Bull Ants!

[The Big Hurt]

Dagnbit! I was up in a palm today on a simple job. I cranked up my saw and started pruning when after the 3rd boot didnt even slice it just ripped off with the force of the chain and a MILLION Bull ants scurried out of there. I have never seen so many bull ants in my life. There are bull ants in palms fairly regularly but the number of them was outragous. It was like they have been in there reproducing non stop for years now! Scared the crap outta me!

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Mmmmm roaches, bees, wasps etc. can be pretty upsetting too especacially with nowhere to go!

Really had to hold my water before when on one job of some 43 palms, i had small snakes pop out at my face in 3 diffent of the taller palms! Really make ya respect 'choking in' or 'deadmanning' (using choker as 1 safety connection and/or round turn with lanyard/lifeline), cuz ya can slide on a palm or other smooth spar easily otherwise methinx, especially when so rattled. With these strategies you can pass out and be hanging, hence the name.

In fact on way up i might hold choking loop of round turn on layard open and release to stop, or if i slipt. It walks around spar fairly nicely to if ya don't trap it under it's own self)

 

[treeclimber165]

I've a rat come out, run up my arm and jump off the back of my shoulder. Happened so fast, I didn't have time to react. Good thing, too. I would have smacked it off with my other hand (the one holding the running chainsaw).
Just some bull ants? Dang, sounds like another day at the office.

 

[budroe69moni]

"i was up in a palm today on a simple job. i cranked up my saw & started prunning...."

bighurt,
just curious.......
what type of palm?
how tall?
how did you get up there?
where did you start your saw?
just curious,
budroe
p.s. not to hot today huh?

 

[The Big Hurt]

It was a usual day at the office besides the fact that there were just an outrageous amount of ants. I had never seen so many at once and it caught me by total suprise. Ants are obviously nothing new but it was just crazy.

Bud,
Cabbage Palm
30 feet
Ladder then spikes
Started the saw when I was in position to prune the fronds

I am really happy with my new Echo CS-300. It is light and is working well.

Down To Earth,
I will start talking to you when you quit calling me Forrest
Barry

 

[budroe69moni]

big h,
what size ladder do you have? i've got a 28' fiberglass that kicks!
did you tie your ladder in?
i usually start up my echo cs-3000 on the ground and clip it to my belt when climbing....when i'm up that high on a ladder i don't like messing around w/ a saw that won't start.
budroe
p.s. how many frons did you leave on that cabbage palm????

 

[treeclimber165]

Bud,
If your saw is running properly and warm, it should start with one pull every time. If you are secure enough to cut, you should be secure enough to start a saw easily. I don't like climbing with a running saw clipped on my belt.
Have either of you opened up the exhaust outlet on your Echo's yet? I can't believe that I got Roger (rbtree) to give his 3400 a second chance, now his crew really likes the saw with the additional power.
I try to leave palms at 10-2 or even 9-3. Sometimes customers want them 'hurricane' cut, and I try to talk them out of it. I got the manager over at the Orlando Davey Tree office to start trimming palms correctly and not stripping them a few years ago. Most of the palms on their long term properties were looking crappy, turning yellow and tiny fronds. After a couple years, the palms I had trimmed in the past looked a lot healthier and the boss finally conceded that hurricane cutting was killing the palms.

 

[budroe69moni]

165,
i opened up the exhaust on all of my echo's......
my echo tech bill recomended it to me when
i had him check'em out.
i prune my palms at 10-2 as well. i always explain
up front my prunning methods and if the customer
wants the trees rooster-tailed, i tell them that i
can't do the job! that gets their attention pretty
???? quick & they usually change their mind.
budroe

 

[Stumper]

If you are climbing with a running saw on your belt please rethink that. If you mean you warm up the saw on the ground then shut off, clip it and climb-me too.
Ants, spiders, roaches, yellowjackets, and squirrels but never a snake up in the tree! Has anyone else ever cut a stub and then have a squirrel stick his head out of the hole?

 

[treeclimber165]

Originally posted by Stumper
Ants, spiders, roaches, yellowjackets, and squirrels but never a snake up in the tree! Has anyone else ever cut a stub and then have a squirrel stick his head out of the hole?

Possom, yes. Squirrel, no.
I did have to cut down a flying squirrel's nest in a hollow limb one day. Mama had run up to the top of the tree and was cussing me, I carefully cut out the section of log with the babies and lowered the bucket to the ground. Had the groundman set it aside, and when we were done we placed it at the base of the tree. Next day the babies were gone, mama took them to a new nest.

 

[budroe69moni]

the only time that i climb w/ my saw running
is w/ the chain stop on and clipped to a chainsaw
lanyard so that the saw is below my feet. i only
do this when i'm going to the very top of my ladder
fully extended, it's one less thing to worry about
when i'm up there.
budroe

 

[treeclimber165]

Hey Budroe. I know you are learning, and that is good. A good rule of thumb is: If you aren't secure enough to start your saw, you aren't secure enough to use it.
When you get up that ladder, you should clip in with your lanyard and lean back into it so both hands are free to start your saw.

 

[budroe69moni]

i know,
trust your equipment!
working on it bro. thru experience
comes confidence!!!!
thanks,
budroe

 

[DDM]

Budroe just do what i do Carry the saw up in your Teeth, That way you have a good hold on it to start it!

 

[treeclimber165]

But Dave.......

Budroe doesn't have a tail to help him balance like you do!

 

[DDM]

Brian, Thats Not a Tail

 

[rbtree]

braggart.....

 

[The Big Hurt]

Bud,
I am not sure of my ladder's exact length. I just borrowed it from another tree friend of mine a lil more than a week ago(ever since you guys convinced me to climb up a ladder before spiking to spare the trees some grief). Its about 25 feet and aluminum which I like cause that fiberglass gets HEAVY! I just have Dan hold the ladder in place till I get to the point of gaff ascent. I dont know how many fronds were left on the tree but I do a standard 10 and 2 position unless asked otherwise(rarely occours). I never have a problem starting my saw in the tree if its warm. I just do like Brian says. I lean back on my lanyard to free both hands and drop start the sucker. She fires up and I am good to go!

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

We have a few arboritums around here with palms. There is a big differeance in how far back the frond is removed even on same plants year to year.

IS thee any consensus on how much of the petiol (?) to leave when pruning? Seems that when cut real close the trunk looks less healthy.

 

[treeclimber165]

JPS,
On the thorny varieties I cut the fronds behind the last thorn. If you leave thorns on the boot it makes it very hard to trim the next frond without getting stuck. I hate trimming thorny palms where the last guy left 6" thorny stubs.
In cabbage palms, I trim them back to where the boot flares around the trunk. Again, I don't like leaving long stubs.
I've never seen palms looking 'less healthy' from pruning off the whole frond instead of leaving stubs. If you leave a stub, it dies back anyway in a couple weeks.