2019-09-14 The Tree
We have a tree that someone thought was an oak variety and it has very brittle wood. In fact, it lost the entire top of the tree during Hurricane Ike in September 2008. Later in 2015 after growth allowed it to grow back another limb broke off and landed on top of a new shed. Fortunately it did little damage. But now it has deteriorated on the trunk about six feet up and is in danger of falling with a total tree size of some 20 or more feet in height and adequate trunk diameter to do some damage. So I decided to trim it down and remove it. It was bigger than I thought and after removing lower limbs with a pole saw and ladder I began making the cut to allow the top to swing over as weight cracked the remainder of the cut. But it didn't crack on over and allow the top to swing down so I could finish trimming and removal!
As I attempted to use a 16 foot ladder to get a better cut angle at about half way up, the ladder twisted and became unstable throwing me off. While holding the pole saw in my right hand I fell about 8 feet onto my butt and back, bouncing my head off the ground with a whiplash. I must admit to being stunned for a moment while the pain rippled through my body and lower back. My tail bone especially hurt. The cap and sweat headband were about six feet away past my feet from the whip action of my neck and my glasses were missing as I found out a while later. I rolled over and got up, making my way to a bench to sit and come back to my senses and calm the pain.
I went inside the house to sit for a few minutes and discovered my glasses were gone so I went back out to look and after a good length of time found them several feet away near another ladder I had used previously. I do believe I was lucky to have landed as I did and even though my tail bone is very sore, my lower back is sore, and my neck is sore even though it was somewhat sore before this, besides this soreness I appear to be without injury.
I have another pole saw and it is a little longer and may be useful to complete this job. If not, I'll call a tree service!
UPDATE 2019-09-21
With my back feeling a little better on this Saturday I pondered another alternative approach. I had a 4 section 40 foot expanding pole I had used to remove a kite and plastic bags from our trees and I decided to tape the two poles together utilizing only a portion (15 feet) of the expandable pole to maintain stability and strength and this would give me a substantial reach, maybe without the use of a ladder. I could cut a limb from the side at the top of the tree, figuring that limb's counterbalancing weight was preventing the previous cut from breaking, which might allow it to fall the opposite way where I intended it to fall. So I taped the two poles together and rigged the saw to engage when plugged into the outside outlet when I was in place.
Unfortunately the pole with a portion of the extension was still too short to reach that limb about 30 feet above the ground and a ladder would still be needed. So I enlisted Tammy to first plug in the cord when I was ready and then help steady the ladder while I made the cut. Everything went well until the limb was just about to break free and the cut closed onto the electric chainsaw's blade and clamped it to the tree. The saw blade was not long enough to cut through the entire diameter of the limb at the tree trunk! It would not come free with any amount of wiggling or pulling and eventually separated with only the inner cord allowing the lower pole to hang from the upper motor part of the pole saw. In a few hours, however, the tree limb finally broke and the saw fell. But the branch still hung inverted down from the uncut limb's bark and it remained out of my reach standing below. I could only hope it would eventually break and fall.
UPDATE 2019-09-28
Another Saturday and the limb was not going to finish the fall! I had determined the tree to be my nemesis and weighed options to bring it down. By now it had lost its leaves and I had the thought of throwing a tie-down strap end around a larger limb of the branch hoping it would securely hook and I could pull it down with my weight. Amazingly the end with the S connector hooked together perfectly with the strap and I was able to reach the other dangling end to pull on it, but it would not break free even after swinging it side to side repeatedly. I had another idea to expand on this approach.
I had a tool called a come-along which basically is a steel cable tool that ratchets to pull things together using the long cable. All I needed was a place to anchor the other end of the come-along cable on the ground. The old avocado tree! A few years ago our 20 foot tall avocado tree froze to the ground leaving a very large trunk sticking up from which other new avocado shoots grew out of the base, and this was perfectly positioned as a place to use another tie-down strap from which the come-along cable could connect. So now the come-along was between the two straps with slack removed and I ratcheted the cable tight, very tight. I stopped and waited. There was a moment that it appeared nothing was going to happen. But then there was a snap and the limb came down exactly where I wanted.
The limb became a trophy as I celebrated the success. As of today it has been cut up for firewood and trash disposal. The upper part of the tree with the cut in the main trunk remains for another day. As it is, the cut should break when there is a nice strong north wind and the tree top should fall over just as the hanging limb did, and hang. If it were to break free it could fall on my shed or a nearby lemon tree, so caution is the objective as the saga of The Tree continues.
Pictures
UPDATE 2019-09-21
With my back feeling a little better on this Saturday I pondered another alternative approach. I had a 4 section 40 foot expanding pole I had used to remove a kite and plastic bags from our trees and I decided to tape the two poles together utilizing only a portion (15 feet) of the expandable pole to maintain stability and strength and this would give me a substantial reach, maybe without the use of a ladder. I could cut a limb from the side at the top of the tree, figuring that limb's counterbalancing weight was preventing the previous cut from breaking, which might allow it to fall the opposite way where I intended it to fall. So I taped the two poles together and rigged the saw to engage when plugged into the outside outlet when I was in place.
Unfortunately the pole with a portion of the extension was still too short to reach that limb about 30 feet above the ground and a ladder would still be needed. So I enlisted Tammy to first plug in the cord when I was ready and then help steady the ladder while I made the cut. Everything went well until the limb was just about to break free and the cut closed onto the electric chainsaw's blade and clamped it to the tree. The saw blade was not long enough to cut through the entire diameter of the limb at the tree trunk! It would not come free with any amount of wiggling or pulling and eventually separated with only the inner cord allowing the lower pole to hang from the upper motor part of the pole saw. In a few hours, however, the tree limb finally broke and the saw fell. But the branch still hung inverted down from the uncut limb's bark and it remained out of my reach standing below. I could only hope it would eventually break and fall.
UPDATE 2019-09-28
Another Saturday and the limb was not going to finish the fall! I had determined the tree to be my nemesis and weighed options to bring it down. By now it had lost its leaves and I had the thought of throwing a tie-down strap end around a larger limb of the branch hoping it would securely hook and I could pull it down with my weight. Amazingly the end with the S connector hooked together perfectly with the strap and I was able to reach the other dangling end to pull on it, but it would not break free even after swinging it side to side repeatedly. I had another idea to expand on this approach.
I had a tool called a come-along which basically is a steel cable tool that ratchets to pull things together using the long cable. All I needed was a place to anchor the other end of the come-along cable on the ground. The old avocado tree! A few years ago our 20 foot tall avocado tree froze to the ground leaving a very large trunk sticking up from which other new avocado shoots grew out of the base, and this was perfectly positioned as a place to use another tie-down strap from which the come-along cable could connect. So now the come-along was between the two straps with slack removed and I ratcheted the cable tight, very tight. I stopped and waited. There was a moment that it appeared nothing was going to happen. But then there was a snap and the limb came down exactly where I wanted.
The limb became a trophy as I celebrated the success. As of today it has been cut up for firewood and trash disposal. The upper part of the tree with the cut in the main trunk remains for another day. As it is, the cut should break when there is a nice strong north wind and the tree top should fall over just as the hanging limb did, and hang. If it were to break free it could fall on my shed or a nearby lemon tree, so caution is the objective as the saga of The Tree continues.
Pictures
posted by Terry @ 9/16/2019 01:02:00 PM
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