Tricky Job, Need advice from the pros

[chad556]

View attachment 172051View attachment 172052View attachment 172053


Ok hopefully my pictures work because they really illustrate what I'm talking about. I have this tree to take down at work but it looks pretty intimidating. It is a Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) about 3' DBH and somewhere in the ball park of 90 feet tall (these are just estimates and I suck at estimating this kind of thing) The tree is absolutely covered in poison ivy and there is a portion of the base of the trunk that is rotted out. It is missing maybe 5% of the wood at the base due to rot and the stuff behind that looks solid. There are a few dead branches in the canopy as well.

The issues I am having are these:

A)Tree Has a significant side lean right over a wooded hillside and will get hung up if tried to just drop it towards its lean.
B) I cant pull it sideways because there is a huge branch that would get caught on the trees on the hillside. Also i cant pull it back because there is a putting green in the way (this is on a golf course) Not to mention the biggest thing we have to pull with is a dump truck and there is no way I trust it enough to sit under this behemoth with a chainsaw while that thing attempts to pull 20 times its weight in wood over my head
C) Poison ivy sucks. And would be a pain to spur climb through to say the least. Only other option I have is to ascend about 45 feet straight up through thin air to the nearest decent tie in and use my gaffs to climb up another 30ish feet to dismantle. I have climbed one other black locust before and the wood seems heavy and brittle not to mention thorny when you get to the new growth not something I would be excited to trust my life to.

So what I would like to know is: Is this a job you would feel comfortable doing? Have you done a job like this before? or do you have experience with this species?

Also what gear would you need/recommended? I have a 150' Blaze rope, a 150' 5/8" rigging line, two fliplines; one rope, one cable core, gaffs, my trusty 200t and a 441 with 32" bar, a dump truck, mini excavator, skidsteer. Do I have everything I need or should we just call in the real professionals?

 

[chad556]

 

[RacerX]

No photo's....

 

[lxt]

No pictures!

If you have to ask what kinda equipment is needed...then your skill level is below what this job needs & you should do two things:

1- bring in a seasoned vet. to help you & learn!
2- walk away knowing this is beyond your skill set!!

to me any time someone asks, what kinda equip, saws, rigging gear & to even ask if a dump truck is needed well thats just a red flag showing that the poster is an amateur & what he is attempting to do is outta his league!!!



LXT............

 

[treemandan]

View attachment 172051View attachment 172052View attachment 172053


Ok hopefully my pictures work because they really illustrate what I'm talking about. I have this tree to take down at work but it looks pretty intimidating. It is a Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) about 3' DBH and somewhere in the ball park of 90 feet tall (these are just estimates and I suck at estimating this kind of thing) The tree is absolutely covered in poison ivy and there is a portion of the base of the trunk that is rotted out. It is missing maybe 5% of the wood at the base due to rot and the stuff behind that looks solid. There are a few dead branches in the canopy as well.

The issues I am having are these:

A)Tree Has a significant side lean right over a wooded hillside and will get hung up if tried to just drop it towards its lean.
B) I cant pull it sideways because there is a huge branch that would get caught on the trees on the hillside. Also i cant pull it back because there is a putting green in the way (this is on a golf course) Not to mention the biggest thing we have to pull with is a dump truck and there is no way I trust it enough to sit under this behemoth with a chainsaw while that thing attempts to pull 20 times its weight in wood over my head
C) Poison ivy sucks. And would be a pain to spur climb through to say the least. Only other option I have is to ascend about 45 feet straight up through thin air to the nearest decent tie in and use my gaffs to climb up another 30ish feet to dismantle. I have climbed one other black locust before and the wood seems heavy and brittle not to mention thorny when you get to the new growth not something I would be excited to trust my life to.

So what I would like to know is: Is this a job you would feel comfortable doing? Have you done a job like this before? or do you have experience with this species?

Also what gear would you need/recommended? I have a 150' Blaze rope, a 150' 5/8" rigging line, two fliplines; one rope, one cable core, gaffs, my trusty 200t and a 441 with 32" bar, a dump truck, mini excavator, skidsteer. Do I have everything I need or should we just call in the real professionals?

Everything you mentioned sounds about par for the course:msp_laugh: .

 

[TreeAce]

Everything you mentioned sounds about par for the course:msp_laugh: .

:hmm3grin2orange::msp_lol::msp_laugh:

 

[NCTREE]

get up there and start cutting you wus:deadhorse:

Its a locust and if you know anything about them they are strong. That liitle bit of rot is nothing,

Man up on the the ivy! if you cant deal with a little poison now and again then you should move to alaska:hmm3grin2orange:

 

[TreeAce]

Just get the pictures figured out and lets see what this locust tree is all about. I will say this...If you are not 110% sure of what you are doing, dont DO anything!

 

[NCTREE]

get up there and start cutting you wus:deadhorse:

Its a locust and if you know anything about them they are strong. That liitle bit of rot is nothing,

Man up on the the ivy! if you cant deal with a little poison now and again then you should move to alaska:hmm3grin2orange:

Ok don't mean to sound harsh or disparing but thats what my boss would have said to me when I first started climbing. I might have thought he was the biggest ####### sometimes but he knew what he was talking about. He never put me in a situation that was life threatening or that he didn't think I could do.

