Hurricane season approacheth

[LeeryLarry]

Good evening. I've been in FL since January, and I hear it said that this year may be an active hurricane season. The house I'm living in has three trees that put the Leery in LeeryLarry. Should the worst happen this year, and we have a big one (or two or three), I'm interested in trying to influence the direction these trees might fall by tying them to other trees farther away from the house. However, the physics are having little trouble eluding me. I can see where tying in a straight line - that is, with the line being perpendicular to the house - will prevent the tree from falling anywhere but to one side or the other, and not forward onto the house. However, I don't know how the trees are going to behave with a strong wind at their backs (the part away from the house) relative to the distance up the tree that I've attached the rope. Obviously, any sway will occur above the rope. My question is: how far up the tree can I attach the rope to achieve the best control of the part of the tree above the rope (since the farther up the tree, the thinner the branches and therefore the lighter the weight necessary to control. I can't go too high, of course, not only because it's impractical to try to climb too high, but because at some point I defeat the purpose of controlling the dangerous part of the tree, weight-wise. Too low and I think I create a fulcrum affect which might make the tree above the rope MORE likely to snap. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks!

 

[boo]

Good evening. I've been in FL since January, and I hear it said that this year may be an active hurricane season. The house I'm living in has three trees that put the Leery in LeeryLarry. Should the worst happen this year, and we have a big one (or two or three), I'm interested in trying to influence the direction these trees might fall by tying them to other trees farther away from the house. However, the physics are having little trouble eluding me. I can see where tying in a straight line - that is, with the line being perpendicular to the house - will prevent the tree from falling anywhere but to one side or the other, and not forward onto the house. However, I don't know how the trees are going to behave with a strong wind at their backs (the part away from the house) relative to the distance up the tree that I've attached the rope. Obviously, any sway will occur above the rope. My question is: how far up the tree can I attach the rope to achieve the best control of the part of the tree above the rope (since the farther up the tree, the thinner the branches and therefore the lighter the weight necessary to control. I can't go too high, of course, not only because it's impractical to try to climb too high, but because at some point I defeat the purpose of controlling the dangerous part of the tree, weight-wise. Too low and I think I create a fulcrum affect which might make the tree above the rope MORE likely to snap. Anybody got any ideas? Thanks!

Multiple attachment points to the tree.

 

[Brian13]

I have been in Florida about 25 years now. As long as I can remember they have been saying its going to be an above average season. I dont even worry about it until I am in the cone of uncertainty LOL. One thing to think about is, if you are tying to another tree and the winds are high enough to break one, it could break the other. You will then have the added stress of the other tree pulling on the anchor tree. You might want to look in to "hurricane pruning", might be more effective.