What Color Paint for Marking Trees

[slowp]

OK, enough! This is my area of expertise. If you are seriously marking trees/timber, you need TREE MARKING PAINT. It has a different formulation and won't be sucked up into the bark so you'll use less. There are several colors available commercially. Blue is the most commonly used for cut tree designation. My preference? PINK. Our guy markers won't use it because, "I don't want pink paint on my clothes." However, the manly factor is high because those godlike creatures, the best of the best (quote from the Axemen show), the Helicopter Fallers were prancing around the woods painting cut trees with.......PINK tree paint. We all liked it, it stood out and was as cheery a color as blue. Don't forget to paint a stump mark, at ground level so you can see that the correct tree was cut.

 

[056kid]

I see blue for timber to be cut. yellow for landing areas, orange to flag roads to be shoved. green, red, or orange x 3 to mark boundaries, and black for when they get the boundaries wrong.

I have herd that they use special paint that can be discriminated from other wood paint. so the loggers cant go out and do some timber crusing of there own haha...

 

[Veteran]

Pink in San Fran area

 

[bradstr]

I use different colors to classify different uses for the same tree species. For example, red pine (Norway) trees that are good enough for poles I mark with blue paint, but I mark it red if it's only good for logs. Makes is easy when you go in to cut.

 

[bullbuck]

madsens has some good deals on rudd tree paint

 

[slowp]

madsens has some good deals on rudd tree paint

That's where the heliloggers got the pink.

There's also a few cans cached in the unit still. I don't know how good it is. It spent the winter there. Maybe I'll start packing it out, when bee season is over.

 

[hammerlogging]

Maybe I'll start packing it out, when bee season is over.

I just had to avoid three little hornets nests all within 100 yds of each other cutting out one big block. I flagged them for the hookers. I was cutting a shelterwood so I'd cut out around the nests first thing in the morning and then try and giove them some space for the day.

Now, on my new block, a big scary (solitary?) japanese hornet came and buzzed me while face cutting a tree. Scary. Supposedly they were introduced by Bowater to take care of the southern pine beetle, which they did not do, but did move in and a re very scary.

Counting the days till bee season (and hot/humid) is over. This year I am going with karma. Be nice, get it in return. So far so good.

 

[slowp]

It seems to be a good year to be a flying insect here. We're having very hot days for here, 103 at my house yesterday, which makes for good, healthy bugs. And cranky people.

 

[ProMac1K]

It seems to be a good year to be a flying insect here. We're having very hot days for here, 103 at my house yesterday, which makes for good, healthy bugs. And cranky people.

I agree there! Lots of bug habitats, and the D-N-R is worried about making more every day!!

 

[purple82]

What color paint do you all think works the best for marking trees in the woods or forest? I've tried some orange, but I think it seems flat, and there is probably a better color.

One place that has some marking paint is abatix.com. They have a variety of different colors and tend to run cheaper than some other brands out there. Here's a link to some of the different colored marking paint.

 

[2dogs]

First post a necropost to a product link? Hhmm...

 

[2dogs]

BTW I worked with the USFS tree marker dude, (I forget what his title is) a few days ago and lo and behold they had changed from blue to white. The paint still has a tracer in it but it is much harder to see. I asked why the change and the answer was he was told to use up the old white paint nobody likes. One stripe at breast height and a V from the stump down a few inches into the soil, both on the downslope side. The dude also said the can is worth more than $10k now, at least in the big stuff.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

A little off-topic, but funny. We used to use bright red dots to mark removals, and a T at the base to mark a trim. I was climbing a dead oak removal when the busybody neighbor came out, and started peppering me with questions, worried about her fence, etc. She asked what killed the tree. I said, "Red dot disease, ma'am".
She asked, "Does that kill oaks?" I said "Ma'am,II've never seen one survive it. Once it gets the red dot, it's only a matter of time."

I always had a picture of her going in and googling red dot disease.

 

[KenJax Tree]

We were doing a bunch of removals on city side streets and they were marking them with a bright pink X, so one night some kids thought it would be funny to mark every tree in the subdivision with bright pink X. We only took down 3 that were supposed to stay before we found out what happened

 

[2dogs]

A little off-topic, but funny. We used to use bright red dots to mark removals, and a T at the base to mark a trim. I was climbing a dead oak removal when the busybody neighbor came out, and started peppering me with questions, worried about her fence, etc. She asked what killed the tree. I said, "Red dot disease, ma'am".
She asked, "Does that kill oaks?" I said "Ma'am,II've never seen one survive it. Once it gets the red dot, it's only a matter of time."

I always had a picture of her going in and googling red dot disease.

The County marked take trees with a big white X. The arborist painted a big blue T on take trees.

 

[OlympicYJ]

On all the private ive worked orange with pink flagging is cutline. Blue is roads or generally means nothing. Orange squares and Orange flagging is prop boundary for the current company. I still have orange paint on me from last Tuesday lol

 

[Philip Wheelock]

Blue paint locally w/pink flagging at property lines.

 

[deppjohn92]

I think drak blue is a perfect choice

 

[bnmc98]

Last FS job I did the forester used pink for add in, If I didn't walk with him and see the trees he was marking I would miss a ton, doesn't show up very well in my eyes. I would still miss trees. never had a problem with blue or orange