Was doing a big oak removal in a tight backyard in Bellingham. I was in a rush to get up the tree and just stuffed my lowering line into my saddle bag. Big mistake. When I needed to send it down, the whole thing came out in a massive birds nest. Had to climb back down, spend almost an hour picking out knots while the homeowner watched from their window. Felt like an idiot. My captain would have chewed me out if he saw that. Has anyone else learned this lesson the hard way with rope management?
He showed me how a half hitch gives the ground crew way more control on a 40 foot pine and I stopped crushing all my lower limbs on the way down, anyone else get a tip that took forever to click?
I spent 6 hours grinding out a massive silver maple stump in a tight backyard last Thursday. Everyone kept telling me to just rent a bigger machine and plow through it. But the roots had wrapped around an old irrigation line and I had to stop every 20 minutes to dig around by hand. Ended up using a chainsaw and mattock for the tricky parts and it went faster than the grinder ever could. Has anyone else found certain stumps just aren't worth grinding?
I was at a supply house last week and overheard a younger arborist telling his buddy you should never use climbing spikes on a palm tree. He was dead serious about it. And I get where he's coming from, it's a rule for regular trees, but palms are different. Their trunks don't heal like a hardwood does, but they also don't get that ring damage the same way. I've climbed palms with spikes for 15 years and never had one die from it. The issue is more about the fronds and the crown, not the trunk wounds. This guy probably learned from a textbook or a quick YouTube video. Has anyone else noticed newer guys getting stuck on rules that don't fit every situation?
I was checking a damaged maple behind a strip mall off Colfax last June. The client wanted me to save it, but I noticed a 6-inch crack in the main fork that had been there for years. I ended up recommending removal because that crack was past the point of cabling. Now I always look for old wounds like that before quoting any storm cleanup.
I was reading a forum post from a guy in Oregon who said he always uses the 3-cut method for any limb over 3 inches, and I tried it on a maple tree in my yard last weekend. That undercut first really does stop the bark from peeling down the trunk, why didn't anyone tell me this sooner?
I got called in to help on a job where another crew tried to take down a 70 foot oak in a tight backyard. They had the wrong rigging setup and the tree started splitting halfway through the cut. The homeowner was standing on her back porch watching, which made it worse. I stopped the work, rerigged with a sling higher up, and made three more relief cuts to release the tension. We got it down safely but it took an extra 4 hours and cost the crew a lot of time and money. Has anyone else had to step into a job that was already going bad like this?
I had a 40 foot oak in my backyard that was hitting the house. Tried a reduction cut method I saw in a 2018 ISA article instead of just lopping the top off. The tree bounced back in 2 seasons with no rot. Anyone else find reductions work better long term or do you still top for safety?
Honestly, I was ready to just make a straight cut on a big limb, but this retired guy named Pete walked over and pointed out I was about to bark pinch my saw. He showed me how to notch it just right so the limb dropped clean without binding. Now I won't even touch a limb over 6 inches without doing a proper notch first. Anyone else learn a trick from a random guy on a job site?
Last week I had this job in a super cramped backyard in St. Louis, tree was right up against the fence and a shed. I started setting up the bucket truck thinking it'd be faster, but after 20 minutes of maneuvering and still not reaching the main limbs, I gave up and grabbed my spikes. Got up that oak in like 5 minutes flat and had the whole thing trimmed in under an hour. The truck just couldnt get the angles right with all the obstacles. Now I'm wondering if I should just stop bothering with the truck on anything but wide open lots. Has anyone else found spikes are just way more practical for tricky access jobs?
Switched to bypass on a 30 foot red oak branch that kept tearing with my anvil pruner and the cut was so clean it healed over way faster than expected. Has anyone else noticed a big difference with bypass on live limbs vs dead wood?
Old timer in Denver told me I was wasting energy cutting 6 inch limbs with a handsaw when a pole pruner would do it in half the time. Took me about 20 cuts to realize he was right and my shoulder stopped hurting. Anyone else stubborn about switching tools on a job?
