Got back home late last night.

[John Paul Sanborn]

I worked with TeamTree in southern IN for a few days. Big trees and fun work.

Steve is another convert to the GRCS and rigging big.

 

[treemandan]

Sounds like fun. Highlights?

 

[senechal]

The new crew is slowly warming to the idea of a GRCS and the next level of rigging. I've planted the seed and hopefully the boss will put one on our truck sometime soon.

 

[teamtree]

We had a good time with you, JPS and learned quite a bit from you. All around great guy. Thanks for bringing down the GRCS, we put it to use right off the bat. We look forward to having you down again

I have seen the GRCS in action before, but this was a first for me on one of my jobs. Both Jeff and Travis thought we need to get one of these rigs. We stood a few limbs straight up and dropped the butts down to the ground....it was awesome and a real time saver. I am not sure why I have not purchased one yet.

Glad to hear you made it home safe.

Steve

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Sounds like fun. Highlights?

The buffet he bought me the second night?

The work was nothing fancy, just tall trees that needed damage removal and deadwooding. Steve has the mixed blessing of being the only real treeman in a small town metro area that has a bunch of bucket butchers.

The first day he had some 90 footish sugar maples that the client/neighbor needed some severe roof clearance along with the hazard mitigation.

The second day he had 5 pin oaks 70-80 feet tall that had a lot of ROW hacking on them. Some of that was remedied, some just raised up. I am always concerned that wounds will coalesce into one large canker if to many close limbs are removed at once, so I did a little less of the raising and a bit more of the canopy work then he asked. He did tell me to do what i thought best.

Last day was a largish silver maple that all I did was a light thinning on, with a little one that took longer to set and remove my gear then to go for the dead and sprouts.

Good 2.5 days of work, I'm feeling a bit stiff today.

I did get one of his guys into one of the big pin oaks, which was the 5th real climb he had done, and the first tall tree he had been in. Travis handled himself very well, and should make an excellent arborist.

 

[teamtree]

Normally, I am not a big fan of Chinese food but I had no problem knocking down two plates. Good stuff You probably guessed I don't miss too many meals.

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on restoring some of these topped trees down here.

Travis did some climbing today in a Sugar Maple that had been topped about 5 times. Got tied in high and worked his way around the tree. Thinned the canopy and took out some deadwood. Looks less like a bush and more like a tree now. Should have taken some before and after shots.

Not sure what you said to him about the "one handing" but I noticed he was two-handing the saw on all cuts. Thanks!

 

[treemandan]

uuhmm, chinese buffett

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on restoring some of these topped trees down here.

Travis did some climbing today in a Sugar Maple that had been topped about 5 times. Got tied in high and worked his way around the tree. Thinned the canopy and took out some deadwood. Looks less like a bush and more like a tree now. Should have taken some before and after shots.

That is the best way to approach it, a little at a time. I thin the heads out a bit. Maybe reduce some of the worst "sprout branches on decay courts", to reduce the pressure of height (as Gillman puts it in his papers).

You need to sell any crown restoration as a long term project, weather it is a topped maple, or a gutted crabapple.

Not sure what you said to him about the "one handing" but I noticed he was two-handing the saw on all cuts. Thanks!

I said that it should be the exception, not the rule, for work on rope or in the bucket.