Biodegradable bar oil for fruit tree trimming

[Ronaubert]

I am going to be pruining close to 50 fruit trees, should I use normal bar oil or biodegradable oil for this job. I have a Stihl 028 Woodboss with a 15" blade. My plan is to get a tri-pod orchard ladder and a 30" blade so I can reach to cut the limbs.
Will stihl oil harm the tree?

 

[Lobo]

I seriously doubt that enough regular oil gets on one limb to damage or pollute anything.

Sharpen up your chain to leave it there as short as possible time span. Orchards are a lot of work and worth a lot of money why not get your chains professionally sharpened or by new chains to make the job quick, easy, safe.

 

[clearance]

Ron- the 028 is a pretty small saw and it will not pull with a 30inch bar. I think that you are going to have to get a little closer and use the bar you have. Veg oil is the oil to use here. Asking people here that are knowledgable about working safely from ladders is what you should do for your own well being. There are lots of stories about weekend warriors having "fun" with ladders.

 

[Pioneer]

Ron, I have used Canola on the bar with some mixed success-
First the bad news: The nose of the bar just behind the sprocket where the chain first comes in contact with it shows some accelerated wear, I blame this on the low viscosity and the lack of a tack additive.
The good news: The chain seems to love it, I have not had to adjust the tension for many hours after the initial stretch on a new one. It seems to have low friction in the groove, heavy cuts at the limits of the saws power get the bar only a little above skin temperature. It will not hurt your trees or your grass, this is the reason I originally tried it because the regular stuff was leaving dead spots on my lawn.

If you decide to use it, let me know your results, I suspect the bar I used may have been on the soft side and would like to know other peoples experiences with using a veg oil on their bar.

 

[Lobo]

028 Wood Boss and 30'' bar with all due respect what is wrong here ?

 

[Lawn Masters]

My plan is to get a tri-pod orchard ladder and a 30" blade so I can reach to cut the limbs.

Whatever you do DO NOT use a chainsaw on a ladder. thats an easy way to amputate a limb, get killed, or get a nice scar on your body somewhere.
Edit:
get a handsaw and do it that way. you can always move the ladder around.
The handsaw will give a smoother finish cut than the chainsaw.

 

[glens]

Isn't it best to lop off the whatever with a rough-cutting chainsaw and use a handsaw to make the finishing cut when doing fine pruning of reasonable-size limbs?

 

[Schultzz]

The regular chainsaw oil will not be harmful to the tree. If you are planning to sell or use the trimmed wood for cooking purposes(smoking, or on the grill), then use cooking oil in your chainsaw.
We sell cooking woods. Most apple orchards still have arsenic residue in the soil from 100 years ago. Arsenic was used as a pesticide but it doesn't affect the tree or the fruit. Schultzz

 

[premix]

A shooting buddy of mine owns a cherry orchard and I have never seen his workers take a chainsaw to them unless they were replacing a tree. When they take out a tree to replace they used Stihl BioPlus bar oil. I would think a hand saw and loppers would be a much safer way on a ladder. A chainsaw on a ladder just seems like it would be way to dangerous. If you want to use a chainsaw on them a good pole pruner might be a good safety investment.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Ron, although the 30" bar will give you some extra reach, you may end up wearing the chain as a necktie if it derails, which would cause you to maybe fall off the ladder. It's very important not to look like a hack, so things should be done in as professional manner as possible.
John

 

[MacDaddy]

Ron if you ever need any bars for your pruning business let me know.

 

[Justin Garrison]

A cordless sawzall on a ladder, maybe?

 

[geofore]

If yo go with the cordless Sawzall, they make a green blade for tree work. It's called a green blade. Most of their longer wood blades work but they make the green blade for trees. A good hand saw is better for just trimming/pruning the orchard, a chainsaw is for taking the trees out.