Which trees to remove

[Marky Mark]

I know you guys will lead me in the right direction, my friend has taken over her grandfathers property. He planted the trees back in 1945 and I don't think he ever realized how big these pines would grow. They are spaced way to close and I would like to take a few of these down before redoing his old trapping shed.

Here a few shots of the back.

 

[Marky Mark]

Different view.

 

[Marky Mark]

Here's a view of the trees from the front.

 

[Marky Mark]

Front side angle.

 

[Marky Mark]

Other side.

 

[Marky Mark]

Here's the tops of these, they are losing more and more branches in the storms we have had here.

 

[Marky Mark]

Of course the biggest tree has to grow next to the old shed. Here is a limb that dropped in a wind storm about three months ago.
Should this whole tree be dropped now?

Thanks.

 

[Marky Mark]

Stupid me here's the pic.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Those look like some nice trees. I would be reluctant to remove any. Preserve and maintain them.

ButwhadoIno...

 

[rahtreelimbs]

I agree with MB. It took 60 yrs. to get that look and shade. I would do what ever to maintain them.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hi Barky Bark, this is just a rule of thumb, but in an ideal world you want to leave the dominant stems with approx. 5 ft. between crowns.
Here we are talking Silvaculture, so do an initial cleaning of only low grade stems, unless you want den trees for squirrels and hole nesting birds, which every stand has a certain amount of.
John

 

[MasterBlaster]

If you see anything structurally wrong, or an outright hazard, take care of it, for sure.
But if they are nice, healthy trees? Take care of 'em, and they will take care of you!

Can I get an amen?:alien:

 

[coffeecraver]

Amen:alien:

It don't look like alot of usefull space can be obtained by the removal.

They look like nice trees.

May not be a good trade off.

Remove the hazards and keep the trees.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Looks like pines AND spruces. #1 Job is to ID the trees so you know what you're dealing with. #2 is to ID :Eye: the defects, including the big wound in your pic, tight crotches, tip-heavy limbs (like the one that broke?), pests and disease. If you don't know enough about risk assessment, bring in someone who does.

Removing some of these trees may cost the others the support they need to stand in storms, so by trying to lessen a hazard you may well be increasing it. They've evolved as a grove; too late to train each as a specimen.

It may well be a healthier grove with the worst ones out, and bad limbs removed or shortened, but those decisions have to take overall condition, species etc. into account.:Monkey:

 

[Marky Mark]

RJS I asked since I will put putting up a new roof on the one tool shed. She's not worried about them and wants them to stay but asked if I would make a post since the last big storm we had took out a few big limbs.

The biggest concern is the tree close to the shed. If you look at picture "front1" theres tons of limbs over hanging the shed. Her grandfather was a line man and even at the age of 88 cleaned them up. but all he did was trim the smaller limbs out if you look close. If you say leave them it's a given.
Thanks

 

[NeTree]

Originally posted by Guy Meilleur

Removing some of these trees may cost the others the support they need to stand in storms, so by trying to lessen a hazard you may well be increasing it. They've evolved as a grove; too late to train each as a specimen.

I waqs thinking along the same lines. If you take a couple, you might as well take them all... but then where would you be?

Remove any defective limbs, clean out the deadwood, and leave 'em be.

With a little care & regular maintainence, her GRANDKIDS will still be able to enjoy those trees without a hazard.

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by netree
Remove any defective limbs, clean out the deadwood, and leave 'em be.

It's not that simple. Some limbs are not defective until you remove the deadwood that supports them. Same principle goes for thinning limbs as thinning trees--don't remove support without reducing load to compensate.

This means reduction cuts on those sprawling limbs that will likely fail next time. Shortening the big branch near the shed that failed, leaving that nasty and possibly life-shortening wound, may well have prevented the problem.

Urban trees are systems that need adjustment to stay stable. You need to look at the system of branches over the shed and think about ways to make it stable enough to trust not to ruin your rebuilding work. Assess the risk, then manage it.

"Remove or keep"?--way too simple an approach for complex systems like trees.

 

[Gypo Logger]

Hey Barky, to make things as uncomplex as possible, think of your little microcosm as nothing more than glorified carrots.
To have good carrots you must weed your garden. How aggressive you are at weeding is the question.
Regardless, timber is very versatile, as is any other vegetated matter, so don't make the mistake of falling for too much envirobabble.
Try to leave the trees around the edges as a buffer strip to the trees inside, unless they represent a threat.
John

 

[NeTree]

Or he could take them all down, bring 'em to the mill and make a nice addition

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Originally posted by Gypo Logger

To have good carrots you must weed your garden.
This works well for carrots and for timber-growing trees, and your forestry paradigm also applies to the landscape if you consider branches and branch ends as weedy (undesirable) growth. That is more complex, but that is the nature of growing trees around people.

don't make the mistake of falling for too much envirobabble.
I agree! Each branch and each tree is not a precious commodity; only in the value delivered to the property.

Try to leave the trees around the edges as a buffer strip to the trees inside, unless they represent a threat.
John

Good advice.