Got a giant oak tree hacked back

[Jess from VA]

I've wanted to get this done for years, but it's expensive (and my default is always frugal).

With fall leaves and 4 oaks that may be 100yo on my 3rd acre corner lot, I decided it was time.  And, this is a "mast year" where acorn producing oaks may drop 10,000 each when usual production is only 2,000 (not a bad idea to wear a hard hat in my back yard when they are falling from 70 feet or more).

I have a new neighbor and friend who bought an old home a few doors down and put it through a spectacular renovation (he owns his own construction company, and does this for his living).  He had a crew taking down two old oaks on his property and I watched them work one day, so I hired the same crew.

All (legal) Guatemalans and they work like a well oiled machine.  The owner (climber) and his brother (ground rigger) look like they're 18yo, but are both late 20's, and speak decent English (not one ounce of fat on either of them either).

That giant white oak in my front yard may have been the largest tree in the whole neighborhood, maybe 80 yards tall and wide canopy.  And a tremendous fall leaf cleanup every year. 

The owner/climber was an artist (they used no crane, all free climb and rigging), and he (and the crew) worked almost all day without a break.  I was so happy with the good work, I offered to take the crew to lunch or take the brother rigger to a restaurant for takeout, but they never quit.  So I tipped the owner enough to buy the crew anything they wanted to eat when they left. 

The work was $4200 cash (and they earned it).  The chipper truck was completely full. 

I took the opportunity of hacking back an overgrown crepe myrtle (that grows into my power line from the pole) and a dogwood with loppers and a chainsaw, before they came, so they could throw it all in their chipper.  And the climber went up and topped a big white oak for me.  I had topped it before and a couple red cedars and leyland cypress trees too, but while I am still physically able to do it, my days of climbing up trees with a bow saw slung over my back are over.  And no charge for all the extra work.

I've got another giant red oak in my backyard that I'll have them back this winter to reduce too.  Big PITA with tight clearances for limb drops, and everything has to be hand carried out my back yard to my driveway.  It's only money.  Every fall cleanup gets harder on me in my 70's (I do it all myself), so making these trees smaller is a good idea.

[Rams]

That giant white oak in my front yard may have been the largest tree in the whole neighborhood, maybe 80 yards tall and wide canopy.  

Congrats on getting this done.

I'm guessing you've caught some really big fish.  
Jess, just pulling your chain.
Rams  

[Jersey mike]

It’s great to watch professionals at work isn’t it.

One of my neighbors around the corner has a few oaks and has been spending a lot of time raking acorns into piles, big piles. On one of our bicycle rides around the neighborhood he had a full 40 gallon trash can loaded on a dolly moving it out to the woods behind the neighborhood.

You did the right thing and the tree can always be replaced if you want something different.

[cookiedough]

few years ago my 150 year old HUGE burr oak tree 1/3rd came down in my backyard coming few feet from hitting the house I was in the kitchen and saw a glimpse of it thru our small kitchen window and I was setback wondering if it was true what I saw a brief glimpse of.  I ran out to the garage expecting it to be destroyed by the kitchen area and landed few feet from garage/kitchen area, got lucky, spun just right and ONLY 1/3rd came down covered entire backyard almost.

Called around most Madison tree removers, big city more expensive, wanted 4 to 5K to remove, called local tree removal company in my small town and said ONLY 2500 bucks .  GREAT deal.  ONLY bad thing is his hired hand NEVER showed up as was suppose to that day and me and my wife took off to see it come down hoping to NOT land on our house landing into farmers field which it did just barely.  Since he had no help ONLY 1 person,  my wife and me, and my retired neighbor, moved most all trees limbs he cut up into his HUGE dumpster by hand or moved them outta the way so his small tractor could pick up the bigger ones up into his trailer/dumpster.    Still, at 2500 thought was a good deal even though we put in 8 hours each of free work, including the neighbor.

guy said his dad was going to use the burr oak wood pieces and has a wood furnace he heats house with and all my oak would easily get him thru WI winter and then some, so saved his dad lotsa money as well.

[Jess from VA]

It’s great to watch professionals at work isn’t it.

