c/arborists

The tree tube debate has me second guessing my own plots

Honestly, I spent the last 5 years ripping out tree tubes on every site I manage, figured they were just squirrel condos. Then I read a 2021 study from the UK Forestry Commission showing oak survival rates after 3 summers were actually 40% higher with the tubes on, even accounting for the bent stems. Has anyone else seen that data hold up on their sandy loam sites?

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jessicajohnson•13h ago

Notched my hand 4 times before I got the rope block trick right

Climbing a red oak in Austin last week, I kept fumbling the rope when setting my lanyard, wasted a solid 15 minutes and ended up with a bruised thumb. I tried tying a small figure eight on the tail end as a stopper and it totally fixed my grip issue, no more slipping mid-motion. Anybody else use a stopper knot on their climb line or do you have a better trick for one-handed adjustments?

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the_elizabeth•1d ago

Windstorm in Boise made me switch to a different notch method

After a microburst took down a big silver maple last March and the hinge snapped clean off, I started using a bore cut with a Dutchman on every leaner over 20 degrees, has anyone else had better luck with that on tall cottonwoods?

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emery_taylor•1d ago

Finally took down that Milwaukee silver maple after 3 years of waiting

Three years ago I got a call from a lady on the east side whose silver maple had a crack running up the main trunk. Last week I finally got to do the removal, and it went smoother than I ever expected. We rigged the whole thing down in sections, maybe 14 pieces total, and my ground guy kept the drop zone clear the entire time. The neighbor came out twice to watch and even brought coffee the second time, which never happens on a job like this. I used a 200-foot rope and a port-a-wrap for the big lowering blocks, and the trunk came down clean at the base with zero damage to her patio. She tipped me $100 on top of the bill and asked for my card for her oak tree next spring. Has anyone else had a removal that just clicked like that after waiting on it for years?

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taylor.paige•2d ago

The Lombardy poplar root situation in Boise took me 3 weeks

I spent 6 days trying to grind out a stump from a 40 year old Lombardy poplar and the roots just kept hooking into the sewer line. The rental grinder kept jamming on the root mass so I finally called a local guy who showed me how to use a high pressure water jet to expose the roots first. It took 2 more weekends but the water method cut the job time in half once I figured it out. Has anyone else fought with these things near their lateral lines?

c/arborists

The tree tube debate has me second guessing my own plots

Notched my hand 4 times before I got the rope block trick right

Windstorm in Boise made me switch to a different notch method

Finally took down that Milwaukee silver maple after 3 years of waiting

The Lombardy poplar root situation in Boise took me 3 weeks

Just realized my climbing line was way older than I thought

Overheard a utility forester talking about tree rings, mind blown

Crane ball came loose mid-lift, now I chain it off every time

Paid $400 for a stump grinder rental and barely broke even, worst mistake this spring

Pruned with a handsaw vs pole saw, night and day difference

Hit 500 trees pruned last month, but quality slipped. Trade off?

That time a structural engineer told me to stop cabling old oaks and I lost a big client

Trusted a stump grinder rep in Columbus, got burned badly

My dead hedge trimmer taught me the hard way about fuel stabilizer

Stump grinding job went sideways, should've walked away at the root ball

An old foreman's rant about my notch cuts finally clicked for me

Finally dropped $650 on a good climbing saddle after years of cheap ones

Raked a huge yard in Boise, think I prefer dead leaves now

Harness throw weight change after 10 years, knots saved my shoulder

Stop painting pruning cuts before winter, here is why

That freak windstorm in Fort Collins took down 14 of our clients' elms in one day

Windstorm on Maple Street made me question my whole climb setup

Tried greasing a pulley with bacon fat, big mistake

Old timer told me my 30 inch lanyard was too short for removals

That quote about 'treating every tree like a client' really stuck with me