Alright guys, let me have it.

[epicklein22]

Alright. Now, I know the guy that I learned pruning from ain't all he thinks he is but I have gleaned some things from him as well as a lot from this site. I understand that suckers will come out at that these re-sprouts are not strong wood. But won't continued maintenance of topping the sucker growth and shaping the tree prevent it from getting to tall on this unstable wood thereby keeping it safe? I've walked away from jobs and customers that wanted me to do this type of stuff to an oak or hickory or a hemlock but in my experience trees like silver maples and willows will come back from this type of cutting. Granted I've only been in the biz 6 years so I can't see the long term effects yet I can only go on what I have learned from others. Does anyone know of a silver maple that died from a trim job?

Yes, you want to eliminate small sucker growth when possible. Yes, you want to try and keep the shape of the tree as much as possible. Obviously, you want to prune with the thought of future growth. You need to take smaller cuts...too much of cutting entire leads off instead of trimming the branches Do you use pole prunners, hand saws or pole saws at all? A chainsaw should be used sparringly and when you have damage and rot.

 

[JeffL]

Two words on that silver maple: bracing cables.

Nails got me to it, at least on the one handing and no eye protection. He forgot the no ear protection either though.

 

[DDM]

On that maple you need to give your customer their money back and pray they forget your name.

Now Dan tell him what you really think! Thats a nice Maple bush you made there!

 

[oldirty]

how come no "finished" shot of that oak? she was kinda looking broccoli-ish from what i saw. that and the silver got its ass handed to it. lol.

anyway if your trying to look pro you do kinda need to be smothered in the PPE. usually when i drive by a crew and see nothing by way of PPE i end up screaming at the top of my lungs out the window "HACKA!" and continue on my way.

not calling you a hack mind you but appearences are what they are.


at least when that tree does go south the HO's will have your number.


you gotta eat though right?

i remember one time (at a company i dont work at anymore) we ended up absolutely beating the tar out of a bunch of tree's that where leaning over the pool from the neighbors yard and when we finished up i remember hearing the boss tell the HO not to tell anyone who did the work. lol, it was that bad.

 

[capetrees]

I love it when the know it alls chime in.
Maybe the homeowner wanted it hacked way back. The tree is alive for now and the homeowner payed the bill. If it dies, its probably not due so much to the trimming but the fact that the homeowner probably never did any maintainace over the years thus the configuration of the trunks and the fact that it was over the house, thus the trimming. Bottom line IMO, the homeowner still has a treee which, if it makes it till next year or the one after can be trimmed again to bring it back into a decent shape. Gotta break a few eggs to make an omelet.

BTW, unless they are officially labled "eye protection" nobody can tell. And as far as hearing protection, who in here can tell if he has ear plugs? I always ear plugs and I wear sunglasses too. The sidewalk supervisors of the world have no real idea what I am wearing.

opcorn:

 

[oldirty]

not calling you a hack mind you but appearences are what they are.

.

and for real, i wasnt calling you a hack.

 

[wdanforth]

Website

I will let you experts critique the tree work. The website is lacking content. Add some basic tree care info - do s and don't s. Outline services offered. Choose a better job to highlight than the maple.

 

[treemandan]

I know you don't like the motto, Nails, we kinda do though. I'll try to talk the boys into something more professional before too long, I'm sure. Yep, no eye pro, yet. Not many services in our area do and I'm still undecided as to whether or not to force the guys to wear it all the time. And yeah, I didn't word the captions ( topping ) and that will be remedied shortly as well. In my experience, everyone one hands from time to time and yeah, my bro likes his ear ring. I didn't notice his saw wasn't tied off though. I'll need to recheck.

Got some pics coming... if you see one of the 3 saws on my hip tied off let me know cause it must of been by accident.

 

[treemandan]

how come no "finished" shot of that oak? she was kinda looking broccoli-ish from what i saw. that and the silver got its ass handed to it. lol.

anyway if your trying to look pro you do kinda need to be smothered in the PPE. usually when i drive by a crew and see nothing by way of PPE i end up screaming at the top of my lungs out the window "HACKA!" and continue on my way.

not calling you a hack mind you but appearences are what they are.


at least when that tree does go south the HO's will have your number.


you gotta eat though right?

i remember one time (at a company i dont work at anymore) we ended up absolutely beating the tar out of a bunch of tree's that where leaning over the pool from the neighbors yard and when we finished up i remember hearing the boss tell the HO not to tell anyone who did the work. lol, it was that bad.

On the way to job today we had to head down a little dirt road that had a bridge( no weight limit posted), there was a half baked paving crew who had a triaxle parked on the bridge and some kig running a chop saw with nothing on his face whatsover. The noise alone would have killed ya.
We drove by all slow just looking, they were trying to be cool but started to jump when they saw the crane coming behind me... moved that triaxle right quick.
i felt sorry for that kid with all the old guys standing around while they told this poor bastard it was Ok to cut like that. Chop saw into asphault and the bridge and no protection?
Ahhh, its nothing, wait till you see this crane.