One of my neighbors around the corner has a few oaks and has been spending a lot of time raking acorns into piles, big piles. On one of our bicycle rides around the neighborhood he had a full 40 gallon trash can loaded on a dolly moving it out to the woods behind the neighborhood.

You did the right thing and the tree can always be replaced if you want something different.

Raking is hard on the lawn and the shoulders, I've been using my Stihl backpack blower and rolling acorns into piles and filling whole trash dumpers for weeks now.  Finally near the end of it (next it's the leaves).

I'm not replacing 100yo oak trees, I'm just making them smaller.  I've had neighbors ask why I don't remove them entirely.  Because that would be $10K per tree, the trunks are 7-8 feet wide and stump grinding becomes a mining operation.  I'm not a tree hugger, but these old things are beautiful and provide a good amount of shade from summer sun.     

[Jess from VA]

I'm guessing you've caught some really big fish.  

Ron, I may be off on tree height and canopy spread.

This is not my tree, but it's like my tree.

[f6john]

$4200.00!! I have 3 Oak trees in my front yard and I’ll never pay that kind of money to have them trimmed up, much less one tree! Of course given that I’m just a breath or two away from being 73 and my oak trees are only 6 feet tall presently, I doubt that will ever be an issue.

[Rams]

I'm guessing you've caught some really big fish.  

Ron, I may be off on tree height and canopy spread.

This is not my tree, but it's like my tree.

Jess,
Was just pulling your leg.   Height is often difficult to determine but if felling one, one really needs to be sure there's room for that tree.    I've done that work as a side job in the past.   I checked to ensure my thought process was right or close being accurate.   According to some internet research, the tallest oaks is the White Oak tree averaging about 144 feet.   That's way up there.

Rams

[Jess from VA]

$4200.00!! I have 3 Oak trees in my front yard and I’ll never pay that kind of money to have them trimmed up, much less one tree! Of course given that I’m just a breath or two away from being 73 and my oak trees are only 6 feet tall presently, I doubt that will ever be an issue.

Well as you know, prices are up on everything, esp in my very urban area.  I've been putting off getting that huge tree reduced for years because of price, which was probably a mistake.  

I'll be 73 myself in March John.  Minimum Required Distributions (MRDs, when the Govt makes you finally pay taxes on some of it) from my life savings IRA paid for this work.  

For my crepe myrtle and dogwood I only had to work from my 8' step ladder, which is wobbly and only marginally safer than climbing trees.  But the fall is shorter.  

I did nearly all my planting when I bought my place over 30 years ago (now much of it is huge).  But the 4 huge oaks came with the house when I bought it.

[Jess from VA]

Jess,
Was just pulling your leg.   Height is often difficult to determine but if felling one, one really needs to be sure there's room for that tree.    I've done that work as a side job in the past.   I checked to ensure my thought process was right or close being accurate.   According to some internet research, the tallest oaks is the White Oak tree averaging about 144 feet.   That's way up there.

Rams

Of course you're right Ron.  144 feet, close to 50 yards, is certainly more accurate than my estimate.  

When I told my 95yo mom about this, she said my brother would make short work of the job and just drop it from the bottom.  "Yeah mom, that would be great, but it would fall on my house, or my neighbor's house, or take down the power lines to the neighborhood."

Having to take it down a piece at a time is what drives the cost of the job up.  

He's got 40 acres out in the country, and has been cutting big trees for years building his own FAA approved grass runways (2) for his Cessna 152 and two home built single engine aircraft.  He just chains them to his big old (restored) Farmall tractor and drags them over to the side of the runways.

[f6john]

I grew up with H’s and M’s that my grandparents owned. My dad had a Super A for tobacco work. My grandfather on my dads side was a mule skinner and worked them longer than most any other farmer around, finally giving way to the 20th century in the late 40’s. My dad benefited by being able to ride one of the mules to school rather than walking.

I think back on it and it’s like two different worlds comparing the life I have lived verses my grandparents and my father. Now I can look at my grandkids and once again it’s a whole different world for them to, even though they may not recognize the differences until much later in life. I have high hopes for their futures and the world they will experience.

