c/arborists

I finally saw a mature dawn redwood in person at the Atlanta Botanical Garden

Honestly, I'd only ever seen pictures in books and they never did it justice. The trunk base was easily 8 feet across with these huge, fluted buttress roots. What got me was the bark, it was this deep reddish brown with long, stringy fibers peeling off, totally different from our local pines. Has anyone else worked on one of these and know if the wood is as soft as it looks?

A storm job in Charlotte made me look up how much weight a mature pine can hold

We were clearing a huge broken limb and I guessed it was maybe 800 pounds. The crew boss said to check the wood density charts, and a green pine limb that size can actually be over 1,200 pounds. Ever since, I double-check my weight estimates before rigging anything that big.

Reading an old textbook and found out they used to cut cavities in trees to 'drain' them

Found this in a 1970s arboriculture guide from my grandpa's shed. They'd actually drill a hole and insert a pipe, thinking it helped with decay, which we now know just makes it worse. Anyone else come across these old practices that make you cringe?

Watching a crew handle a storm-damaged oak in Atlanta flipped my view on crane use

I always saw them as overkill for residential work, but seeing them clear a 60-foot limb from over a house in 20 minutes without a single drop zone... Has anyone else had a job that completely changed their mind on a piece of gear?

Showerthought: I was hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains last weekend and saw a massive oak with a lightning scar that had been filled with concrete. Is that still considered a good practice?

Shoutout to the crew that helped me with a massive willow removal in Springfield

We had a 60-foot weeping willow come down across a driveway after a storm last Tuesday. I usually try to save big trees, but this one was split right to the base. My buddy from another company brought over his new 36-inch bar Stihl saw, and we had the whole thing bucked and cleared in under four hours with a team of five. I used to think willows were too messy to be worth the hassle on jobs like that. Anyone have a go-to method for cleaning up all those tiny twigs and leaves afterwards?

Had to choose between a full removal or a risky crown reduction on a big oak in a tight yard yesterday.

Got called out for a 50 foot oak in Charlotte that had a crack you could fit your hand in.

Had to remove a huge willow oak in a tight backyard in Charlotte. The crane company showed up late and then we found a massive hornet's nest in the main trunk. What should have been a one day job turned into three. Anyone run into something like that?

Got into it with a client in Tampa over stump grinding depth last week

They wanted the whole thing gone, down to 24 inches, to plant a new oak right there. I argued that going that deep messes with the soil structure and can hit utilities, plus 12 inches is plenty for most new plantings. This came up because three years ago on a job in Orlando, we hit a gas line going too deep on a similar request. Where do you guys stand on how deep to grind for a replant?

Heads up on that weird root flare fungus in the Pacific Northwest

Honestly, diagnosing that on a bigleaf maple in Seattle took me almost 8 hours because it looked like mechanical damage at first. Anyone else run into this and have a faster ID method?

Appreciation post: Tried a new climbing hitch setup after a buddy in Portland swore by it

I've been a Blake's hitch guy for a decade, but my climbing partner showed me a VT with a pulley last fall. The difference in how it grabs and releases on a descent is night and day. With the VT, I get a much smoother, more controlled let-down, especially on those long, straight drops from a big pine. I was skeptical about the extra gear, but after using it for three big removals, my hands and arms are way less tired at the end of the day. It just feels more forgiving on the rope. I'm still getting used to the tail length, but the control is worth the learning curve. Anyone else made a switch like this and have tips for dialing it in?

Vent: I thought tree growth regulators were a total waste of money for years

A client in Phoenix insisted we use Cambistat on a row of oaks that kept hitting power lines, and I told him it was just expensive snake oil. We applied it anyway because he paid, and I checked the growth rings myself after two seasons. Those trees put on less than half an inch of new wood compared to the untreated ones next door, a huge difference. I had to eat my words because the science actually worked in this brutal heat. Has anyone else had a TGR application change their mind, or was this just a lucky one-off?

Can we talk about climbing line preference? I'm going against the grain on static vs. dynamic.

