Ripped out poplar ( yeah I'm a trolling)

[(WLL)]

tough to tell from the pics..
I would set a line in the top and give it a few pulls and see how the tree moves.. You can pretty much tell by feel if the tree is ready to fail..

I would think you'd be ok pretty much no matter how much decay there is as long as you are bombing everything. But lowering is a different story... I'd be careful who was running the ropes and use something with a lot of stretch in it... true blue or hi-v..

And trust your instinct.. you already know what needs to be done and how to do it!

if things don't feel so good, rent a self propelled lift for the day if space is not fit for a truck.

 

[(WLL)]

Was there any significant activity or action that caused the tearouts, such as storms or snow?

looks like carpenter ants, no?:newbie:

 

[outofmytree]

I was wondering about that concept on all trees...that once you start removing weight, it "only gets safer" from then on. Now obviously that statement is disregarding the other 500 things that could kill you...

I also wonder if it could work against you. Say for example you are blocking down a leaner, and the shock of the weight bombing away snaps some hidden weakness below you...a nightmare. Anyone ever heard of this?

Sorry for posting in the big boys forum BTW

This is a good question Plasmech and your immediate gut reaction in paragraph 1 is usually the case but there are exceptions. In this case, having significant damage on one side of the trunk it is possible to get a counter force reaction when removing a large section and have that damaged area fail. Remember that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

I saw an old video yesterday on an overhead that gives a good demonstration of counterforce. I have seen this same video many times but the quality of this particular recording allowed us all to see much better and in slow motion the stems reaction to preloading and the counter force produced was impresive and scary. If you go to youtube and search "dumb arborist" you can see a low quality version.

I am with Treevet on first impressions. If THE DAN (tm & pat pending) is concerned enough to ask for forum opinions then you can be confident this is not a straight forward job. I have nothing of value to add as this a species we just don't get in my part of the world.

Pictures or videos please THE DAN(tm & pat pending)