I’ve been working on a lot of small management jobs that
have been on my list for some time now.
Several of these have to do with trees that are threatening to fall on
or to shade out desirable species. When
a tree begins to lean over, the area covered by its shadow increases. Lateral branches turn upwards and eventually
form what amounts to a line of sapling trees growing along the trunk of the
leaner. New growth adds weight that will
eventually make the tree fall. The Wild
Black Cherry tree above is not only causing a thinning of grass in the shade
zone. It is overtopping a grove of
Redbud and Carolina Buckthorn that will suffer some severe damage if landed
upon by the falling tree.
Removing the tree eliminates both the shade hazard and the
threat of physical damage to surrounding vegetation. Unlike most upright trees, leaning trees
offer a limited direction toward which they will fall. Fortunately, a good cut and a little bit of
shoving allowed me to drop this tree without damaging any of the shrubs I was
trying to protect.
Actually bringing the tree to the ground is usually the
least time consuming part of the process.
It’s taking the tree apart and moving it to a brush pile that takes up
most of my time. When I don’t have time
to finish the job before days end, as was the case here, I leave the branches
in a conspicuous place where I won’t fail to clear them up later. In this case I left them blocking one of the
main trails leading from my house. There’s
no way I can forget about them being here.
Here is another leaning tree, also a Wild Black Cherry. This species accounts for 90 percent of the
leaning trees I encounter. In this case,
the tree is threatening a cluster of oak saplings seen on the right side of the
photo.
I didn’t have time to take the whole tree down before it got
dark, but I did remove the lateral branches that produced the majority of
shade. If I don’t happen to make it back
to this site this winter, the oaks will still be able to receive needed
sunlight next growing season.
Some trees are removed just to eliminate the shade they
produce. This Tuliptree was shading the
same cluster of oaks being threatened by the leaning cherry.
The oaks in question can be recognized by the dead leaves
that they hold into winter. These
persistent leaves make it fairly easy to spot oaks in a grown up field.
With the shade producers removed, the oaks will respond by
rapidly increasing their size. Removed
trees were intentionally cut so as to leave a tall stump. The stumps will be shortened this spring, and
herbicide will be applied to the fresh cut.
Removal of this Tuliptree has been on my to do list for
several years, but there always seemed to be more urgent activities that kept
me from the task. Tuliptrees are fast
qrowing and have the ability to shade out a large area of grass, so it’s best
not to let them go for very long. Notice
just to the right of the Tuliptree is a Wild Black Cherry leaning out from the
old fence row. The original tree top has
died and a side branch has grown up to produce a nice sized tree. Eventually, the leaning trunk will not be
able to sustain the weight of the new top and the tree will fall. When it falls, it will most likely hit the
Flowering Dogwoods in the center foreground of the photo. I’ll probably have to take the cherry down
before it falls on its own.
I dropped the Tuliptree right on the trail. There’s no way I could possibly forget to
clear it away.
There are some pretty widely spaced growth rings here. Ten years ago I could have cut this tree with
my loppers and carried the whole thing over to the brush pile. I now aggressively attack the small trees
invading the grassland areas, so I won’t have trees of this size to deal with
later.
One disassembled tree ready to be carried off.
The trail is once again open for business.
Three Tuliptrees and two cherries were added to this already
existing brush pile. The logs were
positioned for maximum use by fence lizards and skinks. Whether or not I remove more trees this month
will depend on the weather. I’ve already
taken care of the worst offenders, but it would be nice to get just a few more.
