nine hours

[John Paul Sanborn]

My cross-the-road-neighbor has a bunch of spruce he wants down. I send some time looking, ask a buddy with a loader and large chipper to help me out. We come up with $2400 for some 12 or so medium to large spruce. Chip into a pile and yard the wood up in ~9ft lengths, hauling nothing away.

He tells me his dad and a friend, who wants the wood for milling, will do it for $200. His Dad is an excavator/grader so he pushes trees over all the time.

Cannot blame the young fellah for taking something at a 5thenth of the professional cost. It is not done yet, a year later. I wonder how long it will take for 2 older guys to chip all that up with dad's 9 inch antique?

 

[treemandan]

You gotta ask yerself if it would have made you feel any better if they were totally sick dog and made you doubt yours and the dans abilities (not that thats likely I'm sure, lol) - right next door! I would think that would have been worse.

Just Imagine the great murphy's mullet whipping around in that tree and out to every little tip! it would have been like a half hour gig, but a painfull half hour no doubt!

I was, imagining Murphy that is

Some of my neighbors do appreciate me though. It doesn't bother me about other tree guys coming down here. I understand I usually ask for more money than the next guy.
I also understand Spikey's mentality. I mean he ain't exactly getting paid a whole lot so why should he bust his ass. He appeared to be an older guy, he took his time when he moved around but mostly what kept him in the tree so long was the fact the the groundies just left him hanging.

 

[Mapleman]

Yes---the jealousy issue. Weekend warriors who tell me they would climb up their backyard dying oak and do it themselves if: they had the right equipment, and the Mrs. would let them do it. I tell them to give their old lady $400 to go shopping and I'll lend them a saddle and spurs...

Talking about tree men from hell, we've got some guys around here who spur white birches, then paint their gaff marks on the way down. They think it makes them real tree surgeons, and they tack on the extra time for painting to the price. These are the same guys who buy their cabling materials at the Dollar Store.

Funniest take down I ever saw was in Santa Rosa, CA. A guy with a very long extension cord and a pocketful of jig saw blades working off a 40-foot ladder leaning against a three-foot pine.

Great photos Dan of that oak job. The guy probably went up and down the tree three times to suck down some Bud Lites. He should train his ground crew to tie the Budweiser knot--a half hitch over a clove. Tied right you can send up an open beer without spilling a drop...

 

[treevet]

Talking about tree men from hell, we've got some guys around here who spur white birches, then paint their gaff marks on the way down. They think it makes them real tree surgeons, and they tack on the extra time for painting to the price.

that was Shigo's biggest beef about tree paint. It was not that it did not do any good or do harm (it does a little), but rather that people think/thought that you can pretty much do any kind of injury to a tree and, presto, you spread some black goop on it and it is all better.

Commercials and ads used to advocate that belief.

 

[treemandan]

that was Shigo's biggest beef about tree paint. It was not that it did not do any good or do harm (it does a little), but rather that people think/thought that you can pretty much do any kind of injury to a tree and, presto, you spread some black goop on it and it is all better.

Commercials and ads used to advocate that belief.

I use hummus, the kind made from chick peas. Yeah, I just plaster it on.

 

[treevet]

I use hummus, the kind made from chick peas. Yeah, I just plaster it on.

Good to see you're going organic while wasting your time.

 

[Rftreeman]

opcorn: I'm just gonna watch.........

 

[treemandan]

Good to see you're going organic while wasting your time.

Ok, no hummus that was a joke.
I have used tree paint a few times. In oaks where I have made big cuts, to help seal out oak wilt. In theory it works. I only used it in the heat of summer though on larger fresh cuts on specimen type trees. I do worry so.

 

[treevet]

Ok, no hummus that was a joke.
I have used tree paint a few times. In oaks where I have made big cuts, to help seal out oak wilt. In theory it works. I only used it in the heat of summer though on larger fresh cuts on specimen type trees. I do worry so.

They have actually included it in the brand new BMP (08) , Managing Trees During Construction for just that reason to theoretically halt the insect vector carrying Oak wilt and Pine bark beetles.

PS Thought you were kidding

 

[treemandan]

They have actually included it in the brand new BMP (08) , Managing Trees During Construction for just that reason to theoretically halt the insect vector carrying Oak wilt and Pine bark beetles.

PS Thought you were kidding

I will be honest, I always am. I came up with that myself. verybody said I was wasting my time. The one job was a city street tree the city was supposed to do but the Ho didn't want to wait. It had some very low larger limbs that needed to come off. They have been working on the street oaks forever, some removals in the area where stumps where being ground.
The theory sounded good when it hit me to use the paint for this but moreso its to cover my ass which, beleive it or not, I don't like to leave uncovered.

 

[treemandan]

It does look ugly, the paint. I just put a thin coat on, just enough to seal for alittle while til the cut hardens.

 

[Mapleman]

I'll dab a small amount of paint on larger cuts for cosmetic purposes, especially if the cut is outside someone's bedroom window. Other than that, I stay away from it. Some old timers--the ones that still use cement in cavities--still swear by it. Speaking of cavities, what are some of you using in them? I generally scrape the wet rotten wood out and leave them alone. If it's a big cavity, I sometimes carve out a U-shaped notch below the cavity to act as a drain or put in a pipe. I find most customers don't want the added expense of those synthetic cavity fillers.

 

[Adkpk]

I was, imagining Murphy that is

That is a scary thought.:greenchainsaw:

but mostly what kept him in the tree so long was the fact the the groundies just left him hanging.

How in the world did the groundies keep him hanging for and hour and a half?

It does suck when someone does that to you. Meaning doesn't hire you when the job seemed so right for you to do. How can you ever get along with that guy now. I agree with everything you say about the guy. Moving from a condo... got ya.

Imo that tree should be removed at this point. If you can't do something right then leave to to someone who know what there doing to do it.

Nice going on the pics.