Pole saw help please

[JM75]

Hello everyone 

 

Hoping someone can help advise me on the best solution to my problem. 

 

I have two sycamore trees and a cherry blossom tree. With all three, I have been pruning them back every year (pollarding) around november / December time when the leaves are falling and branches are woody (im in the UK). They grow quite fast. 

 

They are all around 4.5 metres tall. I have always had to pull out a ladder, climb up and cut the branches by hand with a pair of secateurs. The branches generally range in 1cm to 2.5cm. 

 

This year, I was hoping to find an easier way to prune them from the ground and thought a pole saw might be my best answer. I wanted to check if people think this is the best approach.

 

It might be a stupid question but I also didn't know if cutting branches of thickness 1cm to 2.5cm is advised for a pole saw. 

 

Any advice you can offer is much appreciated. 

 

Thanks

[Dan Maynard]

A pole saw will be a bit brutal, you would cut that size with a pole lopper operated with a string. It's going to be tricky to get the cuts as good working from the ground though.

 

I would personally be on the ladder with secateurs for this, but I'd lanyard in so I can lean around and relax without worrying about the ladder falling.

 

[Bill C]

I have the same problem in the garden, a tree that has got out of hand, unable to climb and I don't trust it with a ladder so I bought a battery pole saw(mainly for a few other jobs to be honest) The tree in question was at full 3.7mtr extension and various diameter branches from 100mm down to about 8mm, the cuts are not as good as a Silky saw but I was surprised how well it cut even the small branches as long as you remember to take the weight of the pole saw off the chain and let it cut under light pressure and full chain speed (a lot different to having a chainsaw in your hand) and with a chain like the Stihl PMM 3/8" x 0.043"  or even a 1/4"( not used a  1/4" chain before so I can't really comment on that) it would be even better. 

[Husqvarna King]

I agree that ladder and secateurs/silky will give the best job but how about the fiskars telescopic pruners, or similar?

[waterbuoy]

Or go the whole hog and buy a Silky polesaw but also with the additional pruner/cutter head?

[Husqvarna King]

4 hours ago, waterbuoy said:

Or go the whole hog and buy a Silky polesaw but also with the additional pruner/cutter head?

Yeah they are great but you can't change the angle of the cut so only really work well on side branches

[aswales]

Buy a tripod ladder, and then use loppers or secateurs...

 

[Stere]

Tripods ladder are good   but being 4.5m that will need the the biggest 12ft tripod that costs £600  and still be abit short?

 

Tripod ladder plus short pole lopper?

 

ARS made a good & big range of  different types and lengths of pole loppers etc.

 

Or the wolf garten pole  lopper - u can change the angle.

 

 

Better if they initially  were pollarded at a more sensible height - lower  than 4.5m.......

 

[AJStrees]

I have a lot of wisteria to trim back every year. Its about 4 or more metres high up the side of a building. To be fair the least time consuming way to do it is on a ladder and secateurs. I have the ARS long reach secateurs and they are great and very light weight, however you then spend more time getting hold of what you want to cut and it gets a little bit annoying after the 100th cut. Therefore I just do the tripod ladder and secateurs. 

 

Pole saw as others have said will be too harsh on small cuts like that and will tear more than cut small branches. 

 

@Stere makes a good point about lowering your pollards so you don't have to get up so high. That might be the game changer. 👍

[timberonabike]

On 06/03/2023 at 17:46, Stere said:

Tripods ladder are good   but being 4.5m that will need the the biggest 12ft tripod that costs £600  and still be abit short?

 

Tripod ladder plus short pole lopper?

 

ARS made a good & big range of  different types and lengths of pole loppers etc.

 

Or the wolf garten pole  lopper - u can change the angle.

 

 

Better if they initially  were pollarded at a more sensible height - lower  than 4.5m.......

 

 

Tripod ladder on top of the patio table then 😆