I climbed on a dynamic line for years, thinking the stretch was safer for my back on big drops. After a job in Denver last fall where I had to make a bunch of precise, small positioning moves in a tight canopy, I switched to a static line (like the Sterling HTP) for the control and haven't looked back. Anyone else find they work better with a static system for technical pruning?

Had a homeowner in Portland ask me to save a maple that was clearly a goner

It was a big old silver maple with a huge cavity and major root rot, right by their driveway. The guy just stood there and said, 'But it's been here longer than I have, there's got to be a way.' I had to explain the decay was too far gone and it was a safety risk. How do you all handle those tough conversations when a tree is past saving?

I finally chose to do a full crown reduction on a big silver maple instead of a simple thin, and the homeowner just called to say it looks better than ever.

Warning: A landscaper in Boise changed how I think about stump grinding

I was on a job site last month and got talking with the landscape foreman while we waited for a concrete pour. He said something simple that stuck with me: 'You guys always grind the stump, but you leave the web of surface roots for us to fight with.' He pointed at a big maple we'd removed, where the radial roots were still all over the top foot of soil, making his grading and sod work a nightmare. It hit different because I'd never considered the next trade's headache. Now, for an extra 30 minutes with the grinder, I make a point to chew up those major lateral roots in a 3-4 foot ring around the stump. It costs a bit more time, but the two landscapers I work with regularly say it saves them hours. Has anyone else started doing this, or do you have a different handoff method with landscapers?

Just learned a mature oak can transpire over 40,000 gallons of water a year, from a forestry extension website.

Was looking up drought stress signs for a client's pin oak. Ended up on a university's page. The number blew my mind. That's a huge amount of water moving through one tree. Makes you think about soil volume and watering needs differently. Anyone have a good rule of thumb for estimating a tree's actual water use on site?

Update: A client's comment about my climbing line made me rethink my gear check

I was finishing a removal in Boulder last week, and the homeowner pointed at my rope and said, 'That looks pretty fuzzy, is it still safe?' I told him I inspect it, but honestly, I'd gotten used to the look. I checked my log and realized that line has seen over 300 working hours. Now I'm ordering a new one this weekend. How often do you guys actually retire your primary climbing lines?

Finally got my first solo crane removal right after a storm in Dayton

Last week, a big storm took down a silver maple right onto a garage roof. My boss was out sick, so I had to run the whole job myself. I spent three hours setting the rigging and planning each cut with the crane operator. We got the tree off the roof without a scratch on the structure. Anyone else have tips for staying calm when you're suddenly the one in charge?

Why does nobody talk about the cost of those fancy tree injection systems?

I bought a $900 pressurized injection kit last spring to treat some mature oaks for borers. Spent two full days on the setup and application for six trees. The results were no better than the soil drench I used the year before, which cost about $150 total. Has anyone else found these systems to be overkill for residential work, or did I just get a bad batch of chemical?

I thought I could save money sharpening my own chainsaw blades...

Bought a cheap sharpening kit online for about $40, thinking I'd get the hang of it. Messed up the angles on two chains before I even got to the third one... ended up taking all three to the shop anyway. The guy there said I'd basically turned them into scrap metal, so that was $120 in chains plus the kit money down the drain. Anyone know a good beginner video or should I just keep paying for pro sharpening?

Overheard a foreman in Tacoma say he marks his climbing line with a sharpie every 50 feet for quick visual checks mid-ascent.

Tried it on a 150-foot pine removal and it saved me from having to stop and physically measure my rope length three separate times, so has anyone else got a simple marking trick for gear?

Serious question, did anyone else's town used to have way more elms?

Looking at some old photos from the 80s, our main street was basically a tunnel of American elms. Now there's maybe three left on the whole block after the Dutch elm disease hit. What do you all do to keep the survivors healthy, or do you just plant something else?

Had a huge oak in Charlotte with a split crotch and used a 3/4 inch drill bit to make a relief hole before bolting it, which stopped the cracking sound within a week.

Has anyone else used this method on a mature white oak, and what size bolt did you pair with it?