What is the likely approach that my tree service will use to drop this tree?

[TacitSentinel]

Odd question, maybe. Obviously, there's always the foreseen answer of, "Ask your tree service!" But usually when having a service done, more important things are talked about like price, how to get into the work area, what equipment, etc.

She's a leaner and vines of some sort stick off 3-4 feet in each direction. They were cut a couple of years ago and I sent weed killer up them to kill the vines all the way up the tree through each strand that I cut. Tree looks sketchy, so I voluntarily wanted it down, though he said it was alive. At least 80+ feet tall, Georgia pine. I'd guess a circumference of about 30 inches. A certified arborist acting as consultant (and also possible tree service owner - his last name is the tree service name/family business) physically looked at it in person and used a green laser to I presume measure the height. For this particular one, they're just going to drop it in 8ft-12ft sections and leave in on-site as is (budget is a little tight now - they're cutting up our side of a 66" diameter 100' or so pine that fell for our side of the property for an insurance claim, as well, so we're dropping 2 grand for both). I'll finish cutting this little smaller one up over time. Will they cut the vines on their way up to clear a path with the chainsaw? Seems a little dangerous to do. How will they address the belt/strap (or whatever they call it) issue when trying to pull it around the vines sticking out on their way up? I can't imagine that they'll attempt to "free climb" with spikes only and sure as heck wouldn't want them to. Curious how a climber would deal with getting up this tree as far as the vines and forgot to ask when the consultant came out. No mention of a crane, so I'm 100% sure that they won't be using one as they'll be using the Bobcat device for removing another already-fallen tree (they're only removing half that fell on our side of the property, the neighbor's insurance has to deal with their side). As a layperson not in the tree field, I'm curious how arborists would approach this climb. They're dropping the tree with the vines for just under 1,200.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Yeah, shave everything out of the way on the way up, and then block it down, that's the job. Long slow and messy. Not technically difficult, just a PITA. Cut and peel out of the way. Having said that, just looking at the pics, especially the first one, looks like a pretty good lane to just drop it, or at least pull a good thirty foot top out of it.

 

[TacitSentinel]

Yeah, shave everything out of the way on the way up, and then block it down, that's the job. Long slow and messy. Not technically difficult, just a PITA. Cut and peel out of the way. Having said that, just looking at the pics, especially the first one, looks like a pretty good lane to just drop it, or at least pull a good thirty foot top out of it.

Thanks for the reply. I used the herbicide because I kept cutting the vines and the upper vines would keep greenery on them and were taking months and not dying back. It was more so just to hurry up the dying process. These vines are absolutely rooted deep into the bark to the point where it sometimes seems like they have gone 'under' the bark and joined the tree in some areas. I was hoping that they'd die back and fall off over the past couple of years and some of them have fallen off quite loosely and down to the ground. The rest are hanging on for dear life, even through 60mph winds in a recent storm.

I figured that a launched throw bag would be out of the question. Very few 'healthy' looking branches up top and they may not be all that healthy. They sure aren't big enough for confidence in them that they'd hold up a person. The houses are close enough together that they'd be throwing into the yard behind us and/or possibly on their roof when it came down. I'm hoping that they can manage to get most of the vine branches on our side. There's maybe a 4-5 foot gap between the tree and fence behind it and the climber is already dealing with a lot of absolute crap from the vines to be trying to worry about 'where' they are going, too. Of course they only have two hands, so trying to direct all of the vines to fall on our side would be tricky. When a bunch of trees were cut down by a tree service in the yard next to us, they dropped a lot of stuff on our yard and just walked next door and asked to hop the fence to go into the back yard and clean up most of the dropped brush. The neighbor's house behind us is actually on a back street that requires a good 1.5 mile drive just to get to the front of their house. The 6' board fence situation makes it irritating for cleanup, too. Not only that, but it is an absolute PITA - the tree is right around the area where another wood fence back there separates two neighbor's yards right behind the tree. I couldn't have thought up a more difficult scenario if I tried.

