c/arborists

Unpopular opinion: a $40 hand pruner beats a $400 battery one for most jobs

Last spring I was on a job in Boulder trimming a big old cottonwood and the homeowner came out with his fancy gear, insisted I use his cordless loppers. First branch, the latch jammed up and he spent 15 minutes fiddling with it while I just stood there. I mean, I get the appeal of the power stuff for heavy cutting, but my Felco 2 handled every limb under an inch without a single hiccup. Anyone else find the simpler tools just more reliable when you're up in the canopy all afternoon?

Bucket truck vs. climbing spikes on a tight job, the truck won by a mile

Last week I had a removal in a small backyard in Portland where the tree was sandwiched between a fence and a shed. I brought both my spikes and my buddy's bucket truck, thinking I'd end up climbing since the drop zone was so narrow. Turns out the bucket truck let me reach the top cuts way faster and safer, no risk of limbing myself into a bad angle. I finished in about 3 hours versus the 5 or 6 it would've taken me on spikes, and the customer even commented on how clean the stump area stayed. I've always been a climb-first guy, but this job changed my mind for tight spaces. Anyone else switched approaches after a specific job made the old way feel pointless?

Picked a manual pole saw over gas, three months later I'm sure

Had to choose between a gas unit and a manual pole saw for a backyard job in Boise. Went manual cause the client's fence line was tight. Took two extra hours on that oak, but zero fumes and no pull-start fight. Any of you regret giving up the power on small jobs?

That $400 air spade paid for itself in one afternoon

Last month I rented an air spade to clear soil from a big maple's root flare in a client's yard near Tacoma, those roots were buried under 6 inches of compacted fill. The thing blew through that dirt in 20 minutes and I found a girdling root that was strangling the trunk, probably would've killed the tree in another few seasons. Anyone else ever rent one of these instead of buying, or do you just hand-dig and risk missing the real problem?

That $320 truck winch for pulling stumps was garbage from day one

Bought it off a Facebook ad last spring, first big oak stump we hooked up to, the cable snapped on the second tug. Sent it back and got a refund, but I lost two jobs because the truck was in the shop for a week. Anyone else skip the winch and just use a come-along instead?

Rigging teacher in Ohio made me stop using my friction saver

Shoutout to the cheap throwaway rope I bought for crown work

I kept wrecking my good climbing line on rough bark with all the friction, so I grabbed a 30 foot piece of 3/8" utility rope from Tractor Supply for like $12. Swapped it out for the lowering line on a nasty red oak in Jersey last month, and it saved my main rope from getting chewed up. The throwaway handles the wear, I just inspect it before every use. Anyone else keep a sacrificial line in their truck for the gritty jobs?

Old foreman swore by a hand saw, I doubted him until a wet Tuesday

Back in 2011, my first foreman on a job in Tacoma kept insisting I cut a big maple limb with a hand saw and skip the chainsaw. I thought he was just being cheap, but he said, 'You'll feel the crack before it happens with your hands.' Sure enough, the limb was full of rot and the saw bound up twice with a power head, but the hand saw let me ease it down without dropping it on the client's fence. Now I keep a sharp pruning saw on my belt even when the chipper's running, and I've saved myself from at least three sketchy drops. Anyone else had an old timer's trick that actually outsmarted the new gear?

I finally got a 60-foot pine to drop exactly where I wanted with a single wedge

After three tries on other trees left me digging my saw out of the dirt, I shaved a wedge on the back side and let the hinge do the work, and it landed 4 feet off my mark in a tight backyard in Columbus, anyone else ever had a wedge save them from a sketchy drop?

Caught my ropes crossing on a takedown after 11 years

Last Tuesday in Dayton I noticed my lowering line was rubbing against the tag line and didn't realize the friction point until I heard the rope sing, 30 feet up on a red oak. Has anyone else had that "oh no" moment with rope placement or am I the only one who was doing it wrong forever?

Overheard a homeowner say rope scars are 'character' and now I'm second-guessing my technique

Tuesday I was doing a removal in Maplewood and the client was standing there while I rigged down some big limbs. I used a cambium saver on most of the work, but for one quick drop I just ran the rope straight over the bark. The homeowner said it's fine, adds character to the tree. I know that's not right, but I've had a few customers say similar things lately. Is letting a rope run direct ever worth it on a small limb, or should I always take the extra 2 minutes to set the saver? I'm leaning toward never skipping it but I want to hear what other guys do on fast jobs.

Stop topping oaks and calling it pruning, saw a crew butcher one on Maple St today

Watched a crew top a 60 foot red oak down to 15 foot stubs this morning, left every branch with a hat rack cut that'll rot straight into the heartwood. How do you even have a conversation with homeowners who think that's proper care when climbers on this sub know it's just a death sentence over 5 years?

Rope wrench vs mechanical prusik for removals

Been running a rope wrench on a 200ft spruce removal last week and it was way smoother than the mechanical prusik I used before. Less fighting the friction hitch and my groundie noticed the difference in descent control too. Anyone else switch and never look back?

Gave my ground crew 'the easy way' and it backfired hard

Last spring I told my new guy to just notch low and let the hinge do the work on a 30 inch oak over a fence line, like my old foreman always preached. That tree twisted on its hinge and hung up in a neighboring maple, took us 4 hours to get it down with a come-along. Anyone else ever follow old-school advice that ended up costing more time than it saved?

