Small 7 acre homeowner needs advice on felling Long Leaf Pine...

[bjdbowman]

Hello all... I am new to the forum... So please forgive me for being all too green (and sappy).

Here is a simple question for the experts...

I have doubts about the proper way to fell my timber.

I have many old growth (80-100 year old) long leaf pine on my property here in central east coast Florida. Many of the trees are along my property line and I want to harvest some of these trees to build timber frame structures on-site and to clear and area for new long leaf plantings.

If the trees fall the wrong way they will crush neighbors homes that are between 20-30 feet from my property line.

I have questions about topping the trees first so that when they fall I don't damage the trunk.

I was thinking that I would remove the main branches (12"-16" diameter) on the side of the tree where I want to lay the tree down. I am thinking of doing this as not to crack the trunk as it falls...as it would land on these branch which might act as a leaver and snap the trunk of the tree.... this would be bad.

I have cut down trees before but nothing this large in scope before, and I want all of the fallen tree trucks to remain in tack. I plan on cutting down 40 to 60 trees and all of them in the direct vicinity of falling on the neighbors homes... I am choosing these trees because I plan on planting back 2000 trees along this 3 acres strip adjacent to my neighbors property (a small subdivision) as a buffer...

My fear is if I remove branches from only one side... the tree might become un-balanced and will want to fall in the opposite direction towards the neighbors homes...

If I attempt to cut limbs on both sides of the tree the outside limbs would fall into the neighbors property... crushing fencing etc... it's kind of a tricky situation...

I really want to hire an expert with insurance... to cut down the trees... but before I seek this option, I want to understand what the experts here have to say...

The trees are 16" - 30" diameter southern yellow long leaf pine... and most are straight and tall... all with the cluster of limbs at the top like a giant umbrella caught in the wind... I'll try to attach a photo or two.



http://www.*****************/gallery/albums/userpics/38923/typ_tree.jpg

I hate to crush a neighbors house... i'd be ruined...

Any advice other than to hire the expert... because I plan on doing that, but I want to be smarter than the expert, just in case he tries to do something that is wrong.

Thanks in advance for the input...

 

[Knobby57]

Welcome to the site !!
Looks like you have a project .
Sounds to me like you need to do some climbing, rigging , and precision felling . There is no easy way or short answer to your question . Experience is what is needed here. How much experience do you have with this type of work ?


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[jefflovstrom]

You want to be smarter than the expert?

 

[Deererainman]

Yikes. I get nervous about destroying a barb wire fence. I work for an electric utility and have watched experienced tree crews bring down trees as you described. It's truely tradecraft work and a pleasure to observe.

 

[ArtB]

Did similar 40 years ago when a 'young kid', but with D. Fir on 4 acres. Most of the fir were about 20" or more DBH.

No need to trim anything, is actually a bad idea due to reasons you mentioned.

What I did back then was invest in a small dozer (needed it for other stuff anyway) and 300 hundred feet of 5/8" wire rope and a couple of snatch blocks. Since you have 7 acres, you will need a small dozer and backhoe just for DIY landscaping projects <G>.

I'd back the dozer up to a fir, put a 20 ft ladder on top the FOPS/ROPs , climb up and attach 3/4" wire rope choker as high As I could get it. Longer cable than tree high out to dozer, then pull the tree over, root ball and all. They all go within 20 degrees of pull line for the fir.
Never broke any trunks, and did not have to dig out the stump afterwards either.
Did similar with quite a few 8" to 14" dbh red alder also, a few of those did break, but never any fir. The larger fir needed a snatch block as dozer was only an old D2, about 10,000# drawbar pull max.

Don't even think about trying this with your 4x4 truck and some cheap HF polypropelene rope. ( Well, maybe a loaded military 6x6 and 3" dia poly rope<G>)

In later years, pulled over some 150 ft tall 4 ft DBH black cottonwood (e.g profile photo), cable attached 70 ft up, took close to 40,ooo# pull, and some of those fell up to 30 degrees off the pull line due to root structure and wet /dry soil variations.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Well, if you hire an expert and he shows up with a dozer and a 20' ladder, there's a good chance you're smarter than him.

Seriously, there is no need to limb them. If the trunks are sound they won't break.An exp ert will be able to set ropes in them and use one of several mechanical advantage methods to ensure the trees fall in the intended direction.

As far as being smarter than the expert, you do realize that sounds a little silly, don't you?

Keep in mind this is a decent sized project, and if you're planning on doing the cleanup yourself you probably won't want

 

[TheJollyLogger]

them to drop more than 10 or 15 at a time.Trees get bigger once they hit the ground, so to speak, plus you're best chance of breaking a spar is if you're falling on top of each other.

 

[ft. churchill]

There is a british columbian forestry workers certification available on line on you tube. It's like 16 or 20 segments long and covers alot of the info your interested in. Then you can make the decision to do it yourself, or hire a pro.

 

[bjdbowman]

Well, if you hire an expert and he shows up with a dozer and a 20' ladder, there's a good chance you're smarter than him.

