Removing lower pine limbs, falling hazard?

toxicair

Hi I recently removed a few of the lower limbs of my ~50 ft pine tree. Would this be a falling hazard due to the loss of lower weight to counterbalance it from high winds?

Brent Ferris

Unless you got a funny looking tree -- the pics didn't show -- the short answer is no. If you removed too many branches the tree may not have enough foliage to support itself,

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My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
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toxicair

Somehow this site doesn't like photo bucket or something, we removed around 20 pounds of limbs a about 4 feet from the roots.

Eric Frei

Somehow people do not read their emails or PM's when joining. I do not know why I went to the additional trouble of doing that when no-one gives a crap then they whine about pics not showing up.

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Brent Ferris

Ah Eric, Hope springs eternal. Obviously some people get it -- just not everybody. But, it you could devise a system so that everybody gets the picture the first time, Wow! you could market the system -- become a trillionaire and never have to climb palms again!

__________________
My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
We do great jobs, even in small yards.

Free Estimates Oakville to Oshawa - North to Bradford (Will travel further if cost of travelling covered)

Brent Ferris

20 lbs of limbs from a pine or spruce might mean 1-2 branches --a 50 ft tree with wood and branches might weigh 1-2 tons. Removing the lower branches can change the stability of a tree, and the tree can sway more in a strong wind and the effects can be deleterious. -- But the more branches that are removed, the less area the wind has to push against, so --- unless it is a super strong wind --which would likely uproot the tree -- or your tree now looks top heavy and is poorly anchored, I wouldn't be too concerned. BUt a pic posted to this site following Eric's instructions can help remove all doubts,

__________________
My business: Tree Pruning and Removals -- Strump Removals -- Advice -- Consulting -- Arborist Reports
If you want an honest opinion, call Brent Ferris...because, Trees want to Live Too !
We do great jobs, even in small yards.

Free Estimates Oakville to Oshawa - North to Bradford (Will travel further if cost of travelling covered)

toxicair

Thanks for the replies! Sorry for not reading the email :S here are some pictures of my tree.

Attached Thumbnails

     

Eric Frei

That's a nice looking tree and it will be fine.

Can you get another closer up pic of the base, I see something, maybe surface roots, lets have a closer look.

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Joshua Rugg

in the short term id say no it wont be a problem to take off a couple branches. you dont want to remove more then a 3rd of a trees foliage at any one time. keep in mind that when you take off the lower branches of a tree, it stops sending energy to the lower trunk and starting sending more to the top. this causes a thin weakened trunk over a long period of time. id say as long as its within the 1/3 mark you will be ok as your tree is young and has alot of time to grow still.

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Eric Frei

And a 1/3 of that tree would be ~ 17' and you're lucky to have gone 3', besides the fences are offering some lower trunk protection from wind.

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