Rotted trunk - Can't cut from ground

[AndrewBr]

Hello,

I need to take down a beech with a rotten trunk. The rot goes higher than can be reached from the ground. Some pictures are here:
http://broscom.biz/beech/beech.html

I need it to go slightly off of the natural fall line due to some power lines. I'm looking for some advice on how to proceed.

I would estimate this tree to be about 40' high; 30' to the top of the larger limbs. The diameter is 14" at the base, and the visible rot/crack goes 7' high.

btw - Here are some pics of an interesting fungus(?) that was growing inside the rotted trunk of another beech I took down yesterday.
http://broscom.biz/stuff/stuff.html

I didn't care where this one fell, and I was able to cut above the visible rot. However, the hinge was partly rotted, which is making me nervous about the beech in question.

Thank you.

 

[begleytree]

climb up and put a rope in it. throw a rope in it, whatever. the tree is not going anywhere just because you step up in it. get the rope at @30 feet or so, at least up in that big fork.
take rope to the right of the garage door and hook to pickup. make a shallow notch, take up slack with truck, and backcut it.
don't make it too hard, I never cut/climbed a beech that wasn't at least hollow, many had places like the one you showed in the pics.
extremely strong wood. This tree isn't scary.
-Ralph

 

[computeruser]

Welcome to arboristsite! This question might do better in the homeowner helper forum; perhaps someone who has the powers to do so could move it there.

There have been a couple other discussions in the past about felling trees that are partially hollow. If you do a search on them you'll likely find some good advice.

This tree looks like it should be easy to fell in the direction you have in mind. The only caveat would be that I would want to have some tension (i.e. rope+truck) on it to make sure it starts falling in the right direction.

 

[tek9tim]

I am no arborist, and ropes are not my area of expertise, but it seems like a rope pulling perpendicular to the desired lay, away from the power lines would help quite a bit, (perhaps a comealong anchored to a nearby solid tree) rather than simply pulling in the direction of the desired lay. If you kept good holding wood, there'd be pretty much no way it could hit the powerlines. You'll be fine.

 

[JUDGE1162]

The come along Idea works have used it a few times with leaning or damaged trees. If you can a rope high works well (just make sure the rope is strong enough, I have had ropes break on me in the past)


Cut a little and tighten the rope or come along, cut a little more, go slow and it will fall where you want.

However if you are not sure, it never hurts (except in the wallet) to bring in a professional.

Best of luck

 

[Haywire Haywood]

yep, I've used the rope/come-along a few times on trees that I wanted to make sure went where I wanted. I always did the perpendicular thing, tied them so that if they started falling the wrong way, the rope would guide them in the right direction. I'm no pro tho, just a weekend warrior/hack. Begleytree's the pro in this thread, I'd listen to him before me.

Ian

 

[AndrewBr]

Piece 'o cake

Well, it came down easy, and I still have electricity. I basically followed begleytrees advice and it worked fine. More good wood there than I thought.

Thanks everyone!

 

[begleytree]

glad to hear all went smoothly.
-Ralph

 

[SteveH]

Yeah, I like the rope idea. Doesn't appear to be a really heavy monster, so should be simple. The tree doesn't even need to fall exactly toward the rope, of course, the tension from the rope/cable/whatever will keep the tree from falling toward the elec. lines and at worst the tree will swing away from them. Rope just needs to be attached high enough that the trunk, if it's leaning a bit toward the lines, doesn't flip around the attachment point and hit the lines anyway...but it would have to be pretty low on the trunk to do that.

Don't do what a guy I know did [notice I didn't refer to him as a "buddy" or "friend"...] He did the rope to the tow ball on his pickup. When he eased the truck forward to put a bit of tension on the rope, it slipped off the ball. He managed to get it secured though. Tree came down great, missed the power lines, and only by sheer dumb luck the only part of the tree that hit his truck was one limb which only dented the tail gate. He'd used too short a rope. Duh. No, I wasn't there, another guy was and told me about it. We still bring it up now and then but the guy has recently told us he'd kill us if we don't shut up. So, I tell you guys instead.

 

[aquan8tor]

sounds kinda like the video on youtube I saw of the guy that forgot to put his truck in 4wd while trying to pull a (BIG--too big) tree & influence the lay of a fall. Instead of stopping & telling the feller, he just puts the pedal to the floor & makes a cloud of white smoke burning the tires...glad it was not my truck!!

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

I'da just called the electric company. They'd either have removed the tree for free, or dropped the wire while you did it, and then reinstalled it.