limb removal

[BigD23]

oldhippy, my oh my you are really hit bad. I have been reading the news stories about the storm but your pics bring it into reality for me. Well you could so what my husband and I do and it sounds much worse that it really is. We prune 1,300 olive trees and as you can imagine we have it seems like acers of small branches. We simply take a big plastic 10' x 12' tarp we throw the branches ont he tarp and grab two corners and pull them up on our shoulder adn drag them to the burn pile. Like I said it sounds like a lot fo work but it is not bad at all. It does give me some good excercize. I suppose you could drag he tarp behind the tractor but we don't we jsut drag it. My husband mans the fire and I drag the tarps to him. You can ge a LOT done in one day and the investment is very low. Sure the tarps get ripped up but we still use them even ripped and when they are really bad just throw them away. We go though maybe two per year during prunning season.

Rox, I Love your idea bout the tarp.......Tallyho!

Don

 

[J_J]

Three possibles

Trailer with sides
Large old table turned upside down
CHIPPER

 

[hbarski]

Where in Clay are you? I am over in Randolph, north of Maynard. It is bad here too. I've got 80 acres to clean. Have you gotten power yet? I hear they are working on the substations near Corning. It looks like 4-6 weeks at least for us.

 

[oldhippy]

Drew are you the Drew who is in QA? I have a small place outside St Francis. I plan to retire 2010. I have a friend who lives outside Maynard named Rusty that was rasing chickens last time I talked to him. I don't know when we will get power but am thinking that it will be at least a month from now. I have the line down from house to meter pole and will have to get that reatached. When this is all over I am going to install a whole house generator. Between this and when Hurricane Ike I feel like I sould have one. big dan

 

[hbarski]

That is me........

 

[hbarski]

Those generac units sell for around $3,000 for a 12K automatic generator (LP) with automatic transfer switch. Counting on Clay County Electric to always be there makes that a real sound investment.

 

[FrogLick]

He could have very easly removed the wrong limb.

I've got logging chaps on the way. May not solve my stupidity or keep me from making a mistake, but they may help prevent more serious cuts. Staying off of a metal roof with a chain saw would be a good idea too!

 

[oldhippy]

I am going to get one of the 17KW generac generator so that I can run the air when the power goes down in the summer time. big dan

 

[witterbound]

I've been picking up branches like this with my forks. I don't have a grapple, just forks, but darn are they good for picking up branches and taking them to the burn pile. We weren't hit too hard near Huntsville, but the power's still off down there.

 

[sld]

I sure feel for you guys with all the tree damage and lack of power. It'll make you stronger in the end.

Like was said before, most of the trees will heal.

I have noticed here in Kansas the first ice storm in a while is bad. Lots of cleanup and such. But when you get another the next year or 2 it is not as bad. Kind of nature's way of pruning the weak parts of the trees.

Wish you all the best.

 

[dillo99]

We had a bad ice storm like that about a year after moving to our new property. I didn't have the tractor back then so I used a chain saw and literally dragged stuff by hand. Took me forever. Sid is right - most of the trees will heal themselves pretty well and the funny lopsided look goes away!

 

[yeagisyeag]

Hey rox, Your post got me thinking.....
I use apple and cherry tree trimmings to add flavor while smoking pork loins or shoulder (for pulled pork, yum!) and now I wonder what kind of flavor olive wood would give.......

Now I'm hungry again!

Jim

We prune 1,300 olive trees and as you can imagine we have it seems like acers of small branches.

 

[oldhippy]

Jim I googled olive wood grilling and found several people selling olive wood for smoking. Made me want to eat something so I fired up the grill and had some burgers. Now it is a gas grill (I like the taste of propane) but it still was good. Might have to try some of the olive wood. big dan

 

[rox]

Hey rox, Your post got me thinking.....
I use apple and cherry tree trimmings to add flavor while smoking pork loins or shoulder (for pulled pork, yum!) and now I wonder what kind of flavor olive wood would give.......

Now I'm hungry again!

Jim

Hmmm I wonder also. Olive wood burns very very hot, much hotter than any oaks we have burned, but it burns up very fast. I am thinking that apple and cherry would provide a better flavor than olive wood. I may be wrong but that is what I'm thinking.

 

[CurlyDave]

Now that I have had a chance to think about this for a week, why wouldn't a chainsaw work to get the limbs into manageable sizes and then back a pickup truck up to them?

If the ground is frozen under that much snow & ice it shouldn't cause ruts.