How many 100' oaks can Big Jon prune in one day

[Kneejerk Bombas]

No, because you will always open up the vascular system of the tree to some extent.
Your rope can crack a small limb without you knowing it, limbs that are recently dead will still have living tissue close to the trunk for a year or two, falling limbs can open the tree on the way down, and so on.
Once Oak Wilt moves into your area you'll need to learn to take precautions.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by Mike Maas
Your rope can crack a small limb without you knowing it, limbs that are recently dead will still have living tissue close to the trunk, falling limbs can open the tree on the way down, and so on.
Once Oak Wilt moves into your area you'll need to learn to take precautions.

All true, but if those who are half a state away learn the precautions BEFORE the epidemics hit, they may not hit as soon or as hard. Most customers will agree to scheduling in dormant season, which is the slower time of year for most arbs anyway. Win-Win. :angel:

Skwerls and birds cannot easily be eliminated, but climber damage is avoidable. Comparing the two sounds like a spiker's rationale: "Hey my wounding is not so bad--look at what those skwerls are doin' up there! And those bird claws!"

Collateral damage in a disease-prone tree is significant. Arbs in FL may want to act like wilt is already there, unless they want to sell nothing but live oak removal in the future..

 

[BigJohn]

What is it we should be doing to the trees in the spring and summer? I'd love to be able look out my office window and just look at them or drive around in a truck all day tell people someone will be back in the winter to prune them. However that doesn't pay the child support or put food on my table. I can't afford to turn away a buck.

 

[TreeJunkie]

We simply make the suggestion, that it would be better to do these trees once they are in there dormant season. By doing this, allowing us to do it it the winter, at our own leasure, we'll offer a 20% discount. It makes scheduling a ton easier, and fills those slow days. Still some people want it done now, and so be it, we're there to make money. If we don't do it they'll call some hack who will. How many of you paint wounds on oaks, if being pruned in the spring or summer? Iv'e never done this myself, however at a recent conferance, this was being suggested, only w/ oaks, to help defend against oak wilt.

 

[murphy4trees]

Here are some pics and a timeline from yesterday..
This is certainly not about a race, but about what is possible..
I thought I was a good climber for 20 years... never knowing that it was even possible for anyone to climb on this level.. Once I saw it in action.. the light bulb went off .... maybe I can climb like that too.....
So I present this info as a look into what is possible for all and to make a point about the necessity of modern climbing techniques and gear for stubborn old schoolers...

7:50ish
we arrive at the job and hang out for a few minutes and break out the throw lines and set a few lines..

8:24
Jon starts footlocking up the first tree (line is set at 95' .. my second shot with the big shot and 16 oz. bag.. looks to be over a small dead branch, so we tie off one end and hang three men from the other side)

9:00
Jon transfers to second tree

9:20
ish I jokingly ask "do you want a pole saw" as Jon is walking 15-20' out a lanky 6" limb, only 6' below his tie in point...

9:36
Jon is on the ground talking to the cutomer, whom is a great guy

9:53
Jon starts up second 3rd tree which by far needs the most work.

9:59
Ties in at about 90'. All these trees, except one are well over 100' maybe 110-115'

10:20
Daniel goes on estimate

11:30ish
transfers to 4th tree

11:50
Jon calls for Gatorade

12:00
Daniel goes to pick up another truck

1:00
Daniel returns.. Jon is on ground talking to the customer after finishing 3rd, 4th, and 5th trees.

1:20ish
Jon statrs up 6th tree

2:00ish
Jon transfers to 7th tree

2:18
Daniel sends up the pole saw as the 7th tree is a leaner with no center and there are 3 or 4, 1" dry sticks... First and onlt time Jon uses pole saw...

2:30
Jon comes down and we decide to leave the remaining trees for another day and go finish dropping the 2 pines from friday...


This pic is the jon starting up the first tree, footlocking single line.. That is a 200' yellow jacket with just a few feet of rope on the ground..

