c/arborists

Rope saddle over bucket truck for a tight job in Portland

I had to pick between renting a bucket truck for $400 a day or just using my rope saddle on this big maple in a narrow backyard in Portland last week. I always figured the bucket was faster and safer, but the homeowner's fence was only 3 feet from the tree on both sides. A buddy who does climbing work in tight spots convinced me that the rope saddle gives you way more control when you can't get a truck close. So I went with the saddle and some friction hitches I've been messing with lately. Honestly, it took me about an extra hour to set up and get up there, but I could reach every limb without fighting the truck's boom. Has anyone else switched off a bucket for a saddle on a job they thought needed the truck?

Had to decide between a bucket truck and a rope saddle for this big oak job in Raleigh

I mean, I started out doing everything by rope back in the early 2000s and it worked fine most days. But this one oak in Raleigh had limbs going right over a garage and a fence, and I just couldn't get a safe anchor point no matter how I rigged it. I ended up renting a bucket truck for two days, cost me about $400 total. Honestly, it felt kind of weird being up in a bucket after years of saddle work, like I was cheating or something. But I got all those overhanging limbs trimmed in half the time and didn't have to worry about my rope cutting into any bark or branches. The job went smooth, but I still think about that old days up in the saddle. Has anyone else switched over to a bucket for tricky residential spots and regretted it or loved it?

Fiberglass pole broke on me, went back to wood after 10 years

I spent like $180 on a fancy fiberglass pole for trimming high branches and it snapped on a medium size limb last Tuesday. Totally eat the cost and went back to wood, a solid hickory pole from a local sawmill near Albany. Cost me $40 and it just feels more reliable, no flex and I can feel the cut better. Anyone else have bad luck with those fiberglass poles or is it just me?

Maple vs oak for firewood... I'm team maple all the way now

Hot take: Spending $200 on a fancy pruning saw was a total waste

I bought a top-of-the-line Silky saw last spring, thinking it would make my cuts faster and cleaner. After a season of use, it dulls just as quick as my old $40 Corona and the handle started cracking in cold weather. Anyone else feel like high-end gear is just marketing hype for most tree work?

Heard a customer say stump grinding was just 'big weed whacking' and it stuck with me

I was on a job last Tuesday in a neighborhood outside Portland, grinding out a big maple stump that had been sitting there for years. This older guy walks by with his dog, stops, and says 'Looks like you're just weed whacking with a bigger machine.' I laughed it off at first, but later I kept thinking about it. There's some truth there if you squint - we're both removing unwanted vegetation, just at different scales with different risks. But what he didn't see was the time I spent checking for root spread near their sewer line, or the fact I had to dig down 18 inches to get below grade for their new patio. It made me appreciate how much hidden knowledge goes into even the 'simple' jobs we do every day. Has anyone else had a customer reduce your work to something basic like that?

I've pruned over 1,000 trees this year and my hands still hurt like I just started

Hit that number last week. Thought after a few hundred my hands would just get used to it. Nope. Still wake up stiff every morning. Anyone else's grip strength just never catch up?

Switched from climbing spikes to a bucket truck on residential jobs

Used to think spikes were the only way to do removals fast. Then I shattered a huge limb on a customer's driveway in Portland last July. The homeowner was pissed and I had to pay $400 for concrete repair. Now I use a 60-foot bucket truck for any job within reach of a road. Saves my legs and stops me from wrecking people's property. Anyone else ditch spikes for residential work?

Five years climbing with a loose lanyard before someone said something

Been topping trees since 2019. Always had my lanyard hang a little slack because it felt faster. Last week a older climber watched me for five minutes then asked if I liked falling. Told me to cinch it tight against my saddle. Who else had a basic habit they never questioned?

Used to climb with rope gaffs like an idiot for 12 years, now I only use mechanicals

I remember back in 2018 I was still using old school rope gaffs for every removal in Austin. After a nasty slip on a wet live oak where I tore my knee up pretty bad, I finally switched to mechanical gaffs like the Gecko Pro models. The difference is night and day for grip and stability, especially on slick bark or when you are in a hurry. Now I can get up and down a 80 foot pine in half the time without worrying about my gaffs sliding. Anyone else made this switch and noticed how much safer it feels on those rainy morning jobs?

That cheap rope I bought off Amazon cost me way more in the long run

Back in 2019 I figured I'd save some money and bought a 200 foot spool of arborist rope from some no-name brand online. Paid like 40 bucks for it, thought I was being smart. First big job up in a red oak near Portland, that rope started fraying halfway through the climb and I had to abort. Lost about 300 bucks on that job plus the rope cost, now I only buy from a proper supplier. Anyone else ever get burned by budget gear?

TIL a single oak tree can drop over 10,000 acorns in a mast year

I was reading through some old forestry studies last night looking up why my client's oak keeps making such a mess of their lawn. I mean I knew oaks had big years but I had no idea it could hit those numbers. Found this paper from a guy at Purdue who tracked one tree for like 15 years and some seasons it dropped almost nothing. Then boom one fall it was over 12,000 acorns. That explains why I spent six hours raking that one property in November. Makes me wonder if there's a way to predict the big mast years ahead of time so I can schedule clients better. Anyone else ever try to track acorn production cycles or do you just deal with it when it hits?

Took me 6 hours to figure out why my stump grinder kept stalling on a big oak job in Austin.

