c/arborists

28

derek_coleman•17h ago

My boss in Tacoma said to never top a pine, but a client insisted.

He told me topping that 40-foot ponderosa would just make it grow back weak and dangerous. The client pushed hard, so we did it their way. Two years later, the tree is full of suckers and a big limb split off in a windstorm last month. Anyone else had to clean up after a topping job they warned against?

21

kelly.parker•2d ago

A city planner in my town said they want to remove all the old oaks on Main Street

I was at a town meeting last week about road work, and a planner said the big pin oaks on Main are 'too messy' and a 'liability' because of acorns and leaf drop. They want to cut them down and put in those small ornamental pear trees instead. I get that cleaning up is a pain, but those oaks are probably 80 years old. They give real shade, help cool the street in summer, and are a home for birds. It feels like trading a big, working part of the town's green space for something that just looks neat. What's the line between managing risk and keeping the good that big trees do? Would you fight to keep the oaks or agree they're more trouble than they're worth?

19

alice_wilson73•3d ago

Reading a forestry report from the state and a number about oak wilt stopped me cold

I was looking through the Michigan DNR's annual forest health report last week, and they said a single infected red oak can produce over 100,000 fungal mats in a season. I always knew it was bad, but that specific number floored me. It really shows why the 'wait and see' approach some folks take with suspect trees is so risky. Has anyone else seen stats that changed how you handle a specific disease?

7

emmap16•7d ago

Remembering a lesson from an old guy in a park in Boise

I was doing a removal on a big cottonwood in Julia Davis Park maybe eight years back, and this retired guy named Walt would just sit on a bench and watch me work for hours. He finally came over and said, 'You know, you're making that cut too flat. Give it a little angle so the hinge works right.' He showed me with his hands, and it was such a simple fix for a problem I didn't even know I had. Anyone else ever get a piece of advice from a total stranger that just clicked?

10

dylan_rodriguez•7d ago

Pro tip: I tried a 2% solution of horticultural oil on a young red maple in early spring instead of my usual dormant spray.

The tree ended up with some minor leaf curl and scorch on the new growth, which I wasn't expecting at all. I'm guessing the timing was off or the concentration was too strong for that stage of bud break. Has anyone else run into this with a spring application on maples?

6

tessa_hill86•8d ago

Why does nobody talk about the cost of those quick-release stump grinder teeth?

I burned through a full set of six in under a month on a rocky lot in Bend, costing me over $400 in replacements and a full day's labor.

13

joel_brown19•8d ago

Overheard a landscaper in Boise tell his crew 'just cut the roots, the tree will be fine'

That's how you get a 50-foot maple falling on a house in five years. Anyone have a good way to explain root collar excavation to property owners without sounding like a jerk?

12

taylor.susan•9d ago

A chat with my old boss about climbing gear made me realize how much we've lost.

I ran into my first crew lead, Frank, at the hardware store last Tuesday. We got talking about the new gear he saw at a show, all carbon fiber and quick clips. He said, 'You know, I miss when you had to really know your knots. Now it's just click and go.' That hit me hard because it's true. I remember him teaching me how to tie a proper bowline on a bight in the rain, hands cold and slippery. Now my new guys just use a mechanical ascender and call it good. They get up the tree faster, sure, but I wonder if they'd know what to do if that fancy gear failed at 60 feet. Do you think the push for speed is making us forget the basic skills?

10

aaronf40•9d ago

I used to think those cheap plastic root barriers were junk, but one saved a client's driveway.

A homeowner in Tacoma had a big maple pushing up their concrete, and they'd already put in a cheap 18-inch barrier from a box store a few years back. I was ready to dig it all out, but when we cut the concrete, the roots were all turned sideways right at the barrier line, so we just pruned them back and repoured. Has anyone else had a surprisingly good result with a simple product they didn't trust at first?

27

shane_martinez44•9d ago

Noticed a huge difference in a maple's recovery after switching to a different pruning method

There's this silver maple in a park near my house that got a bad topping job about two years ago. I saw the same tree yesterday and it's covered in these weak, fast-growing water sprouts, maybe a hundred of them. The city crew just came through last month and did a proper reduction cut on a different maple nearby, and that one already looks way more stable. Has anyone else seen a tree bounce back better from a reduction versus just getting hacked back?

15

hannah240•10d ago

Spent three hours trying to get a rope out of a tree yesterday...

Had a simple takedown in Springfield, just a medium oak. Threw my line over a good limb, maybe 60 feet up. Pulled the rope through and... it just vanished. No knot, no snag, nothing. The limb had this tiny, hidden fork I didn't see from the ground, and the rope slipped right down into it, getting wedged tight. I spent the next two hours trying to hook it with a pole saw, then finally had to climb up there myself. The whole job, which should have taken 90 minutes, turned into a half-day saga. My ground guy just kept saying, 'It's just a rope...' which did not help. Anyone ever have a simple piece of gear just decide to ruin your whole schedule?

1

blake_lewis•11d ago

My bright idea to use a leaf blower on a squirrel nest went about as well as you'd think

I was up in a big oak in Seattle last week, dealing with a squirrel nest that was causing some real branch damage. The homeowner wanted it gone, but the little guys were not moving. I had this brand new Stihl backpack blower with me and thought, hey, maybe a little gentle air will encourage them to find a new home without any fuss. I got about ten feet away, gave it a short blast on the low setting, and let me tell you, it was not gentle encouragement. About six very angry squirrels exploded out of that nest like furry fireworks, one of them landing right on my hardhat before scrambling down my back. The nest material, mostly leaves and trash, went everywhere, including straight into my face. I learned that squirrels do not appreciate modern landscaping tools and that a simple pole is probably a better choice for that job. Has anyone found a good, safe way to encourage wildlife to move along without causing a scene?

