Dangerous species

flashover604

TreeHouser
Joined
Sep 3, 2014
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443
Location
Lancaster Ohio
Hi all. I was wondering what trees you don't like to climb and why. I know obvious ones like dead brittle ash, but what else do you avoid?
 
Monkey Puzzles, Gleditsia triacanthos, Erythrina caffra, Chorisia speciosa etc. lots of exotic tree species better left alone.

Jomo
 

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Poplars can tough to trust. Allergic to Elm. Dislike Blue Spruce intensely. Thorns on Locusts stink but I still love the Tree.
 
Around here I am not a fan of Russian olive, acacia, hawthorns, and spruce in general can itch me up. Sycamores when in season can have me hacking until I throw up while chipping. Cottonweeds can have those huge reservoirs of poplar piss in them that's gross. Or the worst. Any tree in someone's yard with dogshit around it/in the work zone.
 
Yep , one Dogshit job every year or two. Trimmed some Yews inside a pen used by a bunch of Boston Terriers. Dogshit on my gear , well MUCH worse than the Pelican Case Blues.
 
I'll second that. Hybrid cottonwoods at least, the plains cottonwoods are great, in my opinion.

Also second the Spruce, I like the trees but don't like working with them.

Dead Siberian Elms, horrible and dangerous in every way.

Silver Maples, same...

We have an abundance of Triacanthos var. Inermis, they're some of my favorites in the area, very tough and beautiful trees.
 
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I wondered about Cottonwoods. The one we had growing up always seemed healthy then it'd drop a massive limb for no apparent reason.
 
Eastern Cottonwoods here , get fairly large and mature ones produce lots of deadwood. Smaller Tree on the dislike is Staghorn Sumac , in the past we have cut and burned much doing woodland manicure ... When it goes on the pile it F'n stinks like insecticide.
 
Any tree you take for granted as being easy.
Cottonweed in our area doesn't hinge well and the limbs seem very brittle.
EAB killed ash are sketchy. They deteriorate much faster than if they died from other reasons.
Also any lightning struck tree. Bad things go on when you cook moisture out that fast. Lots of unseen cracking.

And that weed that Corey mentioned as well.
 
I have never worked in Ailanthus though I appreciate their fairly fast growth rate and seeming pollution tolerance in Northeastern Cities that plant them. I have heard they can be brittle to work in. (Altissima is the word I used to make up "Altissimus Tree Service" for my Co.)
 
I don't imagine that you guys run into large Persimmons much. The word out on them is to be very careful of the limbs prone to breaking much more easily than you would expect compared to other species.
 

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The most dangerous species is man, hands down!

Take an exotic Caffra Coral out of its natural environment, plant it in SoCal in a lawn area, drown it in water, force feed it nitrogen fertilizers?

You've created a ticking time bomb ready to explode n break out each summer, unless ruthlessly reduced each year.

One of those trees that are more of a succulent plant full of mush than a woody tree.

But in their natural environment without overwatering and ferts? A magnificent tree, particularly in bloom with giant scarlet red flowers.

We are the amateur botanists playin God n comin up short!

Not the trees fault by a longshot!

Jomo
 
We do get decent sized Persimmons here in Ohio, but nothing like that for the most part. And yes, even healthy they seem prone to breakage.

Ailanthus trees grow fast here, and then die young and leave a 100 foot tall heavy corpse that won't hinge and has poor shear strength even when healthy. Also worthless as wood or lumber as far as I know.
 
I'll throw in another vote for cottonwood. Nasty, totally untrustworthy.

And a couple that may not be on many climbers radars. I don't really think of them as dangerous...unless you don't know their peculiarities.
Western white pine can be very limber in the upper stem and can lay over under a climbers weight in unexpected ways; and also has easily popped branches, even fairly large diameter. Especially in droughty conditions. I have heard eastern WP is similar.
Western larch has a really tough and strong main bole, but again, very easily broken branches. Take care when climbing on the limbs, or using them as lifeline safety points...especially SRT.
 
Our WP here does have a very strong pole. The limbs are very snappy and don't peel unless you cut well into the collar. Most of the guys I know, including myself, that have been fouled up by them did it in the snow. Under snow load the limbs can explode when you spur them.
 
Not all individuals have that unhappy tendency to bend over under load, and almost always it is younger ones...just enough of them to make it necessary to pay attention early in a climb.
 
Ditto Limbrat....I HATE date palms, 4-6" thorns and dusty dirty, Washingtonia palms, thorns like an overgrown sugoi...fan palms with rats nests, poincianas can be a bit iffy, very wobbly and snappy, especially in winter.
 
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