I learned tree work from an old timer back in the early 2000s. He swore by the traditional open face notch and back cut for felling every tree no matter what. We did it that way for years and it worked fine on straight, simple trees. But about five years ago I started watching some Scandinavian guys online who use a plunge cut or boring cut on tricky leaners and hazard trees. At first I thought it was just fancy showboating. Then I had a big silver maple near a house last spring that I had to take down with a heavy lean toward a sunroom. I tried the plunge method with a deep trigger cut and it gave me way more control over the hinge wood. The tree landed right where I wanted it with no surprises. Now I use the old method for easy straight trees and the plunge for anything with risk or lean. What do you all use for your go to felling cut on a difficult tree?
Back when I started out about 12 years ago, I thought I knew it all. This retired arborist in Raleigh watched me take down some dead branches from a live oak and just shook his head. He said I was leaving stubs and tearing the bark instead of making clean cuts at the collar. At first I got defensive, but after he showed me the difference on one limb - how his cut healed over flat while mine left a jagged mess - I finally got it. I changed my whole approach that day: sharper tools, better angles, and actually cutting back to the branch bark ridge instead of guessing. Took me about six months to really break the old habit. Has anyone else had a seasoned climber call them out on something basic like that and it stuck with you?
I counted up my jobs from March to now and realized I've pruned over 500 trees on residential properties around Portland. That number surprised me because it felt like maybe 300 at most. My left shoulder has been giving me trouble for the last two weeks and I think the repetitive pole saw work is doing it. Anyone else hit a milestone like this and have joints start complaining?
Had a guy last month in Portland tell me he wanted his 60 foot maple trimmed for 200 bucks because his neighbor's kid had a chain saw. I spent 45 minutes climbing that tree with a proper safety setup and a pole saw. He watched me work, then complained the branches weren't cut short enough. Asked him if he wanted me to remove the whole tree for free while I was at it. Guy just stared at me. Anyone else run into people who think arborist rates are negotiable like a yard sale?
Used to waste 15 minutes trying to get a bag over a 70 foot oak branch with my old hand sling method. My buddy Dave let me borrow his Big Shot and I had a line set in under 2 minutes on the first try. Anyone else switch to a launcher and wonder why they waited so long?
I had a stretch back in May where every single tree I climbed felt like I was 20 years old again. Storms had rolled through the Tuesday before and all the takedowns were straightforward with good rigging points. Has anyone else had one of those rare weeks where your saws don't bog and the wind just seems to know where you're going?
I was scheduled to prune a big old oak in a backyard near Ann Arbor. Got there and the homeowner said the tree had a split crotch that looked sketchy. I had to rope it down piece by piece over their garage. Took me 7 hours when I budgeted for 4. But the homeowner was watching from the window and came out with a hundred dollar tip. He said he appreciated me not taking shortcuts. Made up for the lost time and then some. Anyone else have a tip that turned out way more complicated than it looked?
Last Tuesday I had to climb this massive old oak in Brookline that some developer wanted thinned out. The homeowner kept yelling at me from the porch about how I was ruining his tree's "natural shape" whatever that means. Then my chipper clogged on some rotten wood from the core and it took me 45 minutes to clear it out. By the time I got down my rope was frayed from rubbing against a branch I swore was clear. Has anyone else dealt with customers who think they know more about tree biology than you do?
I was walking through Riverside Park and noticed this massive sugar maple that must be 80 feet tall. It has a huge cavity near the base but the crown still looks healthy. Anybody seen something like this hold up well long term?
Honestly, I showed up to this job in a tight suburban yard in Phoenix last Tuesday and realized my bucket truck wouldn't fit through the gate. So I had to pick between using spikes on this big old mesquite tree or renting a lift for 300 bucks on the spot. I went with the spikes since I was already there, and my foreman called me like 'you sure about that?' Well, I got the tree done but scraped the bark up way worse than I wanted and the homeowner gave me a look. Has anyone else had to make that call last minute and regret it?
My neighbor’s buddy who claims to be a tree guy told me to top my 80 year old oak because it was getting too tall near the house. I said no way, that’s bad for the tree. But now I’m second guessing because the branches are scraping the roof and I’m worried about storm damage. He says I’m overreacting and topping is fine if you do it right. Has anyone else dealt with this where the easy fix seemed wrong but maybe wasn’t?
Met an old timer named Dave at a job site near Portland last month. He showed me how I was cutting too close to the branch collar (by like a half inch too deep) and leaving stubs that would take forever to seal. I always thought you just made a clean cut wherever, but he pulled out his saw and walked me through a proper 3 cut method on a big red oak. Any of you guys ever learn a basic thing way later than you should have?