How many enjoy removals more than the tedious nature of pruning?

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is it dangerous I've heard you're supposed to wear a respirator?

We have plenty of sycamores and I've never seen anyone use a respirator. I've also never seen anyone with more that a few sneezes and a runny nose for maybe 20 minutes after chipping. But that's just been my experience.
 
My experience's with Platanus racemosa sycs, here in SoCal when their pollen balls burst.

Cow itch is a Lagunaria patersonii by the way.

jomoco
 
I've heard sycamores are nasty, in 23 years I've only seen 4 or 5 in this state, so it's just when they "fuzz" I'm guessing that means full of pollen, that you need a respirator?, or do you need one for whenever you're cutting?

Its not the pollen from the tree but the fine filaments on the underside of the leaf. I will only prune sycamores when the are not in leaf.
 
Never wore a respirator but they are nasty. Had a city job once when we pruned like 100 sycamores then chipped all at once, almost puked. African Sumac and Silky Oak beat Sycamore any day followed by the dreaded monkey puzzle tree for ****** removals in my book.
 
Pruning might seem tedious if you don't know how to prune. Pruning is hard to do and sell, if you don't know how a tree grows.

Nothing more boring than blocking down trunks. "Crunch", whoopie.

I quit selling removals in the 1990's. Life is good.
 
Removals and pruning I have no preference. I have a climber that hates to prune. But we all do everything from rigging wood to running the mighty yard rake.
 
I really enjoy pruning but seldom get to. It's great to be able to drive by a year later and say "damn those trees look good, somebody did a great job trimming them". I'm not as fast at pruning as I'd like to be but my boss puts my rigging experience to full use 90% of the time.
 
I like the challange of a "It can only be done w/t A crane"take down i like the rigging ,pullys,roping w/t a good ground crew .. its alot bigger pay day because your not paying 1000's to hire a crane or bucket ..I love pruning w/t everyone else here ..just like the physics an challange of a tough removal ..
 
I like the challange of a "It can only be done w/t A crane"take down i like the rigging ,pullys,roping w/t a good ground crew .. its alot bigger pay day because your not paying 1000's to hire a crane or bucket ..I love pruning w/t everyone else here ..just like the physics an challange of a tough removal ..
I just looked at a job that can only be done with a crane cause u can't get to the damn tree decent sized cottonwood right up against side of the building but there is so much under the tree there is no way to get anything down I couldn't even get to the base of the tree
 
Oddly enough I like using cranes on big pines don't ask me why but on that day I get my gear on quick so no one beats me to it. Easy slinging really hard to mess that up on a pine and you can take huge pieces. I put a cover over my lanyard tho or use a piece of rigging line that got cut short instead incase I gotta junk it from the sap. Just a no stress day watching thousands of pounds of tree floating away.
 
Takedowns. :yes:

As a groundman it's more interesting that just cleaning up what falls after pruning. Funky takedowns with a lot of rope work are much more satisfying.

That said, we do enjoy when we can plan a Friday Zen job. Just light pruning, often with hand saws, classical music playing from the truck, and lots of coffee and an excellent lunch. It's contract, so we can move as slowly and happily as we want. What a nice way to end the week. :cool:
 
I value both through preservation and hazard or dead/dying removal mostly. The trees are our future we are stewards of them for our children and grandchildren. I have been the removal specialist I have also been the prune specialist at different times. The pruning is more fun for me though some removals are tricky at best. Preservation is the future removal is the now in my mind. Climb safe
 

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