Old Willow must go!

[Zick]

With help from my father in-law and a friend we took down my massive dieing willow about 1 1/2 yrs ago.
This things base was probably at least 6ft across if not more, it was huge.
Power company wouldn't do anything about it even though the branches were touching two lines and burning them clear off.
Had power lines to one side and my garage to the other, making it a difficult drop.
Luckily my father in-laws friend runs a crane business, so he just brought down his crane and we started at the top working our way down.

Wasn't too bad, except for that dang racoon that didn't want to leave his home!
Tried to get him to come out but he wouldn't budge. Finally we just cut that section off the tree and let him ride it down.


FYI: make sure you take the stump out, do the cuts on the side, or burn the outside. Almost 2 yrs later, the stump I have yet to take out keeps growing new branches like crazy! Last summer the stump (which was still about 5ft tall) was totally covered by branches. It looked like a huge willow bush, you couldn't even see the stump.

 

[megotatractor]

well, the tree guy wanted $500 just to lay it down. ouch. But I did wonder how to at least kill it. Thanks for the advice and will NOT try to lay it down myself. Yes, the upper branches that broke were hollow and there have been Coons and owls living in it. Right now best option is to just kill it.

 

[CurlyDave]

well, the tree guy wanted $500 just to lay it down. ouch. But I did wonder how to at least kill it. Thanks for the advice and will NOT try to lay it down myself. Yes, the upper branches that broke were hollow and there have been Coons and owls living in it. Right now best option is to just kill it.

1. Try a different tree guy.

2. If you kill it, it will sooner or later come down on its own and at its own time. This may be a lot more costly than $500. It may even produce injury or death.

 

[Oldtrout]

I'm moving my operation to Minnesota ,yesterday we cut 2 white spruce the largest was 3 feet dia. at the stump the other one only about a foot at the stump. Both trees were 10 feet from a house,we cut them down and hauled away the brush and wood, raked up the site, total bill 125 bucks.

I have cut many locust trees which like willow can be unstable,one method I used in the past was to bring in a C6 slidder with 100 feet of cable,we hooked the choker around the tree about 6 feet up and than taking a strain on the tree with the skidder than if a section of the tree wants to break away when cutting it the choker will hold it together.I'm not sure how safe it is however it has worked for us in the past,however we climb the tree first and remove any dead branches.

 

[4720 OWNER]

Maybe contact local basket weaving club and see if they have any contacts? Maybe get a basket out of it as an heirloom.

 

[EddieWalker]

I had a big pine that was right inside my property line that I needed to take out to run power to my place. If it fell the wrong way, it could have damaged a state highway. That was just too much risk for me, so I hired it out. I shoped around and got it done for $300.

Sometimes it's cheaper to hire it out.

Eddie

 

[megotatractor]

I had three different tree guys tell me from $500 to $1000 just to take the dang thing down, more to cut it up and remove it. $500 didn't even touch the 5 foot diameter trunk, that was just to take down the branches and leaving that 8 foot tall trunk!