 

[mckeetree]

The Silver Maple is truly a travesty. What the :censored: were you thinking? You are a senior member here, right? I sincerely hope that you are not giving any arboricultural advice to others.

You should have walked away from that gig instead of butchering the tree.

Mmmm. I wasn't going to say anything but I could not have said it better. That was the most pitiful mess I have seen since Virgil Zatarain's dad did something unspeakable to a live oak in Fort Worth back about 1985.

 

[capetrees]

opcorn:

 

[Dillweed]

On your climbing

Cool slideshow. One piece of advice on climbing. Never straddle a limb unless absolutely necessary. Pro climbers never do that.

 

[treemandan]

On that maple you need to give your customer their money back and pray they forget your name.

Would you?
Come on: need a guy for a little? send me some gas money, least let me get some floor space. I would love to catch up on old times, remember the old times? Hey , what do I know ? Don't remember having your old Aspy bucket swinging over a cliff?
I don't hack up every tree I see, only when THEY tell me too.
Anyway Blakey baby, you rope cllimbing girlscout ( no, really, good work, hard stuff to do), what options did you adivise your client of? The answer to that is what will make or break you SO- Did you tell them all about it or what?

 

[treemandan]

Cool slideshow. One piece of advice on climbing. Never straddle a limb unless absolutely necessary. Pro climbers never do that.

well, what if you were up there on you lunch break trying to cook a hot dog with your butane torch AND after that you used the butane torch to light a joint even bigger than that hot dog? Would a pro climber do that?
don't bother with the wise cracks, you are talking to The Dan now or moreover, The Dan is now talking to you.

 

[treemandan]

opcorn:

You must be awfully fat from all the popcorn eating and spectating you do.

 

[treemandan]

how come no "finished" shot of that oak? she was kinda looking broccoli-ish from what i saw. that and the silver got its ass handed to it. lol.

anyway if your trying to look pro you do kinda need to be smothered in the PPE. usually when i drive by a crew and see nothing by way of PPE i end up screaming at the top of my lungs out the window "HACKA!" and continue on my way.

not calling you a hack mind you but appearences are what they are.


at least when that tree does go south the HO's will have your number.


you gotta eat though right?

i remember one time (at a company i dont work at anymore) we ended up absolutely beating the tar out of a bunch of tree's that where leaning over the pool from the neighbors yard and when we finished up i remember hearing the boss tell the HO not to tell anyone who did the work. lol, it was that bad.

sometimes they REALLY want you to grab some ass and start handing it back. Sometimes I say NO and sometimes I say " don't tell anybody about this"

 

[oldirty]

Sometimes I say NO and sometimes I say " don't tell anybody about this"

lol. you're tapped. lol.....

 

[treemandan]

lol. you're tapped. lol.....

well you have to consider that you have to satisfy the person paying you and in their mind they want something to be a particular way. Actually they want it a few ways, cheap and painless being a few. Some say " I just want it that way NOW, I want to take it down eventually...".
But one must be able to list all the things that come into play when dealing with a silver like that. Let em make their own GAT DAM choice once you have given the right advise.
Also Blakey is going to bust a few eggs and break a few hearts before his led Zepplin is running full speed like clockwork. Its all about seeing where the chips get blown if you catch my drift.
Rare is the time a client will opt for the " proper tree health technique", even with the right pruning and bracing the thing is still there presenting the same amount of variables. Some opt to just deal with what they can and the back- burner is a place we all know about. Its a tree, not a mortgage payment. Well actually it is. How much did you charge that lady to gomp up on that tree Blakes?
And then I get to a job where the place is full off half dead sapling in the way to a crazy TD and the HO won't let you even clear a path to the base of the tree.

 

[Bermie]

While I'm waiting for the pictures to load....
You might want to refine your logo, it looks a bit like, how shall I phrase this...boy bits.

The only defense I can offer for an extreme reduction is to leave a nice anchor point high in the middle if at all possible, so you have somewhere nice to tie in for the sucker maintenance over the next few years.

 

[treeseer]

You might want to refine your logo, it looks a bit like, how shall I phrase this...boy bits. .

Maybe that is intentional...

Nice job with the pictures and captions.

"Does anyone know of a silver maple that died from a trim job?"

Yes, i've seen several that rotted and split because huge wounds were made. That's the future for this one, I don't care if it sucks up Lake Superior and grows like gangbusters, there will be no stopping the rot.

"Yes, you want to try and keep the shape of the tree as much as possible. Obviously, you want to prune with the thought of future growth. You need to take smaller cuts...too much of cutting entire leads off instead of trimming the branches Do you use pole prunners, hand saws or pole saws at all?"

Excellent points. If you are reducing a tree, it needs to be done from the outside in. When will the oak close that big wound? Never. That limb could have been cut back to a natural shape. Broccoli-ish now, good term.

It would have been better to spike both trees and make the cuts farther out.

Good for you Blakes for putting it out there. Next, how about leaving the 200t on the ground for a while and prune the whole tree, and leave a tree when you are done.

Pros do not straddle branches?? Whaa???