook only take you so far. Our courses put you in front of real trees in real conditions, where you learn to read the whole tree rather than one symptom. If you are ready to begin, get in touch and we will talk through the right route for you.

How to Deal With Tree Pests

Tree pests cause more damage across the UK than most people realise. We see the results every week on sites around Kent and the South East, and the pattern is nearly always the same. A problem that could have been sorted in an afternoon turns into a felling job because nobody noticed it in time. Here is how we approach it.

Learn to Read the Warning Signs

Trees rarely fail without warning. Look for thinning foliage in the upper crown, leaves that yellow or drop out of season, small exit holes in the bark, sawdust-like frass around the base of the trunk, and sticky honeydew on the leaves or on anything sitting beneath the canopy. Webbing, silk nests and visible larvae are obvious enough. The subtle signs matter more, because they show up first.

Identify What You Are Actually Dealing With

Treatment depends entirely on the species. Oak processionary moth is a public health concern as much as a tree health one, and the caterpillars must never be handled or disturbed without proper protection. Horse chestnut leaf miner disfigures foliage but rarely kills. Bark beetles attack the vascular system and move fast. Aphids and scale insects weaken a tree slowly over several seasons. Getting the identification right saves time, money and often the tree itself.

Act Early and in Proportion

Once you know what you are facing, match the response to the severity. Light aphid activity on a healthy specimen usually needs nothing more than monitoring. Localised infestations can be pruned out, with all arisings chipped or disposed of on site so the problem does not travel to the next job. Targeted treatments have their place, though they should only ever be applied by someone qualified to do so.

Improving conditions at the base of the tree does far more than people expect. Mulching, soil decompaction and sensible watering all help. A tree in good health fights off pests largely on its own.

Know When to Bring in a Professional

Some work is not a do-it-yourself job. Anything involving oak processionary moth, pesticide application, climbing, or a tree close to a road or building needs a qualified arborist. Legal duties around protected trees and notifiable pests apply too, and getting that wrong is costly.

Build the Skills Yourself

If you work with trees for a living, pest recognition belongs alongside your practical tickets. Our courses cover safe working, chainsaw competence and climbing, and the Qualified Arborist Suite takes you from beginner to employable in six weeks. Get in touch and we will talk it through.

Tree Felling Course

Felling a tree is the moment where preparation either pays off or catches you out. Our tree felling course teaches you to read the tree, plan the cut and bring it down where you intended, every time. We deliver the City & Guilds NPTC Level 2 Award in Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-Cutting and Felling and Processing Trees up to 380mm from our base at Preston Farm in Shoreham, and we train on real timber rather than practice logs in a yard.

We are the DTE Academy, the training body for Down To Earth Trees Ltd. We have been felling trees commercially across Kent and south-east London since 1979, and everything we teach comes from that daily working experience.

What You Will Learn

The course builds from the ground up, so no previous chainsaw experience is needed. You will cover:

• Daily and routine chainsaw maintenance, including chain sharpening, fuelling and oiling

• Cross-cutting timber under tension and compression, with the pivot points and swing directions that decide where a stem moves

• Site assessment and risk assessment before a single cut is made

• Sink cuts, hinge wood and back cuts, and how each one controls the direction of fall

• Snedding and de-limbing felled stems ready for processing

• Dealing with hung-up trees using hand tools

• Health and safety legislation, exclusion zones and safe working practice

Our assessors verbally examine you at the end of the training. Pass, and you receive an NPTC Certificate of Competence, which is the qualification employers and insurers across the industry expect to see.

Who Should Take This Course

The course suits anyone whose work involves felling trees up to 380mm in diameter. That includes people starting out in arboriculture, groundworkers moving into tree work, forestry and estate staff, landowners managing their own woodland, and employers sending crews for certification or refresher training.

We do ask every candidate to complete a short selection questionnaire before booking, and sometimes a brief phone call. This is simply so we can group students sensibly and give everyone a course that works at the right pace.

What We Provide

Chainsaws are supplied. PPE can be hired from us for £40 if you would rather not buy your own kit yet, and we will tell you exactly what to bring if you do have it. Hot breakfast, lunch and drinks are provided throughout the day, because good training happens as much over a brew as it does on the stump.

Book Your Place

Group sizes are kept small and dates fill quickly. View our upcoming courses to book online, or get in touch and we will talk you through the right starting point.