 

[chad556]

Ok sorry about the pics guys, I have been having no luck uploading pictures through this site so hopefully this works:

Anyways thanks for the replies, and yes, despite my sad efforts to hide it I am indeed a newbie to tree climbing. In fact, I am an assistant golf course superintendent, a turf guy, by trade but i hoped to branch out into tree climbing (excuse the pun) this year and hopefully gain some valuable experience and save some money by doing some tree work in-house.

As for the equipment, my fault for not wording it right, I think I know what I need to do and I know how I would use my gear to do it. My question is, knowing what I have at my disposal, how would you do the job and is there anything else you think would be necessary?

Oh and NCTREE, haha I keep trying to tell myself to stop being chicken and just get the job done but Its not the same coming from me. My boss in no help because he knows nothing but coming from you, a guy who has done and seen more than I probably ever will in my career, it sounds good, so thanks for the tough love encouragement lol.

 

[chad556]

Ok these are taken at some better angles so hopefully they help. My plan is to tie in as high as i can, pull myself up, swing over to each of the two big branches up there and take them apart as carefully as I can and then save the last main branch for last and then just block the whole thing down. By the way all of those things branching out on the first 25-30 or so feet of the tree are from the poison ivy vines and that stuff is thick, so any advice on how to deal with that would be a plus. luckly the tree leans so much that i could probably bypass it on the way up but coming down it looks like i will get stuck in it.

 

[husabud]

It's locust so it burns hot and fast. Use a match. Or man up and climb it. After all it is February it's not like you'll be wearing shorts and a wife beater, unless that's your style.

 

[NCTREE]

Looks like a cake job. Go up and piece the top out. If you don't feel comfortable riigging on the tree then throw some tires down on the road and drop the branches on to them. Get it down low enough that you can drop it but long enough that you can drop the spar across the road without hitting it. Thats what i'd do.

If you take a few branches off the side that would get hung up so you can drop the rest.

 

[NCTREE]

if you have the time and are afraid of getting poison then make sure your body is covered up and go up and handsaw the vines of as you go up. The handsaw will keep the dust and oils to a minimum. Although i'd foot lock up there and then put some spikes on.

 

[GLOBOTREE]

Just get the pictures figured out and lets see what this locust tree is all about. I will say this...If you are not 110% sure of what you are doing, dont DO anything!

dont agree~100% will be fine to proceed~
I might eliminate the ivy, cut the tree in half first into the flopzone, pull the branch off or out of the way(its a branch! think safety, tree will be fine to sacrifice a branch! trust life to reproduce. This sounds like one of those little trees in your way.

 

[GLOBOTREE]

dont agree~100% will be fine to proceed~
I might eliminate the ivy, cut the tree in half first into the flopzone, pull the branch off or out of the way(its a branch! think safety, tree will be fine to sacrifice a branch! trust life to reproduce. This sounds like one of those little trees in your way.

take your time, have a ceremony to celebrate this work, if your grateful the trees around will send energy somehow through the spiritual twilight zone~ i know how your feeling about it and nobody has the challenge you do with this tree. i wood sit down and think about every option on how you could go about it safely and comfortably. Ladder up if you want off ladder with spurs, install false crotch, climb around and clean up in your head first, are there strict anti-flopping regulations there in that field? GROUNDIE @ GLOBOPOWERCLIMB ON ARBORISTSITE

 

[chad556]

Ahh i like that idea of foot-locking up and then putting on my spurs up in the tree. Seems obvious now haha but I was going to body thrust all the way up there while trying not to stab my ankles. Also dropping the spar across the road seems like the smartest course of action, if anything goes wrong trying to drop it sideways to its lean then that would be the second hole Ive made in our asphalt cart paths and my boss would be questioning if it was a good idea to put me in charge of this job in the first place. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Saw Dust Smoken]

Ivy tree

Ya goto do the next step to get better.
Just bypass the ivy. Drop tops off to other side of path. Use tall tree across path if roping is neccessary. Work the three legs down to just above ivy. Set a pull line if needed. Attach yourself to trunk and gin rope for doing tops. Gin rope keeps ya outa ivy as ya head to earth. Put a few chunk under the butt\or path area. Knotch and drop. For more control ty the butt off for less movement over path.

 

[goneloco]

run up there say o maybe 30-40 ft and drop the top out(careful it dont bounce off the other trees and come back at you) and drop the trunk. from the pics it looks like you could just drop it from the bottom. those trees look small enough it probably wont get hung up but chanch is youll bust the other trees all to f***. play safe

 

[peregordusmc]

Seems to me that you should be able to rig it and pull towards that pine in the picture. But i cant see whats farther back other than that pine being off 45 degrees from it. Either way you end up doing it Im sure all of us would love to hear how you ended up doing it and how it turned out.