White pine top broken, why & how?????

[lman]

I've got about 700 white pine trees around here and they don't like ice storms. We got hit with ice last winter and had a real mess. Thankfully I have a grapple to clean up the mess. There's still a lot of broken limbs up in the trees.

 

[Diggin It]

They make throw weights and super light line for that. They're in arborist catalogs. Throwing up into a tree is harder than it seems like it'd be, especially if there is a lot of foliage. A friend who works as an arborist has the weights and line and also a big slingshot, which makes it a lot easier.

I've got an old archery fishing spool like this that I tape to an old Bear bow and shoot a line over things that I want a line over. It uses a heavy fiberglass arrow with a hole in the end.

Last time I tried that it wrapped around the branch. Both the line and branch are still up there.

Finally recalled the proper name: Messenger Line

Only if it has tin cans at both ends.

 

[BravoXray]

If you have fertilized the pine trees they will grow too fast and become quite weak.

I have never fertilized mine, but the soil is pretty good here, (was a corn field) and they have grown like weeds.

 

[cqaigy2]

Fir trees around here get their tips knocked off by crows, but not the tops like the OP's. I'd be afraid of a crow big enough to knock those tops over.

 

[Ford850]

My white pines that are in rows or not protected by a large block of trees get occasional wind damage. Sometimes it's large limbs or branches, but a few times I've lost at least the top third or half of the tree.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Fir trees around here get their tips knocked off by crows, but not the tops like the OP's. I'd be afraid of a crow big enough to knock those tops over.

We have lots of crows. I never thought of that since they're large but couldn't weigh over 2-3 pounds I'm guessing. We have seen over 50 congregate in one tree though.

 

[MossRoad]

Large crows weigh less than a pound and a half.

 

[CADplans]

I have a neighbor that is an arborist,, I watched him throw a line over a branch that was more than 50 feet in the air,,
He looked more like a professional baseball pitcher when he tossed that line weight.
I was amazed,,

BUT, at 30 or so feet,, I think I could get a starter line over the branch, then pull a heavier line up and over with the lighter line.

Heck, if all else fails, stand in the loader bucket when you throw,, that will get you part way there,,

It was amazing watching that arborist, with some rope,,
he dropped a 24" oak within inches of where he wanted it,, just due to tension on the rope, and a nice hinge cut.

 

[cqaigy2]

Yes a good feller is an artist with a chainsaw.

 

[MossRoad]

In my youth I had quite the arm for stuff like that. 30 years and a torn rotator cuff later, I'm just happy to be able to draw the bow back and shoot.