How'd it go today?

[Stumper]

Darin, Use a ladder to access roofs that aren't under a TIP!

As you know Boise and Canon City share nearly identical climates......topping sucks but willows take it in stride here. I ve worked on a couple of willows tahgt split out 1/3 of the canopy in one swell foop- I didn't reduce the remainder at the time but they took the natural carnage in stride. The Willows that other people top just blow epicormics all over unless they already have cytospora or some other fungal disease.

 

[sotc]

I think the main issue would be timing, topping in this heat would be iffy

 

[squisher]

After the tree goes dormant would definetly be better imo.

 

[Old Monkey]

Its not an option as the tree is over a path that kids take to school. It either needs to go or to be seriously reduced now.

 

[Paul B]

FWIW, I have an antique gardening book that describes new willlow shoots steeped in water as a rooting compound....http://www.weekendgardener.net/2007/05/make-your-own-rooting-hormone-with.htm

 

[woodworkingboy]

Today, eleven hours driving time up and back to Yokohama to bring some woodwork for an exhibition, though the worst traffic jam hell you can only imagine in a nightmare. I don't know how people living around Tokyo can do that regularly, I start to crawl out of my skin.

Crane guy called on the cell phone and told to blow the dust off the meter and a half bar for the 090, on for the day after tomorrow. Not sure what we'll be getting into, but it sounds promising, and I'm looking forward to some needed change of scenery.

 

[sawinredneck]

If the Willow is going to die, there isn't anything you can do about it. They seem to be like the Bradford pears around here, loose half the tree, but they keep on growing! The wind seems to be the determining factor of when the tree will die.

Bubba started preschool today, Mama is making a huge deal about it and driving both of us up the wall!

 

[rumination]

Hope you feel better quickly Darin. I'm glad it wasn't any worse.


Judging by how people wildly whack willows around here, that one should resprout just fine.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Found a willow once that a large leader had completely separated from the trunk and fell across a seasonal creek. It rooted in (any part touching the ground) and was a tree in itself. HO wanted it gone... We cut and hacked and pried and pulled and tugged and finally got the thing off the ground and burned it. Went back next year and any bit of root we had left was a new tree ....

 

[stehansen]

Glad you are still functioning Darin. Good luck with the willow tree. I think they are quite disposable myself.

 

[Old Monkey]

Well we got rained out in a very impressive way. We've been hit by some pretty dramatic thunderstorms and the rain is coming down in buckets. I don't mind working in the rain but we need to drive across lawn to get to this tree and part of it I wouldn't trust in the rain and wind. Perhaps the other side of the tree will fail and make removal a more compelling argument.

 

[sawinredneck]

Hows th back and shoulder today Darin?

 

[Old Monkey]

Not bad really. I think I am very lucky.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Take it easy!

 

[stig]

A truly nasty day.
We are back in clearing vegetation out of waterways, so I spent the whole day in waders in very shallow water.
Some mediterannean country like Spain must have misplaced their weather, and it ended up here, because it is HOT for Denmark.
By the end of the day I was completely worn out and dehydrated.
When it gets to be too bad, I look towards the western horizon. I imagine I can almost see the tips of the sequoias and redwoods in California I'll be climbing in 2½ weeks time. Then life feels better all of a sudden.
When I got home, I rememberd I had a box of pakistani honey mangoes, so I made a couple of mango lassies and had them in the shade with my wife. That helped a lot too.

 

[stehansen]

You're coming out to Cali?

 

[rangerdanger]

Today was GREAT!!! Finally got back into some serious climbing. First tree was a small Maple. Just had to grab one branch 20ft or so up.

2nd tree was way cooler! I did my first spikeless, total removal start to finish. A rotting Maple, around 40' tall and 50' wide. Had a blast since it was all cut and drop. But part of it was close to the house, so it was fun using different cuts to hinge the branch away from the house.

Also did two firsts for me. Topping it out and chunking some wood. Since I did it spikeless, it really made me think ahead a bit for footholds and rope placement.

Then Dad did a somewhat sketchy removal. A totally dead Ash tree. We suspected it was rotten, which it was somewhat, but only at the top.

Anyways, we ended up taking a huge top out. I set up a quick Mechanical Advantage system in a pinch, and man, without that it would have been a lot more work to pull this huge top over!

Worst part of the day was I forgot my camera.

 

[Al Smith]

I have been having trouble with grit in my well water for my geo thermal heat pump .

Today with the help of my wifes cousin I pulled the pump and raised it up ten feet .Ran the thing about a half and hour while drinking beer under a tree and the water cleared up .So far so good. Hopefully this cures the problem .

 

[squisher]

Had an awesome day today. This morning I fell two trees in the cemetery and then topped out and fell a third. After that I went to a house who's been waiting to have a big cedar bush thing cut down and cleaned up. An older couple I had told them $80 bucks when we were done in fifteen minutes I told him make it $60 and take the grandkids I had seen around our for some ice cream.

Then I headed back into the big city and picked my chipper back up from the dealer and returned their demo. I then went to do one dead tree for our local school district and within 15 minutes of running, just enough to chip the dead tree, my chipper ran out of fuel! Back to the dealer and they helped me bleed it and I was on my way. I didn't think to check the fuel when I got it back but apparently they had put nearly six hours on my machine and drained the coolant four times in order to flush the oil out.

Oh vell I'm all back to normal now and the 1290 drum is returned. I'll be honest I wasn't very impressed with that drum compared to my 250xp.

 

[SkwerI]

Good deal on the chipper, Skwishey. Did they tell you what the problem was that caused the oil to get in the coolant?

 

[squisher]

It was the oil cooler leaking oil into the coolant. Brand new oil cooler and all seals installed. I'm quite impressed with my local dealer right now. They in no way owed me a demo yet I didn't miss a beat and had a very capable chipper to use for my down time. One week total downtime of chipper and no question/hassle on the warranty. All fresh oil, coolant, and filters and I'm good to go. The fuel thing was a bit of a piss off but really they did tell me they had run my chipper quite a bit, I should've checked. I never let my fuel run down much at all usually.

And they bled everything and got me back up and going with no charge.

 

[NeTree]

The 250xp is a classic for a reason.

 

[squisher]

As far as I can tell the most common complaints about the 250 come from running them dull. With sharp knives they feed easy and fast, no jams.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Got out to the job today and the Oak I was to take off the pump house was pretty much a pole saw whittle job. Cleaned up some other oaks that were broken or had just plain failed at the base. Then I remembered she had a Bull pine that needed to come down. Actually she has two but I had time for one. So we slayed it. Felt good to put the spurs on today

 

[Old Monkey]

As far as I can tell the most common complaints about the 250 come from running them dull. With sharp knives they feed easy and fast, no jams.

It depends on the type of material too. I loved the 250XP my old boss had but it did jam a bit.

Its good to hear you have your chipper back, I know how that feels. I wish my dealer was in this area or even in this state.