Turned out the air filter was clogged with fine dust from the last grind but I wasted half the day checking fuel lines and spark plugs before I thought to look at something so simple, anyone else ever get stuck chasing the wrong problem like that?

The day my climbing rope got pinched by a bad branch cut

I was up in a big red oak in Austin last Tuesday, making a final cut on a heavy limb, and the branch rolled weird and pinched my rope tight against the bark. Took me nearly 25 minutes to work it free while hanging there and I had to use my handsaw to shave off some wood. My ground guy kept yelling up asking if I needed a rescue, but I got it sorted. Any of yall ever had a rope get stuck mid climb from a bad cut placement?

Pro tip: stop ignoring what seasoned climbers say about your tie-in point

I used to always tie in as high as I could get, thinking it gave me the best reach. Last summer a 20-year veteran watched me set up and told me I was making the job harder by not considering the branch angle and load distribution. I switched to a lower tie-in that put me more directly under the work piece and my cuts got way cleaner and faster. Has anyone else had a mentor call them out on a basic habit like that?

That one storm cleanup job that paid for my whole month

Last Tuesday I got called to a property in Oakville after a microburst came through. There were three big silver maples down across the driveway and one more leaning on the garage. I showed up with my crew at 7am and we worked straight through until 4pm with just a 20 minute lunch break. The homeowner was an older lady who kept bringing us Gatorade and telling us stories about her late husband planting those trees 45 years ago. We had to use the bucket truck for the one leaning on the garage because it was too risky to climb with the power lines nearby. By the end of the day we had chipped everything, bucked the logs into firewood lengths, and ground the stumps down. She handed me a check for $2,800 and I honestly felt bad taking it but she insisted. Has anyone else had a job that just went perfectly smooth like that?

Pro tip: That time I found a wasp nest inside a dead oak at a job in Austin

I was climbing a big dead oak last spring near downtown Austin, about 50 feet up. Started cutting a limb and heard this loud buzzing. Turns out a whole nest had moved into a hollow section I couldn't see from the ground. Now I always tap the trunk with a pole saw before making cuts on any deadwood. Has anyone else had close calls with hidden nests?

Watching an old sycamore taught me something about root pruning

There's this giant sycamore down on Elm Street in my town, been there probably 80 years. Last week I noticed the sidewalk was buckling bad from the roots, maybe 4 inches of lift... I spent 3 hours digging around the roots to figure out where to cut, and halfway through I realized I was just guessing. Has anyone here had luck with a specific technique for root pruning near pavement without stressing the whole tree?

Heads up on those cheap pruning shears from the hardware store

I bought a pair of $15 pruners last spring thinking I saved money. Nope. They crushed the bark on every cut and gave my client's maple tree nasty wounds that took forever to heal. Spent $60 fixing the damage plus another $50 on a proper pair of Felco shears. Anyone else learn the hard way that cheap tools cost more in the long run?

Nearly dropped a 40 foot limb on a customer's shed yesterday

I was up in a red oak in a backyard in Akron and the rope slipped off a small branch I had it tied around. The limb swung hard toward the roof before I got it under control with a second friction hitch I always keep handy now. Customer was watching from the kitchen window and I could see her face go white. Has anyone else had a close call like that and changed their rigging setup because of it?

Pruning live oaks in Austin during August vs December - completely different results

I trimmed a live oak in early August last year and the regrowth was insane, all these water sprouts shooting up everywhere. Then I did the same tree in late December after a freeze and the cuts healed smooth with hardly any suckers. My buddy in San Antonio swears by summer pruning for stronger branch angles but I think the shock is worse. Has anyone else seen a big difference in how live oaks respond depending on the month you cut them?

Spent an hour talking to an old forester about root pruning this weekend

He said if you cut roots closer to the trunk in fall instead of spring you get way less shock on the tree, and after trying it on a big maple yesterday I can already see a difference in how the leaves are holding up, has anyone else had luck with fall root pruning over spring?

Thought a stump grind was a 2-hour job and it took me 6

Ran into a buried concrete slab under a big maple stump last Tuesday and spent an extra 4 hours digging it out with a shovel because my grinder couldn't touch it - anyone else ever hit hidden debris that turned a quick job into an all-day thing?

Cracked a client's driveway slab with my bucket truck this morning

I was working a job over in Maplewood today, trimming a big old silver maple that had some deadwood hanging right over a house. The driveway was this narrow concrete strip that looked solid enough, but I guess the ground underneath had washed out a bit from all the rain we got last month. I set the outriggers down like I always do, careful and slow, but as I started lifting the bucket, I heard this loud crack. The whole rear outrigger pad had punched through the concrete and sank about six inches into the dirt below. The homeowner came running out and started yelling about how I ruined their driveway. I had to stop everything, call my boss, and we ended up cutting the job short to deal with the damage. Now I'm looking at a $1200 repair bill and a pissed off client who probably won't call us again. Has anyone else had a setup go sideways like this with hidden ground issues?

Used to top trees like it was nothing. Stopped after watching a crewmate die.

Back in 2018 I worked for a guy who topped every oak we touched. Customers wanted it, he did it, no questions asked. Then a crewmate named Dave was topping a 40 foot red oak in Clifton. The regrowth was weak and one of those suckers snapped while he was cutting. He fell 25 feet, broke his pelvis and two vertebrae. He's still on disability. Now I flat out refuse to top anything. I tell people they need a reduction or removal instead. That job changed how I look at the whole thing. Has anyone else had a moment that made you switch up how you do things on the job?