Enough reminiscing for today!

[cookiedough]

yah 4-5K is about the going rate to cut up and remove a giant oak tree over 100ft tall.  I got lucky 2500 but had to 1/3rd came down towards my house/garage.  Just darn glad it broke off 15 ft up where it forks into 2 large branches otherwise took out kitchen and garage both.

I say do not waste your money to remove the oak trees as long as not going to come down on house or garage, etc. and if you know the tree overall is in ok health.  I knew my giant burr oak would probably not last another 20 years since where it broke off was hollow inside some 5ft down and main limb going down was cracked all the way down the middle to ground/split at least on the outside bark since got hit by lightning some 15 years ago or so and damaged the base and several limbs fried up top were dead.  Ever since that lightning strike, it has become slowly deader each year with more limbs becoming dead no leaves on them way up top. 

then again, 1/3rd of a tree some well over 2000lbs. coming down silently literally 10 ft away from where I was standing in the kitchen that night can be DEADLY never heard anything just came down so silent is scary.   

[da prez]

  I have not tried , but acorn flour is in one of my cooking sites. Full instructions on how to make it.
  No instructions on how to train the squirrels to do the harvest tho.

                                                da prez

[Jess from VA]

I've been out rolling around 10,000 acorns with my Stihl backpack blower nearly every day (into piles then into the garbage can).  It's getting old.  And now the leaves are coming down too.   

[Jersey mike]

I've been out rolling around 10,000 acorns with my Stihl backpack blower nearly every day (into piles then into the garbage can).  It's getting old.  And now the leaves are coming down too.   

You don’t have the proper squirrel to acorn ratio. You obviously need more squirrels.

As for the leaves, it may be time to hire a guy for fall cleanups. Doing them every day or every other day gets redundant.

[Jess from VA]

I've been out rolling around 10,000 acorns with my Stihl backpack blower nearly every day (into piles then into the garbage can).  It's getting old.  And now the leaves are coming down too.   

You don’t have the proper squirrel to acorn ratio. You obviously need more squirrels.

As for the leaves, it may be time to hire a guy for fall cleanups. Doing them every day or every other day gets redundant.

I hate our grey squirrel population (they dig holes all over your yard), and have been exterminating them for 30 years.  When one moves into one of my trees, it's just a matter of time until he goes in the garbage.  It's just one of my hobbies (and I'm good at it).

In my retirement, I crave outdoor work and activity (every day) (after my hour on the treadmill).  Fall is a lot of work every year and does get redundant, but work is work.  And not letting it get away from you means a couple hours every day or two is easy.  I used to be 188lbs, now I'm 152. 

There's several lawn care outfits right in my neighborhood, but I don't hire anyone to do what I can do (except climbing big oak trees).   

[Jersey mike]

I've been out rolling around 10,000 acorns with my Stihl backpack blower nearly every day (into piles then into the garbage can).  It's getting old.  And now the leaves are coming down too.   

You don’t have the proper squirrel to acorn ratio. You obviously need more squirrels.

As for the leaves, it may be time to hire a guy for fall cleanups. Doing them every day or every other day gets redundant.

I hate our grey squirrel population (they dig holes all over your yard), and have been exterminating them for 30 years.  When one moves into one of my trees, it's just a matter of time until he goes in the garbage.  It's just one of my hobbies (and I'm good at it).

In my retirement, I crave outdoor work and activity (every day) (after my hour on the treadmill).  Fall is a lot of work every year and does get redundant, but work is work.  And not letting it get away from you means a couple hours every day or two is easy.  I used to be 188lbs, now I'm 152. 

There's several lawn care outfits right in my neighborhood, but I don't hire anyone to do what I can do (except climbing big oak trees).   

If it keeps ya moving and healthy that’s great, just know when it’s enough for the day. Work is work but can be good for the mental health as well.

[Jess from VA]

If it keeps ya moving and healthy that’s great, just know when it’s enough for the day. Work is work but can be good for the mental health as well.

Absolutely Mike; probably more mental than physical (for me).

I also have trouble sleeping through the night (bad for physical and mental), and hard work and exercise greatly improves my chances of decent sleep.