15

olivia_morgan8•13d ago

Saw a ton of girdling roots on some new street trees in my town

I was walking my dog in the new Maple Grove development and noticed the city planted about 20 red maples. Almost every single one had a major girdling root right at the base, already starting to bite into the trunk. They looked like they were planted maybe 6 months ago. It's such a basic thing to catch before they go in the ground, but now it's gonna be a huge fix or they'll all fail. Has anyone else seen this happen with municipal planting projects lately?

26

christopher952•13d ago

A weird trick for getting a clean cut on a tight back leaner

Had a job yesterday with a big maple leaning hard over a fence. The usual notch and back cut was a no go because of the angle, and I didn't want to risk it barber chairing into the neighbor's yard. I remembered an old guy at a training in Boise talking about using a shallow plunge cut from the back first, before the face notch. Sounded wrong, but I was stuck. I made a really shallow plunge about two inches deep on the compression side, right where my back cut would go. Then I cut my normal open face notch on the other side. When I went to finish the back cut, the tree sat down on the hinge like a dream, no splitting. It felt backwards, but that little relief cut stopped the fibers from pulling apart. Has anyone else tried something like this on a nasty leaner?

2

wren_thomas16•13d ago

Warning: I chose a 24-inch bar over a 20-inch for a Bradford pear removal in Decatur

The tree was leaning toward a fence line, and I figured the extra reach would help with the awkward angles. It actually made the cuts harder to control in the tight space, and I ended up switching back to my smaller saw halfway through. Anyone else find a shorter bar is better for close-quarter urban removals?

10

quinnmitchell•15d ago

Just tried to use my old climbing saw to prune a huge willow in my backyard and ended up with a branch stuck perfectly upright in the ground like a javelin, lol.

I was trying to make a clean drop cut on a 20-foot limb over my patio, but the hinge wood gave way weirdly and it shot straight down, burying itself a solid foot into the lawn, and now my neighbor won't stop texting me pictures of it asking if I'm starting a fence post business.

11

the_alex•15d ago

That old oak in Springfield finally gave me a real scare

We got a call for a big limb hanging over a garage, looked fine from the ground. I climbed up and my saw pinched hard about two feet into the cut, the whole thing groaned and dropped six inches. My ground guy yelled 'runner!' as a crack shot up the trunk toward me. We had to rig a line from the neighbor's maple to lower it safely, took three extra hours. Anyone had a tree look solid but hold a nasty surprise like that?

1

patricia_singh81•15d ago

Debate time: Are we still planting too many Bradford Pears in new developments?

I drive past a new subdivision going up in Franklin, and every single street is lined with those trees. We all know they're weak, split after 15 years, and crowd out native plants. But the builders say they're cheap, grow fast, and look good for the sale. I think it's a short-term fix that creates a decade of hazard work for us. What's the better play for a developer who needs quick shade on a budget?

18

quinn958•16d ago

A chat with an old forester made me stop using my climbing saw for everything

I was helping clear a trail in the state park last weekend and got talking to this retired forester named Carl. He watched me pull out my small climbing saw for a 10 inch dead limb and just said, 'That's a scalpel, son. You're trying to chop firewood with it.' He explained that using the wrong tool for the job, even if it works, wears out your good gear way faster and tires you out. I realized I'd been doing that for years, just grabbing what was on my harness. Now I'm making a point to walk back to the truck for the proper bow saw or pole saw if the cut's over 6 inches. Anyone else have a simple tool rule they broke for too long?

8

stellaj70•17d ago

Shoutout to the old Husqvarna 372 that saved my skin in a tight spot

Back in '08, I was clearing storm damage in a tight backyard in Portland... a big maple limb was hung up in another tree, maybe 40 feet up. I made my notch and went for the back cut, but the wood pinched my bar halfway through. The whole thing started to roll toward the house. I just yanked the saw free and let it drop... it landed maybe 10 feet from the foundation. My hands were shaking for an hour. What's your go-to move when a cut starts to bind like that?

2

logan648•18d ago

I swore by a deep root watering spike for my new oak, but the soil test told a different story

I put one of those long metal spikes on my hose and gave a 3-year-old pin oak a solid 20-minute soak twice a week all summer, thinking I was getting water way down. A soil probe yesterday showed the water was barely past 8 inches, just encouraging shallow roots. What's your go-to method for getting a deep soak on a new transplant without wasting water?

8

the_mason•18d ago

I bought a cheap climbing rope from a random online seller last year

It was only $80, half what I usually pay for my main line. Figured it would be fine for light work. The sheath started fraying after maybe three months, and it failed a strength test completely. I'm out the cash and had to buy a proper rope anyway. Has anyone else had a bad experience with off-brand climbing gear? What brands do you actually trust?

11

brookes37•20d ago

Finally got a clean removal with the new rigging block setup

I had a big pine removal in Springfield yesterday and tried two different rigging methods. First, I used my old steel block and it kept binding on the rope during the lower. After lunch, I switched to the newer aluminum block with the sealed bearings. The difference was huge. The rope ran smooth as butter and we dropped three major limbs in half the time. It saved us about two hours on the whole job. Has anyone else made a small gear change that gave you a big win like that?

14

the_elizabeth•22d ago

Trying to get a clean drop on a huge, dead oak in a tight backyard with power lines on two sides took my crew and me from a planned 3-hour job to a full 8-hour day.

Honestly, we had to piece it down so small with ropes and a pole saw it felt like we were performing surgery, not a removal, and I'm curious if anyone else has a go-to method for a truly terrible rigging situation like that.

5

tessac25•23d ago

Showerthought: I was clearing a storm-damaged willow in Boise last Tuesday and the client's neighbor came over to argue the property line.

Has anyone else had a job get complicated by a property dispute, and how do you handle it without just stopping work?