Truck VS Tree

[Anonymous Poster]

Wal,
I wish I had your problem (too many oak trees) /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif. There is a housing development near my place named "Oak Valley" that the developers cut and burned dozens on 100+ year old oaks to make room for the houses. The only oak they left behind was the one by the enterance.

The asinine part is that every homeowner must plant one tree on their lot within 5 years of completing their house.

 

[TerryinMD]

Developers and clear cutting - perfect sense. Plus the new home owners have to plant new trees. Good idea!!

Of course, the development is probably high density which caused the oak trees demise.

Progress!!!

 

[Wal]

pitbullMidwest,

Its kind of ironic, the name of that subdivision your talking about, "Oak Valley". My property is a five acre plot of land along with seven other five acre plots of land that all together is known as "Valley Oaks" /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif
Attached is a picture I took this spring before all the leaves were out. This is a view looking north in the least densely forested part. The land has a moderate slope down from the north to the south, so this view would be looking "up". In two or three years we plan on building a ranch style house with a walkout basement facing the south downslope. Big old deck off the back about ten feet off the ground so I can survey my domain while sipping mint juleps . . . . . . oops! Sorry /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif I was gone but I'm back now. Sometimes when I think about our plans I kind of . . . . .well, you know, daydream.

Wal

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Wal,

My wife's grandfather was a dairy farmer so most of the farm is pasture land with only a few stands of timber. When grandma sold us our piece of property she offered us the north pasture and the timber stand that borders it. We had plans to build just inside the timber line with a walkout and deck over looking a stream that runs through the timber. That is before the city/county engineer got involved.

The farm bourders the local airport and the engineer decided this would be a good way to get a new topograghical survey of the stream so they could determine runoff errosion from the runways. The last survey was done in the 1960's at city expense. We were told that in order to get our plat through the planning committee we would have to pay for the survey, with measurements every 6' along the length of the stream.

We said kiss our @#%$ and decided not to buy the timber, just the pasture land. Since its all part of the family farm we still get to use it to mushroom hunt and my kids play in the stream. But the thought of sitting out on the deck......

PitbullMidwest

 

[Wal]

PitbullMidwest,

So did you build on the pasture land? Does Granma still own the timber land? If so, could SHE (alias you) build a house on her own property without getting a new survey?

Wal

 

[Tdog]

Wal,

Sorry your 1st attempt did not succeed. I say again that my wife & I have taken down oaks, holly trees and gum trees larger than 6" diam. You do have to dig a bit to get at the roots. Our soil is mostly clay so it can be tough going. I keep a sharp ax & my wife helps dig. When we've got the tree down, there is a crater left, that can be a couple of feet deep. As I said, a come along attached by chain to a nearby tree will usually do the trick once the roototomy is performed.

Nothing a tractor & backhoe wouldn't solve. Sure would have saved many blisters & much time.

 

[johnjc]

Pulling a tree over takes quite a lot of power. You need to use leverage to help pull it out.
Say your truck can pull 1000 lb. If you hook your chain 3 foot above the root ball
you are applying 3000 foot lb of torque to the root ball.
If you use a long chain say 200 foot and connect it to the top of the tree say 21 foot up
you will apply 21,000 foot pounds of torque to the root ball with the same pull.
The long chain help prevent lifting the rear of the truck and keeps the tree from
falling on you.
John

 

[Wal]

johnjc,

A 200ft. chain positioned 21 feet up the tree. /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif My 10ft. logging chain weighs at least 20lbs, so, lets see here, according to my cal-cu-la-tions a 200 ft. chain would weigh just about 400 lbs. Drag that sucker 21 ft up a ladder and wrap it around the tree . . . . . nah, I think I'll just call the pros and watch them do it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif Just inherently lazy I guess.

Wal

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Sorry to hear you couldn't pull them out. Before you "call the professionals" you might want to consider renting a backhoe. It might be cheaper and would sure be a lot more fun! Even if you've never operated one, the rental place can show you the basics. Just a thought.

 

[beenthere]

Just carry one end of the chain up the tree, and it will only be about 42 pounds. (Hee Hee). Been there too.