moots Oak Trees

[moot]

Hi Y'all, I'm Rick in S. central Texas. This is my last year as a 61 year old worker bee. My homestead is ready for habitation and for the rest of my woodworking career I plan on doing it right here.
When I was young I worked as a cable tv- telephone lineman and hit about 30 poles a day Monday thru Friday so I have a little tree climbing experience, hell everyone on our 3 man crew could climb with hooks, throw a rope and clmb up a lay up stick.
This was 40 years ago and I won't be climbing a stick ever again but I can still throw a rope and am anxious to get up in all six of my oak trees and clean them up.
I had a bough break of abou 6 weeks back and that told me we had better get serious about pruning our trees. They overhang the driveway and parking spot, nursury area and power drop.
So, I'm going to post up my trees as I do them up and welcome all y'all to tag along... any advice would be welcome but understand I'm new to ropes and need to keep things easy and simple.
I own a great little stihl 193 t but I'm not ready to fell big chunks or chainsaw of a rope.
Tomarrow I will trim suckers of this tree, prolly spend two hours
on it. I'll give an update and maybe show Y'all the large branch that fell a bit ago
Be good, Rick

 

[SkwerI]

Welcome, Rick. Kind of a late start, but more power to you! I'm almost your age and my climbing days are all behind me. I did pretty good for many years but God didn't bless me with the strength or endurance to continue climbing in my late 50's.

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Hey Rick. Welcome.
The gear and techniques got better for us older dudes and dudettes. Helps let us climber longer into our years.

 

[gf beranek]

Nice Oak! A beauty.

Welcome

 

[Tree09]

Welcome man, looks like beautiful trees. First, i would check with the guys here about doing it in winter, i think there's less chance with oak wilt that way. Sterile your tools too, and no spikes since you aren't removing them.

 

[moot]

Thanks for looking in all, so let me begain wih my story that begains my climbing journey.
I left my homestead to go do my wage earnings on Galveston island where I rent. I rember waking up from a bad dream about my home getting wrecked by storm in my absence. This was around the first of June...June 6th actually.
In this dream I returned home and thing wern't looking right so I wander around checking stuff and see debris everywhere. Puzzled as to where it all came from, I notice an easternly facing porch that we dont have and some other odd things but all at once I see the roof is stripped to the rafters.
Scenes change and my wife is on the porch with tis cheminea burning that my Galveston neighbor actually gave me

I remember looking up and noticing my tree was on fire and no way to get to it to put it out. This is when I woke in a panic, freaking out bad.
Next day I'm on to my bussiness not thinking much about it but that it was a weird, bad dream.
Fast forward to Friday, June 10th I arrive at my place and wander around, checking on things and think "All's well" and Then...
My aloe veras and cactus pups were on the ground. I had them on some shelf I attached to my fence I had built last spring. Blaming the neighbors stray catsI pic them up and see what had actually happened.
A 13"diameter bough had snapped in a windstorm, It's been crazy windy here since February. the really thing that freaked me out was the Chimenia...Right under the brach that broke. Y'all can see it in the last pic bottom right.

No amount of trimming would have stopped this big branch from coming down but maybe stripping some of the suckers on with help with the windage.
So this is why I got some ropes and decided to clean my trees a bit. Suckers and deadwood are about all I'm after.
Hope y'all like my little story as I should be outside working before it gets in the triple diggies.
Enjoy the day, Rick

 

[SeanKroll]

 

[moot]

Deep in the heart of Texas...lol
Yeah, I'm right there in the thick of it. So, any kind of trimming is bad in the summer? I did a little yesterday in the tree that broke but I can wait awhile if thats advised. all I really want to do now is climb around in them and get comfy in the saddle. Something like ascend and decend a few different ways and maybe redirect and figure out a lanyard. I can wait to cut stuff.
I'll do some research on oak wilt while its hot. Midday is crazy hot right now.I have some shelves to build and then swim time.
Be good,r

 

[Tree09]

Yeah, you have to do it at certain times of the year because the bugs that carry it can spread it. They are attracted to the freshly cut wood, and that's how it spreads. You need to be sure to clean your tools with alcohol or something so that you don't accidentally spread it too. I've seen how fast it works, you don't want it!

 

[lxskllr]

From a MD page...

We have received numerous inquiries about oak trees declining and dying in recent years. Residents often want to know if this is caused by oak wilt. Importantly, oak wilt is not known to occur widely in Maryland. Two common leaf diseases of oaks in Maryland are oak anthracnose and bacterial leaf scorch of oak.

Is there a way an amateur can do a postmortem on a dead oak to determine cause of death?