My ground saw hit a buried cable near the fence line in Austin

Last Tuesday I was doing a stump grind behind a client's shed and the saw kicked back hard. Turns out the previous owner had buried an old coax line about four inches down, no warning tape or anything. I stopped immediately, called 811 but they only mark public utilities, so I spent an hour hand digging around the whole yard to find where it ran. Customer was cool about it but now I charge extra for any stump near a fence or structure, has anyone else hit something weird that wasn't on the locator maps?

That chipper feed trick I heard from a logger in Oregon

Stopped for coffee near Eugene and this old-timer said he runs his chipper at 80% throttle and feeds branches butt-first when they're over 4 inches. Tried it on a maples job this week, cuts way down on kickback. Any of you guys do something similar or is it just a West Coast thing?

Thought climbing spikes were lazy work, now I use them on the regular

After 12 years of pure rope and saddle work, I finally tried spikes on a dead ash removal in Portland last month and they cut my time by 3 hours, but now I'm wondering how you all decide when it's actually okay to spike a live tree without getting judged?

Changed my mind about pruning oaks in summer after a bad call in Austin

I always told clients to never touch oaks past March, but a storm split a big limb off a live oak in July and I had to clean it up. The tree healed way faster than any winter cut I've done, no beetle activity at all, so now I'm rethinking the whole rule. Anyone else seen summer cuts work out on oaks when it's an emergency?

15 years of tying knots and I had the hitch backwards

A guy from the utility crew watched me rig a 60 foot oak last Tuesday in Boise and just goes, “You know that’s a clove, right?” I had been using the same wrap for so long it felt right, but the load was riding the wrong side of the bite. Has anyone else had that moment where a second pair of eyes just flips a switch on something dumb you’ve been doing forever?

Air spade skepticism, then I used one on a 100 year old oak

I used to think air spades were for guys with more money than sense. Why rent a $350 tool for a day when a shovel and some patience does the job? Then last spring I had a call in Portland where a big oak was showing stress, and the soil around the root flare was packed like concrete from years of foot traffic. I watched a buddy use an air spade on a similar tree, and the roots were literally suffocating under 6 inches of compacted fill. I finally tried one on this job, and it exposed girdling roots I never would have seen with a hand dig. I'm still not sold on using them for every inspection, but for mature trees near sidewalks or driveways, it's a game changer. Has anyone else switched sides on air spades, or do you think they're still overkill for routine work?

Trusted the soil report over my own eyes, now I'm digging out a failed maple

Had a customer in Moline whose silver maple looked fine on top but the bark was peeling weird at the base. Soil report said it was just wet, not root rot, and the guy from the lab was pretty confident, so I told her to wait and watch it. Two weeks later the whole crown dropped leaves in one weekend, and when I dug down the roots were basically mush to about 3 feet out. Cost her $1,100 to remove and stump grind, plus a new ornamental tree she's probably gonna lose too. I should have pushed for a root collar excavation right then, the report gave me false confidence. Anyone else had a lab report steer you wrong when the tree was screaming at you?

Hit my 500th tree planting this week, a little surprised by that number

I do mostly removals and pruning for a small crew outside Portland, so planting was never my main thing. But over the last 6 years, I kept a simple tally in my phone every time we put a new tree in the ground. This Tuesday we did a row of 12 red maples along a school driveway, and when I added them up, it came to exactly 500. That number took me back a bit. It doesn't sound like a lot compared to some nurseries, but for someone who started out just dragging brush, it feels like a real milestone. More importantly, about 40 of those were replacements for trees we took down that were sick or dying, so it's nice to think we're giving something back on the same streets. How do you all track your planting numbers, or do you just let the invoices do the talking? I'm thinking about making a small map of all 500 spots before I forget half of them.

That pruning seminar in Asheville changed how I read branch angles

I sat in on a two day workshop last month and the guy running it kept saying that most of us cut to the collar like we're scared of the branch, but we should read the bark ridge first. He showed us a red oak where the ridge was almost invisible and told us to go by the branch's natural angle instead of the collar. I tried it on a big maple in a backyard yesterday and the cut sat so much flatter than my usual work. The tree was right against a deck and I avoided butchering the union, which saved me from a call back. My old foreman would have laughed at me for trusting a seminar over muscle memory, but the wound size difference was obvious. Has anyone else switched to reading the ridge over the collar and seen better callusing?

Took me 3 hours to figure out a 2-minute fix on a stump grinder

Got called to a job in Medford last month, old stump grinder kept dying after 10 seconds of running. I checked the fuel line, the spark plug, even tore the air filter apart twice. Turns out the kill switch wire was rubbing against the frame and shorting out, took me forever to notice the bare spot. Anyone else waste a whole afternoon on something that ended up being dead simple?

Broke a 30 year old climbing rope on a dead oak last month and had to rappel down on my lanyard

Thought the rope was still good since it looked fine on the outside, but after I hit a sharp branch it snapped right above my tie-in point, and now I check every rope for internal wear with a magnifying glass before I trust it, anyone else had a rope fail on them out of nowhere?