WAS: Best Variety of Eucalyptus NOW: removing large trees

Well, Charles, after this story, I must say you are a remarkable man.  I
hate to go all sexist here, but at "only" 47 I am at best a rather willowy
woman, as my brother Kurt once described me.  I am not in the least afraid
of heights, and have been known to climb up into trees to prune with a
sawz-all equipped with a wood blade (God, I love power tools), which has
saved my chronic shoulder pain further irritation.  HOWEVER, I am not about
to climb 20 feet or more up into a brittle tree with a handsaw to cut 6 or
8" trunks without a harness and training!  I know my limits, and while my
husband is handy, he is also clumsy enough on the ground to preclude me
wanting him up a tree with sharpened implements. (He once nailed his first
two fingers together with a hydraulic nail gun!)  Unfortunately, the tree I
was talking about is really more like 30 feet tall with two separate lead
branches (the one, remember, is somewhat balancing the top of the tree) and
few very sturdy side branches, which is rather typical of Eucs. It has also
attained a girth about 12" or more at breast height.  To complicate matters,
there are 3 Geijera parviflora in a row just 6 or 7 feet to the south-east,
a fence with a 6' or 7' drop to the south, the neighbors' roof down the same
drop about 12' to the west, the pool pump set-up and a temporary shelter
housing 6 or 7 of my husbands motorcycles to the north-west (also down about
a 4' drop beginning just 4' away), my own deck roof to the north just 10' or
so away, and the pool itself to the east about 10' away!  It's a removal
nightmare and an accident waiting to happen simultaneously.  I really do
think it's time to consult a professional.  Some things really are worth
paying for!

Karrie Reid
Folsom Foothill Gardener
Zone 9

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles Dills [c*@mac.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 10:45 AM
To: pkssreid@comcast.net
Cc: 'david feix'; mtnstar@ocsnet.net; medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
Subject: Re: Best Variety of Eucalyptus or some other fast growing evergreen
tree ?

	Take it down yourself. Take a ladder, wedge it into the tree, go up

with a brand new bow saw and start taking out the branches. Do not  
use a chain saw! I start from below and work up. I finally have a pole.

	I cut the pole off about ten feet up. I have a long log chain which

I attach toward the top of the "pole". I use a "come-along" and then  
another piece of chain around the base of a reasonably large tree.  
Put it as low as you can! Pad this so you don't damage this tree.

	Dig around the base of the tree you're removing and cut the roots on

three sides, leaving the roots on the side toward the come-along.  
They will act as a fulcrum and help remove the root.

	Put pressure on it with the come-along and have someone watching at

the roots. When the ground "heaves" as you pump, it shows you where  
there is an uncut root. Cut it and continue pumping. It will  
eventually come out root and all.

	I took down a large Monterey for a friend this way. I also took down

a mature Eucalyptus. This time I trimmed from the bottom up leaving  
stubs so I could climb. I secured myself with a rope. When I had good- 
sized branches higher in the tree I put a rope outside of where I was  
going to cut so I could lower the branch safely without damaging the  
fruit trees he had below. I took the trunk down the same way, in  
pieces with a rope. It had a wonderful branched habit about 8-10 feet  
from the ground. I trimmed them off level, hoping he would use it for  
a tree house. (I don't think he did!  Boo-ho!)

	I had a LARGE mature (25 years) poplar tree which had to go. I hired

some student help. But like most people under thirty, they could only  
hear their own voice. They cut ALL the roots! I thought this was  
going to kill me. I didn't have the fulcrum of the near roots so I  
was left to pulling it out of the ground like a carrot. I wound up  
putting two come-alongs on it. I thoroughly watered the hole.

	I think it took me two weeks to get it out, water at night, one  
notch on each come along each day. But I finally got it out. It was a  
dense root ball 4-5 feet in diameter. I hired a truck to haul it  
away. With both of us pushing we could not budge it. So I hooked up  
the log chain and come alongs again and dragged it about 60-80 feet  
to the front yard and up into the truck!

	Whew! That was a job. But I was a lot younger then, only about  
55-60. I would not try it now that I'm 85!

	But I bet you could do it!

	I'll come down and help if you have some young ones to do the work  
and a good chair for me!

	Do it NOW. It will only get BIGGER and harder to do!
---Chas---
========================================

> I have E. nicholii in my back, and I don't know if I would suggest  
> it for
> two reasons.  It really isn't dense enough to make a good screen  
> (which is
> why we planted it in one place), but perhaps more importantly, it  
> is really
> bent in the wind where we planted it away from a fence.  I wish I had
> planted mine at a 15 degree angle into the wind, because now that  
> it is 25
> feet tall only 9 years later, the reaction wood doesn't seem to  
> keep up with
> growth and it leans and appears to be cracking in the bark where it  
> bends
> with the stress.  It has put on a lot of top growth which appears  
> to try to
> balance the weight of the tree, but I swear, we hold our breath  
> sometimes
> wondering if a good strong wind is going to take it down on top of  
> our pool
> pump!
> P.S. I know this probably means we should hire it removed, but like  
> all
> parents, we keep hoping it will show signs of getting stronger.
> Karrie Reid
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: david feix [d*@yahoo.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 9:45 AM
> To: pkssreid@comcast.net; mtnstar@ocsnet.net; medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
> Subject: RE: Best Variety of Eucalyptus or some other fast growing  
> evergreen
> tree ?
>
> Some of the suggest species such as E. ficifolia are
> not hardy enough to use in inland valley/northern
> California conditions.  There are plenty of medium
> sized Eucs(30 to 50 foot tall) that might fit the
> bill, with E. nicholii, E. sideroxylon perhaps tow of
> them, or E. polyanthemos.  E. globulus v. compacta is
> also much seen in older plantings here in the SF Bay
> Area for windbreaks, but is not the most attractive
> species in my mind.  Acacia baileyana, A. melanoxylon
> or A. longifolia might also serve your purposes, and
> are all relatively drought and heat tolerant.
>
> Almost any bamboo will probably need much more water
> than you would care to give it in a hot, dry exposure.
>
>
> --- Reidfamily <pkssreid@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> Linda:
>>
>> The only note of caution here is that ANY tree that
>> is fast growing will
>> have brittle wood.  That is the nature of wood.
>>
>> Karrie Reid
>>
>> Folsom Foothill Gardener
>>
>> Zone 9
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>> [o*@ucdavis.edu]
>> On Behalf Of Linda - The Lavender Lady
>> Sent: Monday, July 23, 2007 12:43 PM
>> To: medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
>> Subject: Best Variety of Eucalyptus or some other
>> fast growing evergreen
>> tree ?
>>
>>
>>
>> I have an area along a fence line that is hot and
>> dry and I would like to
>> plant a row of eucalyptus to block some road noise
>> and the neighbors that
>> may soon be there.  Is there a variety of eucalyptus
>> that doesn't get overly
>> tall but more shrubby say 25 feet tall or so?  We
>> get quite a bit of high
>> winds here and I don't want to get some really tall
>> ones and have them snap
>> off - although the people across the highway have
>> some tall eucalyptus and
>> they have done ok.  I just think in my area of oak
>> savannah a shorter
>> stature tree would fit in better.  I even thought
>> about olive, but they
>> sucker so much and it would be hard to weed eat
>> around them.  Perhaps there
>> is something else I can plant that grows fast and
>> will fit in that area?
>> The fence line goes down from our house so the trees
>> have to grow somewhat
>> tall to block the view from above.
>>
>>
>>
>> Any ideas?  thanks
>>
>>
>>
>> Linda Starr
>>
>> Springville Lavender Gardens
>>
>>
>
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