c/arborists

Drew maps by hand for 10 years, now I trace on a tablet in the truck

Started climbing in 2009 and every big removal meant sitting at the kitchen table with graph paper, pacing out the yard on foot, and sketching each branch by pencil. Took me two hours for a decent plan, and if the homeowner changed one thing, I started over. Last spring I finally got a cheap tablet and now I pull up the satellite view, trace the canopy, and mark my rigging points in about 20 minutes. The funny thing is my hand-drawn plans were never that accurate anyway, I just liked the ritual. Anyone else switch to digital mapping and find the old way was more habit than help?

I used to mock tree risk assessments until a failed limb in Spokane

For years I figured tree risk assessments were just extra paperwork for guys who like clipboards. Then last March a 40 foot branch dropped clean off a healthy looking maple in Spokane and took out a fence and a shed corner. The tree had full canopy and no visible rot, but the assessment flagged a narrow fork union I would have shrugged at. Turns out the internal crack was way worse than the bark showed. I still keep it simple in the field, but now I actually look for those subtle compression ridges before I tell a homeowner it's fine. Anyone else changed their stance on formal risk training after a near miss?

My mentor in Portland was right about girdling roots, I owe him an apology

He told me eight years ago that those nursery trees with roots circling the pot would strangle themselves by year five, and I figured he was just being dramatic. Just cut down a 12-foot maple that did exactly that, the root had wrapped around the trunk like a python, and now I tell every client to slice the root ball before planting. Anyone else have a senior arborist give you advice that you ignored and paid for later?

That 40 foot elm in Omaha took 11 hours and two chainsaws

Last Thursday. The tree was healthy but wedged between a garage and a power line. Ground crew kept snagging the rigging rope on a fence spike. I burned through a full tank of oil and snapped a chain on a buried bolt in the trunk. By hour 9 the homeowner came out and said "you guys still here?" I wanted to hand him the wedge and say take over. Has anyone else had a job where every single cut fights back? What do you do when the tree itself seems to be against you?

The $70 Silva compass that sat in my truck for a year before I used it

Finally had a big enough job up in the PNW where my phone died and the fog rolled in hard. I dug out that compass I bought for a mapping course and it saved my layout on a 40 acre parcel. Thing is, I almost never carry it because my phone is usually fine. That day it paid for itself twice over, but I still wonder if I should spend more on a proper sighting compass for the bigger contracts. Anyone else keep a backup navigation tool that only comes out once in a blue moon, or am I the only one who buys gear just for peace of mind?

The day I stopped hating pole saws, it took a 40 foot oak

I spent 6 years badmouthing pole saws, thought they were only for trimming hedges or lazy guys who couldnt climb. Last Tuesday my bucket truck broke down and I had to deadwood a big oak over a shed with a manual pole saw. By the third hour my arms were shot, but I realized I could see every cut from the ground without guessing up top. Now I carry one on every job just for quick cleanup strokes, if you climb a lot, ever find yourself reaching for the pole more than the spikes?

Unpopular opinion: that $300 pruning tool was a total waste for me

I mean, everyone raves about those fancy compound bypass pruners with the rotating handles. I bought one last spring after three different arborists on here swore by it. Cost me $300 and honestly my old $40 pair from the hardware store does the same job. The fancy one actually pinches on thicker deadwood, which is the one thing I need it for. Maybe it's just my grip or technique, but I feel like I got sold on hype. Anyone else tried a high end pruner and gone back to the cheap stuff?

Vent: I spent 8 years tying my climbing line wrong and a hired hand pointed it out in 30 seconds

I used to always do a standard bowline on the bight for my canopy tie, then last spring a seasonal guy from Oregon looked at my knot and said, "you know that slips sideways under a shock load, right," and after testing it on a 40 foot red oak, I switched to a double figure eight and never looked back, has anyone else had a simple correction like that completely change their rigging setup?

That $300 tree wrap I bought for winter burn, total waste of cash

Bought this fancy white tree wrap at a supply shop near Portland back in October. They sold me on it protecting maples from sun scald. Wrapped up 12 young trees, spent 2 full days doing it right. Come spring, 4 of them still got bark damage and one died outright. The stuff held moisture against the trunk all winter, did more harm than good. My old man never wrapped anything and his trees did fine. Who else is done with tree wrap and just using paint or nothing at all?

Manual boring bar vs hydraulic auger on a tight removal, I know which one I'm using now

We had a 40 foot silver maple in a backyard so tight the bucket truck could barely reach, and the root ball sat right against a buried gas line. I spent 6 hours with the manual bar fighting clay and rocks, then rented a hydraulic auger for $150 and finished the hole in 40 minutes. Has anyone else made the switch for confined digs, or do you stick with hand tools for the control?

Climbing spikes on removals, I finally gave them up after 20 years

Back in the early 2000s I used spikes on every removal, even when I was just taking down limbs over a house. A homeowner in Tacoma watched me spike up a healthy maple and told me, 'You're putting more scars on that tree than the saw makes.' I brushed it off then, but after I saw a customer's prized oak get infected at the spike holes a few months later, I switched to buck straps and a foot ascender for all pruning and light removals. Now I only spike when the tree is coming down whole or the bark is already dead. Anyone else make the switch late in their career and had to relearn their climb style?

Took me 6 days to find a hollow trunk on a healthy looking maple

Had a job in Akron where the tree looked fine from the ground, full canopy and no visible rot, but the homeowner said it sounded weird when it rained. I tapped around with a mallet for two days before I finally drilled a test hole near the base and it went through like butter. Said tree had a cavity big enough to stand in, so my question is this: do you guys trust sounding hammers or do you just drill every suspect trunk before you climb?

