Last chance to prune vulnerable species!

[Powerstroke]

With the recent heat wave you are down to the last week or so of pruning vulnerable species such as Elm, Oak and most fruit trees. Get it done while you still have time.

The major concern is not that the trees are dormant, but that the insects and pathogens that carry disease become active.

Needless to say I saw a bee and a mosquito today in the SW metro. Spring is here. We will most likely still get a frost or two and I hope they don't damage my fruit trees, but winter is likely over.

[Dotch]

Good thing I got the apples pruned last weekend. Haven't seen any bees yet but there plenty of flies already. Now I can focus my wrath on cleaning up the boxelders, silver maples and other carp trees I want to get rid of!

I don't foresee a formal return to winter either although a good swift kick in the pants snowstorm between now and May 1 to remind us it's still capable wouldn't surprise me.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Myself and 3 other fellas went in on renting a lift for this weekend. I have some REALLY BIG trees in my yard and they're aboot to get a bit smaller.

It's a Saturday in Avoca with 4 rednecks, chainsaws, a lift, dogs running around, and wimmen on 4-wheelers dragging logs.........what could possibly go wrong?

Pics to follow, if we survive.

[Powerstroke]

Eric, I would LOVE to see pics of that.

It stands to reason we will still have another frost or two, but hopefully it will happen before the fruit trees get their flowers. I don't want it to damage the fruit production this year.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Round one. This is not a small battle. Today we had 30 MPH winds and boy howdy was that fun way high up there. We got one of my trees trimmed, tomorrow is a simalar battle.

One of the many we tackeled.

This was one of the small ones.

Gettin it done.

This was one of the many we did. I had to take the lift and go replace a coupel steetlights in town, and the darn control box fell off while going down the road. I fixed it enough to make it work, but it's one more thing I'll have to deal with from the rental place come Monday morning.

More trees and more pics tomorrow.

[Gordie]

Eric I rented a Truck with a basket when I did mine 10 years ago and the boom pump went out on it on the third tree and lost quite a bit of time on it but they were pretty cool at the rentakl place told me when I I rented it again they would only charge me half a day price for the full day.

I have 6 red oaks to take down this year due to oak wilt and I not looking forward to it cause its the last oaks I have already took 9 down.

I saw a show about trees not to long ago and the guy on there said the best time to prune trees is when the saw is sharp

[Eric Wettschreck]

I saw a show about trees not to long ago and the guy on there said the best time to prune trees is when the saw is sharp

The trees I'm dealing with are so old and big they can handle a pruning anytime of the year.

Let me know iffin you need a hand with the big oaks. Myself and my daddy will show up. I swear that guy (me daddy) can drop a 3 foot round tree thrugh a 2 foot hole all day, any day. As a youngster I used to put an "X" on the ground an he hit it..........every time. Dude knows what he's doing.

I'll bring beverages.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Eric I rented a Truck with a basket when I did mine 10 years ago and the boom pump went out on it on the third tree and lost quite a bit of time on it but they were pretty cool at the rentakl place told me when I I rented it again they would only charge me half a day price for the full day.

I have 6 red oaks to take down this year due to oak wilt and I not looking forward to it cause its the last oaks I have already took 9 down.

I saw a show about trees not to long ago and the guy on there said the best time to prune trees is when the saw is sharp

That last line is one I believe as well.

I know the saying for Oaks used to be "don't prune in May or June" as well as people would be upset that we were moving Oak Wilt trees for firewood.

I always tell them two things. We split wood year-round. I have logs, blocks, stacked wood on pallets all over my 10 acres of Oaks. We have controlled the Oak Wilt on my property, even with 50-100 full cord of wood being processed yearly.

If diseased wood was an issue, all of my Oaks would be dead.

As for the trimming, we trim trees year-round. If there's a branch that's in the way, it's coming off.

You don't see tree service guys only working in the winter.

Now, with that said, I have 4 Flowering Crabs at a car dealer that they've never trimmed up since the trees have been in the ground. I put a bid in the other day to do the job, but I told them that I will not do a "proper" trimming until next winter, only because of the amount of material that has to come out. Over 1/2 of the tree needs to be trimmed out.

[Gordie]

Yep thats how I was taught to drop trees Eric I have threaded the needle so to speak I love doing it but My back tells me I have to be a supervisor now and it sucks because choppin and make firw wood is/was one of my favorite things to do.

[Powerstroke]

Tree companies work year round because there are trees like maples, ash, birch and many other species can be trimmed year round without threat of disease. We also work in the summer cutting down the dead elms. 90% of oak wilt is transferred through root grafts.

Dutch Elm disease spreads from beetles finding open wounds and it looks like you've got a fine elm in your yard Eric. You'll be fine if you don't cut it during the summer.

It sounds like a tree cutting day on tap. I'd love to come help out when you cut those trees Gordie.

[LwnmwnMan2]

FWIW, my tree company line was a bit tongue in cheek.

Please no hard feelings.

[Powerstroke]

No offense taken.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Well that was an interesting weekend of tree cutting. No one got hurt, no houses were destroyed, the lift broke but I have no control over that. One of my neighbors has a tree we worked on that I have no clue what it is. It felt like I was trying to cut through a steel I beam. It even smelled different, and good lord for the HUGE thorns that were in it.

Of course, in true Avoca fashion, we picked the windiest weekend to do all this. I think I still have vertigo from bouncing around in the bucket.

A few more action photos.

We made one grand daddy of a brush pile.

And while you're way high up in the air, ya just have to snap a pic of your house.

[LwnmwnMan2]

If the tree wasn't too tall, could it have been a Russian Olive?

[Eric Wettschreck]

It was a pretty good sized tree. Guessing 60 feet or so.

[Meyer8043]

Not to be a jerk, but being a tree guy myself, that last pic is why you hire a professional. Looks like some nice, tears on that final cut, it puts more stress on the tree with the unnecessary wounding to the not just the branch area but to the main trunk. Every year hundreds of homeowners die from things just like that, dropping a branch on a boom of something they rented, no safety glasses, no hard hat, no chainsaw protective pants. I really wish they would not even rent those lifts out to anyone planning on cutting trees with them. Sorry if I sound like a jerk, but I'm a pretty big safety advocate when it comes to cutting trees, you may have gotten away with one this time but next time you may not be so lucky. Final thought leave tree cutting to the professionals.

[Eric Wettschreck]

Relax.

The tree I'm assuming you're talking aboot is coming down in a couple weeks so we really didn't care that much aboot undercutting that one.

It's coming down to make room for a deck I'm building.

[Powerstroke]

Your neighbors tree is likely a honey locust. The wood is like steel. Black bark, kind of sharp ridges and a big sprawling tree with thorns. If you really cared to ask him it has little tiny leaves only about an inch long on a little stem that falls every year and it may have seed pods too. Usually one of the last trees to get leaves in the spring.

While I too am a big safety guy and a tree trimmer, I'm only gonna ding ya for no safety gear. Tree trimming only become a "profession" in the last 50yrs or so. Before that everyone did their own work just like you, with the help of friends and neighbors. Most average joe's don't rent a lift and do this kind of work and frankly, I've seen too many fly-by-night wanna-be tree services do a much worse job using less safety gear than you guys.

Nice work. The yard looks great after all the traffic.