If you are training from scratch with a career in mind, our Qualified Arborist Suite takes you through felling and everything else across six weeks, with a job offer waiting at the end.

Tree Disease Treatment

Trees rarely fail without warning. Long before a limb drops or a crown thins, there are signs that something is wrong, and knowing how to read those signs is one of the most valuable skills an arborist can hold. At the DTE Academy, we train people to recognise, assess and act on tree health problems as part of a working career in arboriculture.

Tree disease treatment sits at the heart of professional tree care. It is not simply about removing what looks unhealthy. It is about understanding what is happening beneath the bark and in the soil, then choosing the right course of action for the tree, the site and the people around it.

Why Tree Disease Treatment Matters

Our parent company, Down To Earth Trees Ltd, has managed trees across Kent and south east London since 1979. In that time we have seen how quickly a small problem becomes a serious one when it goes unnoticed. A diseased tree in a garden, school grounds or a busy street is a safety issue as much as a horticultural one.

Clients depend on arborists who can explain what is wrong and what happens next. That confidence comes from proper training and real site experience, which is exactly what we build into every course we run.

Common Tree Health Problems in the UK

British trees face a growing list of pests and pathogens. The ones you are most likely to encounter include:

• Ash dieback, which has changed the landscape across the south east and continues to drive large volumes of removal work

• Honey fungus, a root disease that spreads through soil and affects a wide range of species

• Phytophthora, which attacks roots and stems and often shows first as bleeding cankers

• Oak processionary moth, a pest with implications for both tree health and public safety

• Bacterial and fungal cankers, which weaken structure over several seasons

Each requires a different response, and misreading one for another leads to wasted work or an unsafe outcome.

Where Treatment Fits Into Tree Work

Treatment can mean targeted pruning to remove infected material, soil decompaction and amelioration to improve root conditions, sanitation to limit spread, or planned removal where a tree can no longer be retained safely. Sound decisions rest on accurate assessment, and accurate assessment rests on knowing your species, your pathogens and your equipment.

Our practical courses give you the ground skills that make this work possible. The City & Guilds NPTC Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-cutting course covers safe processing of infected timber, while our Tree Climbing and Rescue course prepares you for aerial inspection and crown work.

Start Your Career in Tree Health

If you are beginning from scratch, our six week Qualified Arborist Suite takes you from no experience to a qualified arborist, with the offer of a job at the end for those who want one.

Get in touch to find out whether our training is the right fit for you.

Why Chainsaw Training is Essential for Safety

A chainsaw is one of the most powerful hand-held tools you will ever use. It can cut hardwood in seconds, which is exactly what makes it so useful and so dangerous. Every year in the UK, hundreds of chainsaw-related injuries are reported, and the majority of them happen to people who have had little or no formal training.

So why is chainsaw training essential for safety? Because knowing how to start the machine is not the same as knowing how to use it properly.

The Risks Are Real

Most chainsaw injuries involve the legs, hands, and arms. Kickback, where the guide bar is thrown back towards the operator, is one of the most common causes of serious accidents. It happens fast and without warning, usually when the nose of the bar catches on a branch or log. Without training, you simply will not know how to position yourself or the saw to reduce this risk.

Other frequent causes of injury include cutting under tension without recognising it, poor footing on uneven ground, and not wearing the correct protective equipment. These are all things that a good training course will address before you ever pick up the saw.

What Proper Chainsaw Training Covers

At DTE Academy, our City & Guilds NPTC Chainsaw Maintenance and Cross-Cutting course is built around two core units. The first focuses on understanding how the chainsaw works, including its components, maintenance requirements, and correct fuelling and chain sharpening. The second unit moves into practical cross-cutting technique, covering tension and compression, pivot points, body positioning, and safe working practices on site.

You will also learn how to carry out a proper risk assessment before starting any cut. This is not a box-ticking exercise. It is the single most important habit you can develop when working with chainsaws, whether commercially or on your own land.

It is Not Just for Professionals

A common misunderstanding is that chainsaw training is only for people looking to become tree surgeons. That is not the case. Farmers, estate workers, landowners, and conservation volunteers all benefit from knowing how to handle a chainsaw safely. If you are going to use one, you should know what you are doing.

Book Your Place

We run our chainsaw courses regularly at our base in Shoreham, Kent, with all equipment provided and meals included throughout the day. No previous experience is needed.

If you would like to find out more or check upcoming dates, get in touch with us today.