 

[murphy4trees]

Here's an action shot of footlocking... first ascent

 

[murphy4trees]

on the way up...

 

[murphy4trees]

This pic was shot using my new zoom camera...
can you see that the rope is only around a little branch, not the trunk..
However if the little branch fails he'll be caught by the big limb just above him with a fall factor of 1 and a fairly dynamic rope he should be OK...
And we tested that little brach with 600 lbs. x 2= 1200 lbs

Jon... do you remember how big that branch was?... looks at 95' are deceiving...

 

[murphy4trees]

Here is the transfer to the 2nd tree 9:00...

 

[murphy4trees]

Here he is in the 6th tree.. now that is real tree climbing.. he's probably 85' at his waist..
What I do is more tree assisted rope climbing..
Jon does rope assisted tree climbing..
You know he's having a good time..
probably only made 5 cuts with a chainsaw on 7 trees..

 

[murphy4trees]

Well now we have proof... though you can't see his face this really is Big Jon using a pole saw... a rare sight indeed..
Its tough to tell from the pic but this tree had no center... it was just a big arching trunk.. there was on little dead stick over the tennis court I was concerned with... so I tied on the pole..

 

[Ax-man]

Good Job , John and Murph

How do you feel today though, could you do it again??

Must be nice to be young and have all those hormones and testasterone flowing around in your body at their peak levels.

Gotta try out that SRT some time, looks like fun.

 

[jkrueger]

???

I sense Big John is a great climber and from what I've read within his posts he's really a very special talented tree person.

AND, ... , where are the pics of work being done?
Can't satisfy the bookie with your pic report.

Da,
Jack

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

That looked like a fun job, I'm jelouse.:blob6:

 

[BigJohn]

I think Dan forgot to ad that he only had room for 13 pitures on his digital camera. I am sure if he had 200 exposures he would have shot them all. I feel fine after a day like that. I will admit I slept well and kids complained about the snoring. My oldest did get to sleep till 3 am he says cause I was snoring so loud. I wanted to get back there today to finish up the last three. I have my kids every weekend and horses that need lots of attention and didn't find the extra three to four hours in the day to get back down there. It was fun job and maybe it would have been more fun spread out over a longer period of time. I plan on finishing it up Tuesday after work. Tomorrow is going to pretty hot and I am still getting used to the heat and the allergies. Oaks are my worse. They actually cause a mild rash on my skin.

 

[Nathan Wreyford]

Those trees don't look 100ft. Maybe that Volvo is bigger than the avg car Eitherway, I find pics seldom do a tree or a days work justice. Thanks for sharing.

.02

That is pretty much the day in day out work here. I climb 4 -10 per day. All depends on if I am climbing in rain, snow, or the rare sunny days. A mix of snow and rain on Fagus sylvatica (beech) Things get slick.

Looks like a fun day. Glad all was safe.

Take care

 

[a_lopa]

good climber bravo!i have a guy who works part time for me he has a bad lower back he can footlock or french prussic with pulley up things quikly it amazes me big top end strengh.you can nearly pick a climber by the size of the muscles around the elbow

 

[BigJohn]

Yeah I have one on my elbow that looks like I have a large golf ball stuck in there. My girlfriend thinks it's gross especially when she lays on my chest and I move my arm and my pecks flex. As climbers I think we are really out of proportion. I was trying to talk a guy into competing today and he was saying he cant keep up and that i am built for climbing. It was climbing that makes us this way.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by BigJohn
. It was climbing that makes us this way.

That's the truth. 24 yrs ago I took some time off climbing; dropped 20 lbs of top weight and then quads and calves grew large from running. Now those have shrunk, and 40 lbs added to torso and arms, of which 30 is useful.

Our bodies are like trees; reaction tissue is added in just the right areas to do work under physical stresses.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Originally posted by aussie_lopa
you can nearly pick a climber by the size of the muscles around the elbow

I call them Popey arms, figure that the seamen on the tall ships had arms like that from running lines day in day out. When Popey first came out there were still some sailing ships running around.