Overgrown Xmas Trees

[PaulT]

I have about 1600 christmas trees that were planted at various times over the last 15 years, spread over about 4 acres. I bought the property in 1995, and have only half-heartedly kept them up. Most of the trees are overgrown now, ranging in height from 12-30 feet. I have Norwegian Spruce, Blue Spruce and Scotch Pine. The rows are too close together to get my JD lawn tractor down.

My back deck overlooks a valley, and the Pines are threatening my view. I want to get them out of there before the grow TOO big. I still want to grow christmas trees, but fewer, so that I can keep up with them myself, without hiring a crew. My question is what should I do with the trees? Last year I pulled about 300 of them and piled them up. This took a solid week with 3 guys, and now I have no more space to pile them. In a thread from back in March called "Which is the best way to clear land", Billc said he was going to cut and sell the pines. I think Billc's profile says he lives in GA. Does anyone know how I would go about selling them in upstate NY? I think they are too small for pulp, but I really don't know. Could I sell them to a landscaper? Would the landscaper spade them out?

If they turn out to be difficult/impossible to sell, should I continue to pull them? It is much easier than cutting them with a chainsaw. Digging holes with my new Kubota 2710/backhoe seems like it wouldn't work, just becuase there are so many of them - their branches tend to make them pile up high. The hole(s) would need to be HUGE.

My first preference would be to get someone to take them away for $$, and grade the land when they were done. My second choice would be to have them removed and graded for an even trade, and my last choice is to do all of that work myself and then have to find somewhere to put the cut trees until I can burn them all (whew). What do you think, can I get some money for them? Some of them are "knarly", but most of them would really make nice mature landscape trees. Any suggestions would be helpful.

I've added a panoramic view from my back deck of my trees, so you can see why I want to keep the view. You folks from warmer climes might not recognize the white stuff on the ground/w3tcompact/icons/cool.gif!

Thanks,

PaulT

 

[s1120]

Paul,

Would it be possible to dig up some of the trees for transplantation? I have been looking for some large trees to use as a screen between our property and the neighbors. Their house and property is not too pretty! :^)

We are also located in upstate NY, Schenectady and our land is in Valatie. Where are you located in NY? If the price is right we could come and pick them up. Are they too big to survive transplanting?

Michele

PS - I got my own tractor on Saturday (Ingersoll) with a log splitter attached! Now Paul and I don't have to squabble over who gets to use the tractor. We can also both mow the lawn and do in half the time!

 

[scruffy]

Paul, I sure would be contacting some Landscaping firms, Nurserys, local Horticulturists, etc. I know I have seen Maples etc pruined to 30 foot height and transplanted to various properties as part of the landscaping done in new construction. They have even developed large equipment to take the trees out of the ground complete with rootball to load on flatbeds and relocate...
Best suggestion is to put out feelers before you throw away a cash crop!

 

[dmccarty]

Contact nurshrey's in a expensive market. And see what they would pay. I have seen some pretty large machinary used to scoop the root ball of the tree out of the ground. I have been looking at heavy equipment rental lately and I have not seen this kind of machinary for rent but you might want to look since I have not been looking for it.

You might be able to make some decent money on the trees but I would think it would be expensive to get the trees out of the ground and ship them. During my rental searches I have found heavy trucks for rent somewhat cheap. So if you knew a company wanted the trees you might be able to rent the equipment to get them out of the ground and transport them. Whether you can make money on it is a good question! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Suprisingly Hertz, the rental car company, rents heavy equipment. Their web site allows searches for local dealerships and their prices. They will give you an idea of the cost of rental trucks. Course I you really find a custormer and you can ship lots of trees, which you might have to do to recover the cost of the root ball machine, you might have to ship by semi. But then you really are going to need volume to make money.....

I would think fairly mature trees would be valuable near large cities....

If you can't get rid of them consider renting a large chipper. I'm looking but I have not found a local website that has prices. I know some of the local companies are renting the large chippers, ones that can handle up to 9 inches of wood. That might be better than burning depending on local regulations. At least you would get some mulch. But matches are cheap. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

How big are the stumps on the trees? I'm not familiar with your equipment but I have a JD 4700 with a JD 48 backhoe. I have taken out lots of stumps 100-200 at least. Must are in the 4-5 inch range and are usually real easy. I have to dig out the stumps since the trees have already been cut. I can push over 3-4 inch trees easily with the tractor. If I'm lucky the tree comes out with the root. Sometimes not and I have to dig with the hoe.

Its work anyway you look at it but its much easier letting the tractor to the work on smaller trees. Safer than using a chainsaw...

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty

 

[PaulT]

Michele,

Sorry for taking so long to respond. I am located in Vestal, NY, near Binghamton. Just a few hours drive down 88 for you. I would be interested in digging up whatever you would like for a very good price. I am trying to find someone locally with a tree spade that is the right size for the trees. Let me know what you want and I will make you an offer you can't refuse. As for the size, I have any size you might wish to get. I would think a good compromise for transplanting would be a tree about 8-10 ft tall. The price would depend on how many you would like to get.

PaulT

 

[kevincook]

Hi Paul,

I'm located in Tully, NY. I would be interested in buying some trees to transplant into my yard also. I have 4 acres of land and ONE tree! So depending on the price I may be interested in buying quite a few. Let me know if you find someone with a tree spade. I'll see if I can find one also.

Thanks,
Kevin

kevin_cook@albint.com

 

[kevincook]

Hi Paul,

I found a tree spade that I can rent at Thomson and Johnson (Bobcat Dealer) down near Binghamton. I also have a couple leads on other spades that I might be able to get. Have you had any luck? The rental cost is a little expensive, but maybe if we can find a couple people interested in trees we could share the cost of the rental. The Bobcat is available the week of May 14th which is probably a good time to get the trees transplanted. Let me know what you would like to do.

Thanks,
Kevin

 

[dmccarty]

Paul,

My paper had an article this past weekend about planting trees/shrubs. They talked with a contractor who said that the cost of planting a tree up to 4.5 inches in diameter was $375. What I can't remember is if that price included the tree. Kinda makes a difference! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif I searched the paper's website yesterday but could not find the article. I'll try to find it at home if I can. $375 for a 4.5 inch tree AND planting it seems real cheap to me.

Hope this helps...
Dan McCarty

 

[TomWAiken]

Paul,

I have the same problem! I've had several landscapers and nurseries out to look at the trees. They are about the same size as yours but they are Douglas Firs. Since the trees were not root pruned they felt the survival rate would be too low. They would have to take too big a ball to get enough roots. If the trees would have been root pruned, as they do for trees grown for transplant, the balls could be managable. Also the rocky soil isn't conducive to hold good balls together. The second problem was the trees weren't pruned each year and are somewhat lanky. The third problem was weeds, sticker bushes, vines and small saplings had grown up around and through them. I even offered them for free just to get ride of them. They said if I cleaned up around them they might be interested in a few of the better looking ones. They tagged some but never came back to get them (too much trouble I guess).

I think I'm going to have to cut them down to ground level and rent a large chipper like the tree services use. It's a big job, but every year I wait they're only getting bigger!

 

[scruffy]

Why not leave them grow and sell the timber down the road? Make a nice retirement nestegg.