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Prunning tall trees

Started by crtreedude, March 23, 2009, 10:50:56 AM

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crtreedude

Hi folks.

Our 2003 teak is getting pretty big, and I want to keep pruning. To prune up half the tree means going up about 25 to 30 feet. What ideas can you give me for doing this rapidly?

Thanks all.

So, how did I end up here anyway?

york

well what ever you do-Please do not use your shotgun,like some people around here do.....Bert
Albert

timber tramp

>>What ideas can you give me for doing this rapidly?

Bucket truck?                            :) TT
Cause every good story needs a villan!

crtreedude

Quote from: york on March 23, 2009, 11:14:57 AM
well what ever you do-Please do not use your shotgun,like some people around here do.....Bert

I not sure I want to even know what is behind this one...
So, how did I end up here anyway?

crtreedude

Quote from: timber tramp on March 23, 2009, 11:20:26 AM
>>What ideas can you give me for doing this rapidly?

Bucket truck?                            :) TT

Bucket truck would work, but the terrain is pretty hilly in places.
So, how did I end up here anyway?

stonebroke

Around here they mount buckets on log skidders to prune for power lines.

Stonebroke

Gary_C

Ya, beenthere has a method that involves a twelve gauge and slugs, but I think he put it on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy list.  :D :D
Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

beenthere

CR
Would you post a pic or two of the trees, so we can see the branching?

:)
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

John Woodworth

My advise would be to spend the money and hire a professional to do the work, he will know how to, where to prune correctly for the life of the tree and abobe all safely.
Two Garret 21 skidders, Garret 10 skidder, 580 Case Backhoe, Mobile Dimension sawmill, 066, 046 mag, 044, 036mag, 034, 056 mag, 075, 026, lewis winch

crtreedude

Quote from: John Woodworth on March 23, 2009, 01:09:12 PM
My advise would be to spend the money and hire a professional to do the work, he will know how to, where to prune correctly for the life of the tree and abobe all safely.

We have a full-time forestry engineer - and I don't think you realize we have about 130,000 trees, not all need pruned like this, but the number is in the thousands. We are a plantation.

And, I live in Costa Rica, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find a professional here...

Just looking for ideas.
So, how did I end up here anyway?

crtreedude

Quote from: beenthere on March 23, 2009, 12:42:13 PM
CR
Would you post a pic or two of the trees, so we can see the branching?

:)

Not much branching, that is what I am trying to prevent!

You can go here and see all that we are growing. Just pick which trees and year planted and press the button.

http://www.fincaleola.com/TreeOwners/showTreePhotos.php
So, how did I end up here anyway?

rebocardo

Well, an arborist that uses ropes instead of spikes to get up the tree would probably be the ideal, yet, expensive route

From experience I can tell you using a cheap aluminum pole saw extended to 21 feet is a massive waste of time/failure because they bend so much beyond 16 feet they are useless.

The telescoping pro models with rigid tubing that sell for $200 might fair better.

beenthere

Aluminum sectional ladders work well for getting up high to prune.

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/product_pages/View_Catalog_Page.asp?mi=1657

Have used them for tree grading studies. Easy to handle.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

crtreedude

Quote from: rebocardo on March 23, 2009, 04:13:49 PM
Well, an arborist that uses ropes instead of spikes to get up the tree would probably be the ideal, yet, expensive route

From experience I can tell you using a cheap aluminum pole saw extended to 21 feet is a massive waste of time/failure because they bend so much beyond 16 feet they are useless.

The telescoping pro models with rigid tubing that sell for $200 might fair better.


I have thought about that, I am just not sure the tree is thick enough toward the top. These are still young trees.

So, how did I end up here anyway?


Stephen Alford

Hey beenthere, man you crack me up with that new badge .What a chuckle  :D :D :D
logon

beenthere

Ya really mean da Boss is crackin you up... ;D
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Clark

I've been thinking of this same problem, too.  FYI, there was a recent thread where several recommended a rather expensive, but (from all appearances) well made and thought out pruning saw:

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,36161.0.html

So the real problem lies in getting beyond ~16-20'.  And I'm guessing you want something that one person can transport, set up, use and take down?  My initial reaction is a ladder of some sort and I was thinking of something like beenthere suggested, but based on the size of the trees, I'm doubting that would work.

Werner makes some aluminum extension ladders that might fit the bill also:

http://www.industrialladder.com/productDetails.do?productID=2782&categoryID=40

Although more expensive, a telescoping ladder might be easier to use in the field:

http://www.rewci.com/tellad.html

http://www.xtendandclimb.com/

Those are my thoughts.  I don't see any other way around the issue without using ladders of some sort, especially on the size of trees you are dealing with.

Clark
SAF Certified Forester

pineywoods

Sounds like what you need is a machine called a giraffe. Low-slung tracked vehicle with a telescoping boom that has a hydraulicly driven circle saw on the end. The power companies use them here to trim limbs from trees along the power lines. They can trim off a lot of limbs in a short time. Go up 40 feet or so. There's some pics on here somewhere, I don't remember where, try Tom's gallery
1995 Wood Mizer LT 40, Liquid cooled kawasaki,homebuilt hydraulics. Homebuilt solar dry kiln.  Woodmaster 718 planner, Kubota M4700 with homemade forks and winch, stihl  028, 029, Ms390
100k bd ft club.Charter member of The Grumpy old Men

WDH

Fred,

The way to go is to use lightweight aluminum pole pruning saws.  My company commercially prunes loblolly pine after first thinning (thousands of acres annually).  We used to prune as high as 25 feet, but now we do not go that high.  It is done manually by a crew with two lengths of aluminum poles with high quality pruning saws attached to the pole.  The first pass is pruning to 16 feet with a shorter pole, then followed by a second pass with the longer pole to 25 feet. 

Doing it manually with the two lengths of poles is the only way to do it economically on a very large scale. 
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

Ianab

NZ method involves ladders and hand tools, generally a set of heavy loppers and a very nice handsaw. By getting up to the level of the branches being cut you can be much more accurate with the cuts, so shorter stubs and/or less bark damage.

This is the sort of ladders that are used.

http://www.treetools.co.nz/view_products.php?cat=118&subcat=12

Mods are spiked feet and a 'M' bracket at the top. The taller ladders would be fitted with a safety chain to lash to the tree. If you want to go higher, there is an extra bracket / 2xsteps that you can chain to the tree, or a complete ladder support. The ladder support is chained to the tree above the top of the ladder, the operator climbs onto the step, lifts the ladder up and clips it onto the step, clips on the safety chain and climbs up again.

It's pretty labour intensive, but thats probably not a huge problem in your part of the world.

This post by Ernie has pics of the system in action on some of the local Radiata Pine.

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,10874.0.html

Ladder and 2 x Clip-on steps.


Cheers

Ian
Weekend warrior, Peterson JP test pilot, Dolmar 7900 and Stihl MS310 saws and  the usual collection of power tools :)

WDH

Ian,

I saw that too when I was in New Zealand looking at logging and forestry.  We owned some land there, and the pruning was done with ladders and loppers.  Quite different than here in the Southern US.  Just goes to show that there are several ways top skin the cat  ;D.
Woodmizer LT40HDD35, John Deere 2155, Kubota M5-111, Kubota L2501, Nyle L53 Dehumidification Kiln, and a passion for all things with leafs, twigs, and bark.  hamsleyhardwood.com

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