Heavy snow is wreaking havoc on the trees

[Powerstroke]

I know I'm not the only one with broken branches thanks to the recent snows.

I lost two branches from a White Pine in the last snow and the recent one has broken several more large branches off of the neighboring Red Pine.

The first round of branches landed on my camper but fortunately they didn't do any damage. This second round, the branches are larger, but they stayed attached to the tree. That's probably the best news, but now I need to climb the trees and lower them down with ropes. The largest one is 30' long and 6" diameter. That one is touching the ground, but a few others are quite a way up there.

I've got some work to do.

[Dotch]

Hmmm...I thought I'd escaped the wrath of the ice unscathed around the pasture. However I see upon closer inspection the Austrian pines sorta took it in the shorts. Nothing on the order of what you're talkin' about but plenty of 3" - 4" diameter stuff. Any tips about properly removing the hanging on limbs? Thanks!

[Powerstroke]

The biggest concern with removing storm damaged limbs is making sure they are not under pressure. Sometimes the angle of how they fell or if several branches fell in a pile, the branches can be under pressure. EXTREME caution must be used when cutting them because the energy will be released while cutting and the branches may spring free.

Depending on how high and how big they are you can trim them with a pole saw. Otherwise you will have to climb the tree or hire someone who can climb the tree or use a bucket truck. If there are no hazards, you can cut them and let them fall. If you have hazards in the area, then you can tie a rope a couple feet below where you cut and then lower the limb to the ground.

With the proximity to garage and camper, I will be doing the latter. Fortunately I still have my own gear from my days as a tree climber, but I think I'm gonna wait until its a little warmer and not so wet.