 

[moot]

I boarded an old spanish tall ship named the Galion. On this ship was a plaque that read "He who goes to sea for folly either suffers from lunacy or idiocy"
This is true as offshore is serious business. Seems the same for climbing trees.
Since trimming for a trees well being is out of season, I decided not to do any work at the homestead but I had already placed a line in the crown of this big old tree. I couldn't help myself but to do a rec. climb before I took the throw line down.
If y'all don't mind, Please check my tether and critique it. I feel good about it and trust it but let me know if you guys would climb of it.
It' a double Alpine Butterfly in the bight, one wrap and captured with a biner. Look OK ? I'm not going to climb anymore untill the seasons change. If I can't clean up there's not really any reason to go messing around except its fun, I'm kinda old tho so to climb for fun seems... IDK crazy?
Yall be good, Rick

 

[lxskllr]

Looks reasonable. It's not how I do it, but it looks secure. Regarding climbing just to climb... Fitness is best accomplished doing things you want to do rather than doing work just to be fit. If you want to climb trees, you should climb trees. Moving is good for you, and climbing is a good way to move.

 

[Bart]

My post just got nuked - short version: big spreading tree = hammock aloft - stay tied in while you lay down.

 

[Eric H-L]

Welcome Rick, I second what others say about rec climbing good for the my body and soul. I am 61 and I am a recreational climber so I do tend to avoid climbing when the temperatures are too hot or too cold. Are you using friction hitches to climb up a single line like crevasse self rescue? I started that way. I looked and looked, now I see the Alpine Butterfly. It’s probably a safe base anchor. It would be safer with some arrangement that made it tighter on the stem.

 

[Eric H-L]

Some of the schemes for lower-off basal anchors get overly complicated but I think the arrangement of the friction hitch to tighten it is smart. A simple choking anchor would tighten. Maybe with a rated metal connector to eliminate textile on textile friction.

 

[SeanKroll]

I never use a belay/ friction device.

A couple trunk wraps and a tie-off, or a trunk choke with a butterfly knot above the choke in case it needs another rope attached, and the choking base- tie cut.

Haven't done a basal- lowering ever.

 

[moot]

Thanks for the comments everyone. @Eric H-L ...nice to hear that you climb for fun at 61. @Bart a hammock would be nice, I might put some thought into that.
Here's three more of my trees that will get cleaned up this fall, there's a total of six all with some deadwood and needing thined out. I will probibly thin first then work on the deadwood.

 

[lxskllr]

Nice group of trees there.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

I will probibly thin first then work on the deadwood.

I like to do it the other way, dead wood then thinning. It can be done sector by sector tought.
I find that the deadwood messes up the picture. The crown's aspect can change a lot just by clean it up first, like balance, architecture, redoundant limbs (or lack of), wisual density of the wood, probable new growth... . There's often this lateral limb which you want to preserve to continue the growth after cutting a tip, to discover after that this lateral is dead and you are left with a stupid stud. Or your selected limb for the futur has a nasty point at the junction with a dead part, too bad that you have already cut the neighbouring limbs. Same process with the brohen or splited limbs : take it out first to see what's left and valuable before thinning the surrounding.

 

[stig]

Haven't done a basal- lowering ever.

I have.
When we have a prospective apprentice in for an interview, that interview takes place in the top of a 140 year old forest beech.
Means SRT up 100 feet.
That sorts the wheat from the chaff, pronto.

We always set a system up, so we can lower them if they start crying and calling for their mom.

Only had to use it once.

The wannabe arborist made it 15 feet up, then just hung there like an over ripe plum.

So I asked him if he wanted me to lower him down.
"What happens if I say yes?"

"You get a kick in the ass and get sent home to mom, what did you think would happen?"

Looooong pause......................:"I'd like to come down."

An arborist career nipped in the bud.

 

[SeanKroll]

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to cry for mama. Pretty sure. Over 30 years since I've first climbed rocks on a rope. I've definitely lowered off my share of rock climbs. Free climbing rocks on a rope is a lot different than direct-aid climbing of a rope in a tree.



@moot why do you want to thin them? What makes you think that is the correct prescription for them?

 

[moot]

Hey @SeanKroll , truthfully the one by the road is the only one that I think needs cleaning up.The other two look pretty good but theres some dead branches.
The one by the road has a ton of sucker branches and so do the three around the side of house. All have dead branches that should be addressed along with straggly growth where the branches meet the trunk. I promise to be carefull not to butcher anyone.

 

[Bermy]

The one by the road has a ton of sucker branches...might want to investigate why. That, combined with the deadwood could indicate a health issue.

 

[moot]

Hey Bermy, in the past ten - twelve years theres been a water main replaced, severe draught then recently three very wet spring seasons and now back to draught.Oh and a couple of years with a major water leak under the canopy of the tree by the road.the city finnally fixed the leak in 2020
I would imagine that there is some stress going on.

My neighbors around the corner lost a very large oak to a tornado that ripped thru here. That tree had a 6' diameter trunk and took out the outbuilding where all their stuff was stashed. Completely uprooted.

Once it cools a bit I'm going to get a light fertilizer and put on the drip lines of these and water some. I hope it will help with general health as the field has not had animals in it for a few years now. Most trees in the region look pretty good as far as overal health goes, Mine seem about the same as most here. They just need some light pruning.

 

[Bermy]

Interesting background info, explains a lot.