Piss Elm

It was many years ago, when I was probably a teenager, that my older brothers asked for my assistance in removing some Chinese elm trees, otherwise known as piss elms.  Google piss elm and you will find it is a commonly accepted name. The trees were located along a fence row of my grandfather's farm.  My duty was to haul the brush, while my older brothers cut down the trees probably using grandpas large old McColluch  chainsaw.  Describing that chainsaw as a monster would be like calling the dog Hercules in the movie "Sandlot" a shrimp.  I think they simply dropped the trees into the field and cut them up from there. Leaving me of course, to handle much of the brush. A couple weeks ago I had some tree work accomplished, and it made me think about how different cutting trees is today than decades ago.  It is even different compared to say about ten years ago.

89' Reach Arbor Machine

About ten, twelve or so years ago I had two of the same three trees trimmed that I had done this year.  Ten years ago, I used a different tree service and they had a man go up in the tree with harness and ropes.  You don't see that much anymore.  The first tree I recall seeing being taken down was an elm tree at the southwest corner of our backyard, and my Dad and older brothers using that McColluch chain saw took it down.  It was the first time I recall seeing that chain saw, and I was almost mesmerized by its size.  I was really young so I don't recall much of what they did, much less how they did it, but I do know a large tall stump was left for a long time.  How they got up the tree, if they did, I don't know.

A winch on this belt tightens ropes which are used to fell large branches

When elm trees, which used to grace the streets of the United States, were hit with Dutch Elm Disease, they seemingly went quick.  Today we have the Emerald Ash Borer, which hails from Asia and lacks any natural predators in the US.  Many of the elm trees on the street on which I grew up were taken down by Loney (Spelling?) and I recall, about 25 or so years ago, my neighbor used him and his boys to remove trees in his back yard.  I think Loney, who hailed from Cottage Grove, made good money due to elm removal.  He used fairly good sized International tractors to haul the wood, but used ropes to climb and dismantle trees over time.  Today the equipment is quite different.

I used Capital City Tree Experts for the tree work this year, the same company who treats my front yard Autumn Purple Ash.  They brought in a piece of equipment imported from Italy, so I was told,  and it has a bucket that can reach 89 feet in length (their longest reach piece of equipment). The surprising thing is that it can get it as narrow as three feet, in order to get into a rear yard by a fence gate.  This piece of equipment was purchased for ash tree removal, which is as big business today as elm removal was in the 1960's.  Maybe even bigger since ash was a common yard tree.  Yet, it was not the length that was impressive, but its low angle of repose.  Years ago, the municipality I worked for saw its Fire Department buy a very expensive ladder truck, and the ladder was never able to safely get to a low 30 degree angle.  I think it cost $500,000 for that lemon of a ladder truck. I recall telling a fire fighter that all of the improvements planned for the then new McKee Farms Community Park, could be built but for a swimming pool with that amount of money.  That comment was of course passed to the Fire Chief who asked me about it.  Anyway, back to my trees.  The man in the bucket worked his way among branches to trim and cut.  He also cut down a 25" plus silver maple in my yard.  That maple came from Arbor Day, and why they would give a gift of a tree with less quality than a piss elm, I don't know.  The other maple I obtained from them is quite nice.  On my walk in May, I saw the same company take down a large silver maple in a backyard, and it took them over one week to take it down and get all the wood out.  Longer than five working days. the guy who give me the quote said they took a beating on that estimate, and he was glad one of the owners did the quote for that household and not himself.  My thought was, I have to get that one silver maple out before it becomes a week long project, not to mention expense.  Trimming three trees, and taking down the silver maple, took from about 8 am to 3 pm, and cost a good chunk of money.

Besides the equipment, they had five men on the crew, and other than cutting the stump, they hauled wood, chipped and cleaned up, although two of them cut the stump down. To reduce cost, I kept about 12 large logs, about 10 feet long that I cut up for firewood, and two more even larger pieces for my son to use at his saw mill. With five men, there were, as my wife noted, some down time, but I did notice when needed they were needed.  Their chainsaws were Stihl, the main saw was a small one pretty much used by the man in the bucket and the large one was needed to cut one of the two main branches (in the bucket) and then cut up the trunk.  I suppose chain saws today are quite a bit lighter and more powerful than the monster McColluch saw my grandfather operated.

Watching them take down the silver maple, I realized tree removal is both an art and science.  They used ropes, winch and a pulley connected to part of branch to haul cut and lower down some branches, and how they figured out placement is beyond me.  Yet, he had to maneuver his bucket, which took  time, the bucket up down and around branches to trim or remove.  I marveled at how far back he knew to take the bucket without looking back as he maneuvered around the many branches.  I was also amazed at how far he knew to cut into a branch to have it stay in place and then to grab and finish the cut with the saw in the other arm and hand

Why all the equipment?  Well, times have changed, most things are now mechanized, and they have a piece of equipment between a bobcat and a garden tractor to haul brush and wood.  You see mechanization with garbage trucks.  No longer are men riding on the back to jump off, grab and 55 gallon  trash cans; no it is a refuse cart, with a garbage truck that has a grabber come out to grab, lift and empty and then set down the bin.  These guys hauled brush and logs with that hybrid machine, which can hold a piece up to 850 lbs. Not the piss elm brush pulling I did decades ago on my grandpa's farm to a brush pile.  Today they make a pile, and bring in that hybrid machine with claws that move almost every direction.  Workmen's comp and liability is a big player today, and for good reason, tree cutting is dangerous work.  My now deceased oldest brother Steve found this out several years ago.  An experienced tree cutter, he cut his own wood for heat, he had a tree unexpectedly get hung up and then it came back and swing into his face, knocking him out cold, a day or so before Christmas.  He laid unconscious for some time, with his jaw broken.  Not a pleasant surgery to have the jaw wired shut.  Capital City Tree understands the perils, too.

My wife posted a video of one branch coming down
and then swinging by the ropes and they then lower

Talking with the lead man on my job, who was in the bucket, he said he only takes down by chunking the tree down, not unlike how he did my maple. He said only a few employees of their company still do the tree fall method. It sounded as if even fewer still climbed trees. Perhaps felling a tree is becoming a lost art.  The tight environs of my backyard favored the chunking method of tree felling.  They have a sign on the large bucket and the small "tractor" that reads something to the effect of:  The best method is the safest method."  The days of Loney and many individual tree removals are going away due to safety and advances in equipment.  Although, I suppose in an open field condition, those piss elms today could easily be removed by felling, and not chunking. Provided of course, they don't get hung up in another tree.  But, it does cost.

I offered to move the red trellis' but they said they could
easily work around them, and they did