IT'S GOING! Dangerous Red Maple!

 Our neighbor's red maple was getting more dangerous by the day, with a dead, rotten top, plus many dead limbs. The wind was from the southeast to help us, so today was the day. It was a 44 segment tree, and it tipped with two 1" wedges, minus the saw kerf. So about 1 1/2" times 44 segments equals moving the top over 66" to the tipping point. Susan heard it pop while I was bringing up another wedge, and warned me. Glad she did that! I did not hear it!

Like Old Times

 I got a call for a shade tree case. I haven't had one of those since I retired nine years ago! It's a white pine that I stuck in the ground when this property belonged to a friend, who was growing Christmas trees.  I rode the planter and my friend was driving the tractor. That's long ago, and the Christmas tree operation is no more, and now this tree is next to the house of the current owner. He called me because recent winds made this tree tip over. Just out of sight in the pictures is the septic tank, which knocked out a large part of the root system.

This fork is too far gone to correct by taking off one side, and it has a large area of included bark. Not Good,...

...because that fork leans straight on to the porch on the east side of the house. There is no imminent danger, but eventually it will want to split off with a strong south wind. 

The coup de grace. That tip it got from the wind pushed the top over ten feet and brought up a big hump of root on the west side.  It's too much to pull back and heal over, especially with the septic tank on the west side.  It will be an easy takedown.  

It's Always Something Department

 This catalpa has been a joy all of our married life. It was a sapling when we were married and it provides a beautiful show of flowers every spring. It will have to come down, and luckily, catalpa is dependable for making stump sprouts, so it will rise again!

Back To The Old Grind!

Danger From Above

The Trouble With Silver Maples....

 ....and also red maples to a lesser degree. 

Rot! Wounds send decay right into the tree where the light, soft wood rots away, leaving just a shell. There were three of these fresh stumps at the cemetery in Dahlgren when we visited today. These trees were on my radar because they were an obvious danger to tombstones, but there was no way I could handle them. The cemetery board had to hire a crew with a bucket truck and a chipper, so this job would have been north of two grand easily, unless the business owner was willing to make a large donation. These maples are also prone to running roots out of the ground, where they are wounded by lawnmowers. They are then infected with verticillium wilt, and you will see soft maples with large dead branches because of that. They die by degrees.  Don't plant soft maples where removal will be costly. Think of those folks fifty years from now. 

The Right Tree In The Right Place

I am not anti-maple, I just don't want you to be disappointed in the future because a tree is in the wrong place. Look at your space and keep soft maples 100 feet away from your house. 

Back To The Old Grind!