Trying to avoid being a PITA customer as much as possible. I made sure to tell the guy quoting it via email that I don't care about dents in the lawn and such. I know that some people complain about that, but it's nothing but weeds and dirt back there. If they want to drop a 30-foot section, I'd be fine with that, too. Anywhere but as long as they don't hit the fence, of course. I think that a 30' length from the top would probably clip a number of the large branches on nearby pines and bring them down, too. They could probably get away with 20' with no issue. I sure hope it's a quick one, I hate being 'that' kind of customer, but of course I can't turn back time and tell the vines not to grow up the tree either.

 

[TheJollyLogger]

Yup, the climbers mantra... " well this is gonna suck... "

 

[Lightning Performance]

These are the worst **** jobs to climb. Have to be watching as you pull vines so you don't get beaned. Dirty, messy, scrapes, bugs, bees, ants, and dirt. The dirt and dust is always the worst part for me next to loose bark and wood tearout on your gaffs. Steel line will flip right up that mess and loop off the top as stated above then chunk it down as logs.

 

[Lightning Performance]

Thanks for the reply. I used the herbicide because I kept cutting the vines and the upper vines would keep greenery on them and were taking months and not dying back. It was more so just to hurry up the dying process. These vines are absolutely rooted deep into the bark to the point where it sometimes seems like they have gone 'under' the bark and joined the tree in some areas. I was hoping that they'd die back and fall off over the past couple of years and some of them have fallen off quite loosely and down to the ground. The rest are hanging on for dear life, even through 60mph winds in a recent storm.

I figured that a launched throw bag would be out of the question. Very few 'healthy' looking branches up top and they may not be all that healthy. They sure aren't big enough for confidence in them that they'd hold up a person. The houses are close enough together that they'd be throwing into the yard behind us and/or possibly on their roof when it came down. I'm hoping that they can manage to get most of the vine branches on our side. There's maybe a 4-5 foot gap between the tree and fence behind it and the climber is already dealing with a lot of absolute crap from the vines to be trying to worry about 'where' they are going, too. Of course they only have two hands, so trying to direct all of the vines to fall on our side would be tricky. When a bunch of trees were cut down by a tree service in the yard next to us, they dropped a lot of stuff on our yard and just walked next door and asked to hop the fence to go into the back yard and clean up most of the dropped brush. The neighbor's house behind us is actually on a back street that requires a good 1.5 mile drive just to get to the front of their house. The 6' board fence situation makes it irritating for cleanup, too. Not only that, but it is an absolute PITA - the tree is right around the area where another wood fence back there separates two neighbor's yards right behind the tree. I couldn't have thought up a more difficult scenario if I tried.

Trying to avoid being a PITA customer as much as possible. I made sure to tell the guy quoting it via email that I don't care about dents in the lawn and such. I know that some people complain about that, but it's nothing but weeds and dirt back there. If they want to drop a 30-foot section, I'd be fine with that, too. Anywhere but as long as they don't hit the fence, of course. I think that a 30' length from the top would probably clip a number of the large branches on nearby pines and bring them down, too. They could probably get away with 20' with no issue. I sure hope it's a quick one, I hate being 'that' kind of customer, but of course I can't turn back time and tell the vines not to grow up the tree either.

Add three sheds all at the corner intersection. Now it will get interesting and don't forget the fountain and flower beds down there to avoid while roping everything down in a controlled way.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Thanks for the reply. I used the herbicide because I kept cutting the vines and the upper vines would keep greenery on them and were taking months and not dying back. It was more so just to hurry up the dying process. These vines are absolutely rooted deep into the bark to the point where it sometimes seems like they have gone 'under' the bark and joined the tree in some areas. I was hoping that they'd die back and fall off over the past couple of years and some of them have fallen off quite loosely and down to the ground. The rest are hanging on for dear life, even through 60mph winds in a recent storm.

