Treeslaying Illinois style

[John Paul Sanborn]

John, how far are you from me? you owe me a meal............

No more then two hours.

Have you been to Foxwillow Pine out in Woodstock IL yet? You should do it in spring/summer before you leave the area. Rich has some of the most outrageous dwarf trees in the nursery.

 

[treevet]

No more then two hours.

Have you been to Foxwillow Pine out in Woodstock IL yet? You should do it in spring/summer before you leave the area. Rich has some of the most outrageous dwarf trees in the nursery.

What kind of dwarfs. One of my neighbors/customers has a beech that almost 40 years old and doesn't reach my waist and is healthy as can be.

Interesting side story.....today we are heading to the job in a big truck with my gm following me in the pickup. We are going up a steep hill windy road in an old established neighborhood. Something catches my eye in the side view mirror.

I figure something big and round fell off the truck. Next thing it bounces a couple of times and starts running down the hill. It was a big fat raccoon. He had had enough of the "wind chill factor" after sleeping comfortably in my side box all night.

My gm said he just cracked up it looked like a cartoon.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

What kind of dwarfs. One of my neighbors/customers has a beech that almost 40 years old and doesn't reach my waist and is healthy as can be.

http://www.richsfoxwillowpines.com/

More then you can shake a stick at. It would be worth the trip, even for you, just once. Maybe if you go to Chicago for the ISA this summer.

 

[treevet]

http://www.richsfoxwillowpines.com/

More then you can shake a stick at. It would be worth the trip, even for you, just once. Maybe if you go to Chicago for the ISA this summer.

Interesting, thanks, I love to wander around nurseries.

 

[treeslayer]

I work in woodstock a couple times a week, I'll have to check em out.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I work in woodstock a couple times a week, I'll have to check em out.

If you go in spring, the Acer triflorum look really cool when the buds are swelling. The bud scales are very distinct and you cans see each one.

 

[treeslayer]

http://www.richsfoxwillowpines.com/

More then you can shake a stick at. It would be worth the trip, even for you, just once. Maybe if you go to Chicago for the ISA this summer.

I looked em up, John, I know this place and drive by it a lot. never would have thought to stop in.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Rich is so cool to talk too, he really has a passion for dwarf conifers. There are some very interesting cvs in his stock, limber pine that grows prostrate like a ground cover, he had a tormented ginkgo a few years ago that he espaliered and would not tell anyone what it went for...

 

[treeslayer]

Well, it's 6 deg. today, and I have to go bid a couple more jobs. I am now getting calls for some BIG arsed trees, pruning a few big maples and whacking several other monsters.
kinda hard to do much on ice covered ground.

On another note, I've gotten called out yet again to remove another Blue Spruce, the third in 2 weeks. healthy, good location, WTF ?????????

 

[treevet]

Well, it's 6 deg. today, and I have to go bid a couple more jobs. I am now getting calls for some BIG arsed trees, pruning a few big maples and whacking several other monsters.
kinda hard to do much on ice covered ground.

On another note, I've gotten called out yet again to remove another Blue Spruce, the third in 2 weeks. healthy, good location, WTF ?????????

Not in agreement but often spruce are planted in too small of an area and the spread of the skirt just eats up all their property. This is unlike a deciduous tree that all the lower branches are removed and all that is there is the trunk and at the most maybe 3 feet or so are consumed unlike a spruce that may eat up a hundred feet. They look real cute when little and fit in the space but when big they block everything from driveways to walkways to views to light and air. They belong out in an open space. Landscapers fault usually.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

they look real cute when little and fit in the space but when big they block everything from driveways to walkways to views to light and air. They belong out in an open space. Landscapers fault usually.

What he said. We call it Spruce Abuse around here, way to many Colorado's have been planted and there are disease pressures. The you have the odd old and healthy one that takes up too much space. I usually offer a raise and spiral prune first to see if they can adapt the new concept to that. Quite often it is an issue of wanting to change the entire design. The comparatively huge tree makes the house look small....

 

[treeslayer]

They sure do eat up space. Raising them up would help a little, but change their appearance. all 3 were off the corners of the houses, (too close) when they should have been out IN the yard.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

They sure do eat up space. Raising them up would help a little, but change their appearance. all 3 were off the corners of the houses, (too close) when they should have been out IN the yard.

That is very common, people get sick of the duff buildup in the gutters. It would probably stress the tree quite a bit to raise something that much, though I have sold a few where they were raised gradually so the tree and the client could get used to it. This was because I billed it as a cheap light trim, do an hour total with drive when I was in the area. Do this for several years and it looks pretty good, throw in a few other trees where you do a touch here and there and you have a small client for a long time.

 

[treeslayer]

God, I love them small clients, people who want what's right for the tree.

I try not to prune more than 25%, which can be too much for some species, especially with homeowners pointing.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Man I hate spruces. Put six of 'em down today. My neighbor comes to me last week asking about taking some dead "pines" down for his grandma and that he would help so I didn't need the crew. Just put them on the ground. I say, ok and we cruise this morning to her farm. My eyes lit up when I saw a '####in barn. "Hey bud, you got a tractor in there?" He fires up this big allis chalmers 200

and I just started tying ropes high and notching them low. Only had to piece out 1 that was in the wires. 2 hours later I'm eatin' brownies and drinkin' coffee with grandma with a check in my pocket.

 

[treeslayer]

Big difference between a spruce and most pines if ya gotta clean up, but a cut-n-run with a tractor? Sweeeeeet.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Big difference between a spruce and most pines if ya gotta clean up, but a cut-n-run with a tractor? Sweeeeeet.

You ain't kiddin' boss, they were a PITA to climb and tie off but when they smash into the ground, ya choke 'em off to the tractor and watch them disappear around the corner that there is a good felling I must say.

 

[treeslayer]

Dragged em whole? off into the sunset? priceless my brother, priceless.

Should have shot some video, sounds almost like treeclimber p o r n .

 

[Blakesmaster]

This is the m and effer I did yesterday. White pine. 1 of 11 I did the previous 4 days. No drop zone, brittle as hell from the cold ( think massive branches snapping off with a little bump ) . Windy, colder n' ####, no drop zone. Service drop on one side, brand new house on another, 1000's of dollars worth of landscaping directly under, plus another house under the canopy, a shed and a stone fireplace, not too mention the ground sloped toward the new house pretty seriously so even chunking down blocks became more of a barracade building endeavor for the ground crew. Like I said, NO ####in' drop zone. That's me about 12 feet up with a 390XP sportin' a 24 inch bar. I used it for the last 60 feet of this 100 plus co dom.

 

[Blakesmaster]

Dragged em whole? off into the sunset? priceless my brother, priceless.

Should have shot some video, sounds almost like treeclimber p o r n .

It was real good compared to what I'd been through the past few days, chief.