My climb line got way safer after I dumped the fancy rope in Des Moines last month

That $300 static line everyone raves about had me fighting half hitches all morning, so I switched back to my old 11mm polyester and finished my crown reduction in 3 hours flat, has anyone else found that the pricey stuff just makes simple work slower?

One storm call in Austin turned into a 14-hour day and I still think about it

We showed up thinking it was just a broken limb over a garage but the whole crown was split down the middle with power lines tangled in it, and after we got the crane in and the utility guys finally showed I had to tell the homeowner the quote was $2,400 more than her insurance adjuster wrote, has anyone else had a simple job spiral like that?

One storm removal in Tulsa made me rethink my whole climbing setup

Last month we had a 60 foot oak come down across a fence line, and my trusty old lanyard kept slipping on the wet bark, took me almost an hour just to get positioned. Swapped to a rope wrench mid-job after a buddy handed me his, and I finished the whole takedown before lunch. Anyone else made the switch and never looked back?

Vent: one perfect pruning day in June, then a week of storm cleanup made me question everything

Had a 6-hour maple reduction go flawless on a Tuesday in Portland, then a microburst took down 14 pines near Beaverton and my whole week turned into climbing deadwood in 90 degree heat, so does anyone else find the calm days almost harder to trust than the chaos?

Stump grinding mishap in a tight backyard taught me a lesson

Last month I took a job grinding out a big oak stump in a backyard in Portland, only about 12 feet from the house. The yard was narrow and I had my 2520 grinder backed in, but I got careless and the cutting wheel grabbed a buried root that I didn't see. It kicked the machine sideways and I slammed the skid into a brick planter, cracking two pavers and scaring the homeowner half to death. I stopped right away, checked the machine was still good, then spent an hour hand-digging around the whole stump to map out every hidden root before I touched it again. Worked out okay in the end, but I had to offer the homeowner a discount on the job to keep them happy. Any of you run into surprise roots that yank the grinder around, and how do you check for them before you start?

The stump grinder rental that almost cost me a finger in Denver

Last Thursday I rented a 35hp grinder from the local equipment place to take out a big cottonwood stump in a tight backyard near Colfax. The guy warned me about kickback but I figured I'd done it before, then the wheel caught a root and the whole machine lurched sideways into the fence. I got lucky, just a bruised hand and a busted gate, but the rental place charged me $700 for the damage and now I'm second guessing whether I should just sub out big stumps instead of DIY. Has anyone else had a close call with a rental that made you change how you bid those jobs?

Rope got pinched in the crotch and my lowering line near took my head off

Working a big red oak in a backyard off Prospect Ave last month, I set my lowering line through a high crotch without checking for a hidden rubbing branch. When the piece dropped, the rope pulled sideways and yanked the whole setup, barely missing me as it recoiled. I stopped right there, put a second point of contact on the rigging line, and now I always run a quick hand test on any crotch before I trust it. Anyone else had a close call from a pinched line that taught them to inspect the whole path, not just the anchor?

Spent $350 on a stump grinder attachment, should have rented instead

Bought a used stump grinder attachment for my skid steer back in April thinking it would pay off with all the removals I do. First job it bogged down hard on a big maple stump and took me three hours, way longer than the rental would have. The teeth wore out fast and replacements cost another $120, so that savings math went out the window. I'm curious if anyone else has had better luck with these things, or is renting the smarter play for occasional stump work?

The rope trick that cut my removal time in half

Been climbing for over 20 years and I still picked up something new from a younger guy last spring in Fort Collins. We had this big dead cottonwood with a tight drop zone, and he showed me how to set a false crotch with a pulley saver plus a secondary line to control the swing. First take down with that setup was about 3 hours compared to the 6 I usually budgeted for that tree. Has anyone else found that adding that second rigging point makes that much difference on leaners?

Craning up a 60 foot maple when I noticed my rigging line was shot

Last month in Rochester we were lifting a big red maple off a house roof. I grabbed my 3/4 inch line, gave it the usual tug, and it felt fine. But when we tensioned up for the first pick, I spotted this tiny flat spot near the eye splice. I ran my glove over it and felt the core was mush. I flipped my whole lift plan right there and rigged it through a block with a backup sling. That line had been in service for 8 years and I never once thought to check inside the cover. Has anyone else caught a line failure before it let go, or am I the only one who was trusting rope that long? What's your regular check routine for splice integrity?

Unpopular opinion: stop recommending tree paint on every pruning cut

I heard a guy at the local supply shop in Portland tell a homeowner they had to paint every oak cut to prevent oak wilt. That just aint true for most situations. Ive been doing this 12 years and tree paint can actually trap moisture and rot behind it. The only time I use anything is for oaks in high risk zones during active wilt season, and even then I keep it thin. Pruning cuts seal on their own if you make clean cuts at the right time. Has anyone else stopped using paint altogether unless its truly needed?

Debate: To overhead crane or not on a big removal job?

Had a chat with an old timer named Dave at the supply yard last Tuesday after grabbing a new Silky saw. He said he never uses an overhead crane for removals over backyards, says it's all about rope work and knowing your angles. I get that, but I just did a 70-foot white oak in a tight spot in Portland last month and the crane made it feel almost easy. He argued that cranes make you lazy and you lose the feel for the tree's weight and movement. Now I'm second-guessing my whole approach, wondering if I'm relying too much on the machine. What do you all think, is the crane a cheat code or just a tool in the box? Has anyone else had a veteran talk you out of using equipment you thought was fine?

Appreciation post: That old arborist who showed me how to read a tree's lean in 5 seconds flat