Oh those damned Manitoba maples!
If they didn't cause me enough grief in 1998 during the ice storm, they did during the summer of 2006. I went down to the house one day in late July, only to discover two Manitoba maples had split and huge sections were now on the ground.
That year we had ample rain throughout the spring and July even and everything was thick and lush. Probably too lush with all those leaves. Strangely, no other trees in the neighbourhood were damaged so it must have been a sudden microburst.
One tree on the corner of my lot had shed one huge branch - right on my neighbour's flat bed trailer. You couldn't even see it under all the leaves. Fortunately the branches acted as a tripod and weren't even touching the trailer
The second tree split right down the middle at ground level and left one trunk still standing. The branches fell over another fence line..
I have co-workers who think they are lumberjacks and will take a chainsaw to a standing tree, but I'm not that brave (or foolish). If it is on the ground, I'll cut it up but if its still standing, I want an expert. I read too many horror stories in Harrowsmith magazine in the 70's about kickback, widow makers and the other hazards to think I can do it by myself. A tree service is insured, has a boom truck to cut the tree in small pieces and has a honking big chipper that makes short work of all the branches and leaves. If you have ever tried to put branches with leaves in a pickup truck you will appreciate how much of a benefit a chipper is!
That's D&D Tree Service, hard at work. They did an excellent job, by the way and cleaned up really well so I didn't have to do any raking before I could cut the grass! If you have tree problems, these are the guys to talk to: they have the tools, training and expertise to safely deal with your tree problems.
By the way, I did some clean up with my McCulloch Pro Mac 10-10 chainsaw before D&D arrived. I had forgotten to empty the gas tank after the Ice Storm of '98 and hadn't used it since then. I figured it would never start with 8 year old gas, but on the second pull, it roared to life like I had just used it yesterday. What an amazing chainsaw!
While they were there, they pointed out that one of the smaller trees next to the house was hollow and might be dangerous. I knew this. I had seen holes in the trunk in three places that were home to birds and squirrels, but the tree service and I had no idea...You can see from the scale of these photos that the trunk was hollow enough for someone to crawl through.
If they didn't cause me enough grief in 1998 during the ice storm, they did during the summer of 2006. I went down to the house one day in late July, only to discover two Manitoba maples had split and huge sections were now on the ground.
That year we had ample rain throughout the spring and July even and everything was thick and lush. Probably too lush with all those leaves. Strangely, no other trees in the neighbourhood were damaged so it must have been a sudden microburst.
One tree on the corner of my lot had shed one huge branch - right on my neighbour's flat bed trailer. You couldn't even see it under all the leaves. Fortunately the branches acted as a tripod and weren't even touching the trailer
The second tree split right down the middle at ground level and left one trunk still standing. The branches fell over another fence line..
I have co-workers who think they are lumberjacks and will take a chainsaw to a standing tree, but I'm not that brave (or foolish). If it is on the ground, I'll cut it up but if its still standing, I want an expert. I read too many horror stories in Harrowsmith magazine in the 70's about kickback, widow makers and the other hazards to think I can do it by myself. A tree service is insured, has a boom truck to cut the tree in small pieces and has a honking big chipper that makes short work of all the branches and leaves. If you have ever tried to put branches with leaves in a pickup truck you will appreciate how much of a benefit a chipper is!
That's D&D Tree Service, hard at work. They did an excellent job, by the way and cleaned up really well so I didn't have to do any raking before I could cut the grass! If you have tree problems, these are the guys to talk to: they have the tools, training and expertise to safely deal with your tree problems.
By the way, I did some clean up with my McCulloch Pro Mac 10-10 chainsaw before D&D arrived. I had forgotten to empty the gas tank after the Ice Storm of '98 and hadn't used it since then. I figured it would never start with 8 year old gas, but on the second pull, it roared to life like I had just used it yesterday. What an amazing chainsaw!
While they were there, they pointed out that one of the smaller trees next to the house was hollow and might be dangerous. I knew this. I had seen holes in the trunk in three places that were home to birds and squirrels, but the tree service and I had no idea...You can see from the scale of these photos that the trunk was hollow enough for someone to crawl through.
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