I figured that a launched throw bag would be out of the question. Very few 'healthy' looking branches up top and they may not be all that healthy. They sure aren't big enough for confidence in them that they'd hold up a person. The houses are close enough together that they'd be throwing into the yard behind us and/or possibly on their roof when it came down. I'm hoping that they can manage to get most of the vine branches on our side. There's maybe a 4-5 foot gap between the tree and fence behind it and the climber is already dealing with a lot of absolute crap from the vines to be trying to worry about 'where' they are going, too. Of course they only have two hands, so trying to direct all of the vines to fall on our side would be tricky. When a bunch of trees were cut down by a tree service in the yard next to us, they dropped a lot of stuff on our yard and just walked next door and asked to hop the fence to go into the back yard and clean up most of the dropped brush. The neighbor's house behind us is actually on a back street that requires a good 1.5 mile drive just to get to the front of their house. The 6' board fence situation makes it irritating for cleanup, too. Not only that, but it is an absolute PITA - the tree is right around the area where another wood fence back there separates two neighbor's yards right behind the tree. I couldn't have thought up a more difficult scenario if I tried.

Trying to avoid being a PITA customer as much as possible. I made sure to tell the guy quoting it via email that I don't care about dents in the lawn and such. I know that some people complain about that, but it's nothing but weeds and dirt back there. If they want to drop a 30-foot section, I'd be fine with that, too. Anywhere but as long as they don't hit the fence, of course. I think that a 30' length from the top would probably clip a number of the large branches on nearby pines and bring them down, too. They could probably get away with 20' with no issue. I sure hope it's a quick one, I hate being 'that' kind of customer, but of course I can't turn back time and tell the vines not to grow up the tree either.

Should be easy enough to remove several fence boards for back/forth access during the job. Then nail them back up. Was common for the guys I grounded for way back when.

 

[TacitSentinel]

Add three sheds all at the corner intersection. Now it will get interesting and don't forget the fountain and flower beds down there to avoid while roping everything down in a controlled way.

Darn it, forgot the sheds. I've got a little over a day to add a fountain and flower beds back there...I think I could pull that off.

"Hey, can you guys carry those logs over the dirt? Don't want to dent it, took me 10 years to get it that uneven."

That 66" diameter pine that they're also cutting up and removing...I'm curious if they'll be able to put that through the chipper as-is. I saw maybe 20" thick logs being thrown into a shredder on some videos, but haven't seen one this size yet. I'm sure there's a size limit for chippers, of course. Anyone know what that size limit is?

 

[Section VIII]

Darn it, forgot the sheds. I've got a little over a day to add a fountain and flower beds back there...I think I could pull that off.

"Hey, can you guys carry those logs over the dirt? Don't want to dent it, took me 10 years to get it that uneven."

That 66" diameter pine that they're also cutting up and removing...I'm curious if they'll be able to put that through the chipper as-is. I saw maybe 20" thick logs being thrown into a shredder on some videos, but haven't seen one this size yet. I'm sure there's a size limit for chippers, of course. Anyone know what that size limit is?

None of those trees look like they are even close to being 66" diameter. Maybe you meant circumference?

I've seen videos of some large trees being chipped but the chipper was also the size of the truck used to haul it. A quick Google search indicates that the largest is around 160" diameter which would require one heck of a truck to haul it and I doubt your tree service company you hired would have one anywhere near that size.

 

[TacitSentinel]

Yeah, 66" circumference is what I meant. The one in the front right is probably 100" circumference. The tree with the vines on the right in the back...they tossed up throw bags to get a line on the second tree with vines next to it because that one had more branches. He crossed over to the tree on the right about halfway up and climbed up to the top without trimming anything on the way up. They cut it down in blocks and then downed the final portion probably 30-40 feet from the bottom with a notch and rope around the top attached to a skid claw machine and used it to pull it down. Poor climber on the way down had to go back down on the other tree, also with vines. Probably hit his cajones a dozen times on the way down. Some of those are like 2" thick very stiff vines that won't break. lol