Pruning Douglas Fir

[Chilterns]

Hi,

 

I own a woodland that has a number of blocks of Douglas Fir with some of these now 85 - 100ft high. I have pruned all of these to a height of 16 - 20 ft using a Silky pruning saw which has done a great job however I have discovered that reaching and removing the last few branches gets much tougher as the angle of the pole saw steepens and the telescopic rods get more flexible making branch removal more difficult and dangerous (cut branches fall on person pruning).

 

I wonder if there is a way of pruning further up the tree to remove dead branches and branch pegs without recourse to wearing spiked boots which will potentially damage both the bark and the underlying timber.

 

For example is there any way that a ladder could be secured to the tree and then the pruner work safely from a platform attached to the ladder ?

 

I would like to be able to prune a number of speciman trees to 60 ft if that is at all possible.

 

Regards

 

Chilterns

[Neil Frost]

I would get a professional arborist in for the higher branches.

[roseyweb]

I would get a professional arborist in for the higher branches.

 

Far to expensive just use a ladder, or if your a bit shakey on ladders get a cheap harness and throw a rope around the tree then you can lean right out with your pole saw.

[samwise]

hire a tracked picker for a day or 2.

[Old Mill Tree Care]

A professional climber or a cherry picker if you're going to such heights.

[David Goss]

I would like to be able to prune a number of speciman trees to 60 ft if that is at all possible.

 

Regards

 

Chilterns

 

Why?

 

Once the branches get out of your reach then hire in a professional or risk a nasty fall from ladders (i hate ladders by the way) If you do insist on doing it yourself from ladders then make sure you and the ladder are secured to the tree.

[Sam Thompson]

Get a climber in. If you are fussed about your trees (big points from me ) Its worth getting done properly. Though I can't understand why you want to prune that high in forestry?

[Andy Collins]

Reminds me of someone i heard of doing similar, he was told to tie himself and the ladder, so he tied himself to the ladder

[Riggerbear]

Don't remove too many in one hit, remember that the trees need these branches for their food production unless they are dead ones.

Upto 60' seems a bit extreme.

[RobArb]

It would also effect the slenderness ratio possibly making it succeptable to windthrow