tens of thousands of arched over white birches.

[New Hampster]

Happy New Year first off.
Driving around New Hampshire, I notice that almost every single birch tree under 4" is bent right to the ground like an arch. We had a very nasty storm in November and it devastated tens of thousands of young birch trees up a huge swath of New England.
There's simply no way to repair them, so a thought crossed my mind. How many people are going to be out there in the spring cutting these little pressurized bows down? Some of these are 6", but most are 4" or less. How much tension is in these and what's the safest approach to cutting these down? Thanks.

 

[TaoTreeClimber]

Holy Spring Poles Batman!!!!!! I may have to try and find a graphic that shows the proper way to cut spring poles. Explaining it is not my strong suit. I will say this though. There is a lot of potential for some unlucky property owner armed with a chain saw to get smacked in the face and have to take a trip to the ER. Hopefully when the snow and ice melt it will reduce that weight and they will stand back up.

 

[TaoTreeClimber]

 

[New Hampster]

Holy Spring Poles Batman!!!!!! I may have to try and find a graphic that shows the proper way to cut spring poles. Explaining it is not my strong suit. I will say this though. There is a lot of potential for some unlucky property owner armed with a chain saw to get smacked in the face and have to take a trip to the ER. Hopefully when the snow and ice melt it will reduce that weight and they will stand back up.

The snow is all gone and the trees are still bent right to the ground. Thanks for the video.

 

[ATH]

Birch remaining bent with nothing holding them down will not spring as much ... Not saying they are "safe", but it is not like as something like an elm with another tree holding the top down.

 

[New Hampster]

Birch remaining bent with nothing holding them down will not spring as much ... Not saying they are "safe", but it is not like as something like an elm with another tree holding the top down.

Do you think they're safer to take down while it's still winter or in the spring when they start greening up again?

 

[mike515]

Honestly, I don't think it makes much of a difference what time of year it is. It might matter more if there is ice on it or not (creating more tension) but a 3 or 4 inch tree...probably not going to be much tension in this scenario. Just give it an undercut at about chest level, let it bend if it's going to and then cut it from the top. It should go without saying but don't stand where the trunk might snap up to.

 

[TheGoodFellers]

I'm up in Maine. The load isn't to bad on the bowing briches.. Just make sure you cut the top out (if its frozen to the ground) before you go after the butt.. Always wear your ppe!!

If you tie a rope to the top (a running bowline with a long tail) you should be able to straighten them up a little bit. If you care to save them in the spring

 

[woodchuck357]

An arched tree with nothing holding the tip down is not a spring pole. Cut it like you would a heavy leaner.
The same goes for a sapling that has been trapped for more than couple of years, they grow to that shape and have very little spring left.

 

[peakbagger]

After the 98 ice storm I got a lot of experience with dealing with ice damaged trees. Many of the smaller white birches that bent down to the ground never straightened out even after 17 years. They make great firewood but not very good for logging. On occasion I will still run into a tangle of them but in general the surrounding straight trees have taken over the canopy and most of the bent birches are dead. The bent birches along right of ways that still get sun are healthy but bent.

 

[capetrees]

power pole saw, cut them at the base relieving tension, then go in with the chainsaws

 

[Wannabe123]

I'm up in Maine. The load isn't to bad on the bowing briches.. Just make sure you cut the top out (if its frozen to the ground) before you go after the butt.. Always wear your ppe!!

If you tie a rope to the top (a running bowline with a long tail) you should be able to straighten them up a little bit. If you care to save them in the spring

where in Maine are you?

Back on topic, not that I am a professional at all, but we get this with the birch all the time up here. I just dropped 5 in my mom's backyard in the 4" range that were touching ground. Seems like when they bend they kind of stay that way and don't snap too bad, I just stay the hell out of the way of the cut and take as much weight/tension off em as I can safely reach before I take em all the way down. I like to hear that a professional holds a similar opinion.

 

[TheGoodFellers]

where in Maine are you?

I'm about an hour north of Portland by Boothbay if your familiar with the rt 1 area.

If one of these birches hurt you, or if your scratching your head trying to figure out how to put one down... (Who said a pole saw?!?) Then you have no business with a chainsaw... Please speak to a local tree service..

If you put a larger tree down.. You have to pay attention bucking it up. There is a lot of weight hidden in bowed limbs.

 

[Wannabe123]

I know the area pretty well, haven't been that way in a while though. I'm a bit south west of you ATM.

Never got hurt taking out a 6" birch tree that I recall, but this polesaw idea sounds....well...interesting. I'll let someone else get on that and tell me how it goes.

 

[TheGoodFellers]

I know the area pretty well, haven't been that way in a while though. I'm a bit south west of you ATM.

very nice we'll have to hang out some time to see how well chainsaws run off alcohol.

 

[Wannabe123]

Saw runs fine, the operator just gets sloppy.

 

[capetrees]

Whats the question? Stihl pole saw, HT101, cut the base of the bent stressed tree from a distance of 6' away and you remove the possibility of kickback or barberchair injuries. Where's the confusion?

 

[Wannabe123]

Whats the question? Stihl pole saw, HT101, cut the base of the bent stressed tree from a distance of 6' away and you remove the possibility of kickback or barberchair injuries. Where's the confusion?

Maybe so, what you describe isn't what I thought he meant in regards to using a pole saw. Then again if I chair a 4 inch tree I'm hanging up the saw for life.

 

[TheGoodFellers]

Whats the question? Stihl pole saw, HT101, cut the base of the bent stressed tree from a distance of 6' away and you remove the possibility of kickback or barberchair injuries. Where's the confusion?

Im sorry Cape I cant justify bringing out a pole pruner to remove a small birch.. we should as professionals be able to deal with a situation like this with out worrying about a barber chair, pinched blade or a kick back in our face.. I don't mean to pick any fights I just cant see bringing the extra kit in the woods.. not to mention I have a ht 131 and I hate bringing that big girl out... shes brutal on the arms.

 

[LegDeLimber]

I used to do a bit of trail maintenance, back during my dirt bike days. We'd occasionally get enough snow or freezing rain to pull down smaller stuff along the trail edges.
Would have been rare to have anything over 3.5~4" though.
Sort of interesting to find out that I was doing it pretty much the same way
for the saw cuts.

Once the snow and ice melted, You'd come through and sort of check the trees
for having "developed a set" to the fiber or if it had anything else, like other fallen trees
or limbs holding it down.
Of course you took notice any and all possible combinations.
Then after having looked things over
For the larger of things, I typically cut it pretty much like seen in the vid.
Just gotta be careful when reading for the twists and their reasons.

Look at broken limbs and skint bark on the bent tree AND anything else above it or whatever it's likely trajectory was.
That could help tell you how the tree came down, what it possibly hit,
and why it's positioned as it is. And potentially indicate stored stresses.

Anything under about 1.5" would likely get the same lookover.
This always included how much weight was suspended by the trunk, maybe tip dug in and possibly holding tension on the trunk.
Was it resting on any limbs or caught in vines, etc.
If it was a straightforward, just barely tipping the dirt or close to it...
Then it probably got 2 or 3 undercuts from the machete and then a good firm top chop and done.