Seriously, there is no need to limb them. If the trunks are sound they won't break.An exp ert will be able to set ropes in them and use one of several mechanical advantage methods to ensure the trees fall in the intended direction.

As far as being smarter than the expert, you do realize that sounds a little silly, don't you?

Keep in mind this is a decent sized project, and if you're planning on doing the cleanup yourself you probably won't want

YES I know it sounds silly, but I don't want to be ignorant when we do this. I am a civil engineer and I want to know what all the experts have to say.

I did purchase a book so I plan on reading as much as I can before hand.

Thanks again for your input.

I DO LIKE THE IDEA of using a large loader to cable the tree's in the correct direction...before cutting it. ANY INPUT?

On larger sites we just use root rakes on a large loader and flip the pine trees off their legs... A good operator can clear a heavy wooded acre in no time...

Thanks again

 

[bjdbowman]

There is a british columbian forestry workers certification available on line on you tube. It's like 16 or 20 segments long and covers alot of the info your interested in. Then you can make the decision to do it yourself, or hire a pro.

Thanks... I'll check it out!

 

[bjdbowman]

them to drop more than 10 or 15 at a time.Trees get bigger once they hit the ground, so to speak, plus you're best chance of breaking a spar is if you're falling on top of each other.

good point...

I will be cutting them up when they are on the ground and prior to moving them to the mill.

So we (me and the experts) should play leep frog... They should cut a row and then I'll come in behind them and remove the fallen logs and then they can come back and do the next round...and so on.

The strip that we are clearing is 100 feet wide and 900 feet long, so I think that we can keep out of each others way. The only problem is that most of the 100 foot strip is adjacent to homes...

Great advice JollyLogger... I am learning...

 

[bjdbowman]

here is a picture of the typical environment...

 

[bjdbowman]

Welcome to the site !!
Looks like you have a project .
Sounds to me like you need to do some climbing, rigging , and precision felling . There is no easy way or short answer to your question . Experience is what is needed here. How much experience do you have with this type of work ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Only cutting for firewood... not much.. and nothing this big or close to valuable targets... I'm only looking for advice...

Thanks,

 

[bjdbowman]

Anyone want a free trip to Sunny Central Florida Disney World? You'd just have to fall 100 trees for me first... LOL!

 

[TheJollyLogger]

It's forty below today, Florida sounds real nice...

What are your plans for all the slash? You're going to generate a lot of brush, keep in mind.

 

[mike515]

Just given your questions and stated experience....there is no way you should try this yourself. Even if you get great advice here and watch videos and read books etc.....this job can be deadly very quickly. An expert doing this job may be expensive but it should be done correctly and you will probably have your logs in the condition you want. As far as being smarter than the expert....that depends on who is telling you he is an expert but I find it highly irritating for some joe blow customer to act like he knows more than me or who wants to tell me how to do my job. That would be like me trying to tell you how to be an engineer when you've probably forgot more about your job than I will ever know.

And your pic is beautiful. If I were bidding this job and all of the trees were safe, I'd try to convince you that what you have is worth keeping and maintaining.

 

[bjdbowman]

Just given your questions and stated experience....there is no way you should try this yourself. Even if you get great advice here and watch videos and read books etc.....this job can be deadly very quickly. An expert doing this job may be expensive but it should be done correctly and you will probably have your logs in the condition you want. As far as being smarter than the expert....that depends on who is telling you he is an expert but I find it highly irritating for some joe blow customer to act like he knows more than me or who wants to tell me how to do my job. That would be like me trying to tell you how to be an engineer when you've probably forgot more about your job than I will ever know.

And your pic is beautiful. If I were bidding this job and all of the trees were safe, I'd try to convince you that what you have is worth keeping and maintaining.

Yes Mike... the site is very nice but I have 7 acres even more heavily wooded as such and I'm only clearing 2 acres around the boarder where there are not as many tress in order to harvest for use and to plant more trees... I want a heavily wooded buffer between me and the neighbors.

I agree with you about clients who think that they are the experts... I am going to learn and fall many of the big trees that are away from the homes... and I want to learn enough so that I can have an educated opinion when it comes to hiring an expert to fall the trees near the valuable targets.

I want to know how the experts here would take down the trees within striking distance to the neighbors property..

Thanks,

 

[bjdbowman]

It's forty below today, Florida sounds real nice...

What are your plans for all the slash? You're going to generate a lot of brush, keep in mind.

TJL...all the palmettos will be shredded and made into mulch to cover the area where they are pulled... I will talk to the Forestry Agent about the right environment for planting the new trees, but they cannot be planted right away because of an insect or is it a beetle that moves in after a harvest event... I think that I have to wait a year to plant the new trees so in the interim the mulch will keep the soil in place.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

The method is fairly straightforward. The execution is key. Takes a long time to be able to feel the tree and make any needed last minute corrections.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

I'm talking about all the brush from the trees themselves. You're going to be amazed how much you generate.