Trees that I hate to work with.

dov

We all have certain trees that we just don't like I guess. For Ekka, it's palms. For me, one of my real hates is Chilean Willows.

Chilean Willows. They look great up to about 8' tall. After that they're just dangerous. Limbs break off at the slightest wind, the trunks die back and fall, and then we get called in for an unclimbable 6-7m high rotting monster stuck in the 800mm gap between a house and an old wooden fence. Did two of them the other day, thankfully they were still solid enough to climb, but if I had more than an 800mm gap to drop them in it would have been nicer...

What are other people's pet hates in the way of tree pruning or removals?

Jon

Russian Olives, hawthorne, Stinky dead willows.

windthrown

Yah, hawthornes are the worst here. Thorny as all hell. They are very invasive and grow like weeds.

Sycamores are a pain too. They "fluff" and gum up the chipper knives and the wood is pretty worthless as firewood (low heat value, and it leaves gobs of ashes). Also people tend to pollard them here, and then they want them 're-pollarded' or 'un-pollarded'. They are also prone to a lot of diseases, and one prof at UC Davis called them "Sick-o-more" for that reason.

In California lemons were also a pain to prune. Thorny as hell, typically intertwined stems and branches, usually let to overgrow completely before they call someone to prune them. But they take a hard pruing really well.

Then there is Grand fir up here in the PNW. AKA: piss fir (also incorrectly but commonly called white fir here). Saps the crap out of you and the saws. Lousy firewood (light wood). Heavy when wet (all water and sap). Short lived trees (maybe 100 years), typically with dead lower branches that have spikey ends that stab you at eye level. They tend to die out in stands at any age and become snags. They smell good though.

MrDiesel

Ive never been fond of pines. Nothing more annoying than a sticky pole strap. They are easy to work though

JohN Dee

Pheonix palms... The spikes are a PITA if you are caught without welding gloves... Honey locust is another bitch without welding gloves...

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Done it

Date palms and dead wattle aren't fun but I'll do them if the money is right.

But I'll never do another Norfolk Island Hibiscus no matter what the price is. Talk about itchy!

The Lagunaria Page

Garry Brockley

Big leylandii itch snappy crappy wannabe trees, Hawthorns spikey nasty and Stringy Barks the itching goes on forever.

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dov

I certainly agree when it comes to Hawthornes. Was doing a job as groundie for a mate, and was just clearing the twigs and stuff away from a Hawthorne tree so I could get to the trunk when a twig flew off the chain and hit my leg just above the kneecap. Hurt like hell, but I thought it had just corked a nerve or something, so I went on working.

As I went on working the pain got worse and worse until a couple of hours later I sat down and had a look at it. There was a small puncture in the skin a couple of inches above the kneecap and a huge swollen area. You could just feel something in the middle of the lump buried in the muscle. A bloody Hawthorne spike! Felt guilty as hell leaving my mate alone working that day, but what could I do? Was a week or so before I could really bear any weight on that leg.

My other real pet hate is Date Palms. Any type or spikey palm actually. Got a lump of scar tissue on my little finger with about 10mm of Palm spike in the middle of it. Been there about a year. Must be the only bit of palm I've ever been stuck with that hasn't gone septic, Praise God!

Got skewered by a bit of palm right up inside the leg once. A bit broke off inside and festered until it rode out on a river of pus and blood 6 weeks later.

Apocalypsse

I hate working with Peppercorns, the smell of it quite literally makes me sick after a few minutes. That and anything that grows spikes.

Treeson

London planes -itchy and unpleasant
Hoheria populnea -have the worst stems to climb as each union grabs boots!
Hawthorn -spend that night pulling out thorns
Honeysuckle -just plain horrid

just a couple I could think of straight away!

Jon

How about elms? They are a beautiful tree but they always seem to end up in spots like this.

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Levi Parkin

Sycamores are terrible any time they have leaves on them. Pines are terrible at any point, especially when they're dead. I can't stand eastern red cedars (Juniperus virginiana), ever. And I'll agree with the elms comment. Some of them are nice trees, most of the time though, it's some little volunteer bastid that someone just decided to "let grow" right next to their house.... arg. I don't dislike elms, I dislike people.

sueann

I'm not that struck on gum trees, they are so messy with dropping bits of branches all the time, and leaves.

dov

I must admit that most gums go on my most loved list. I know that if I ever left Australia, the thing I'd miss most, apart form friends etc., would be the wild beauty of gum trees.

sueann

You're right Dov. In a landscape setting they are beautiful in their own right, but we had 10 acres of them and they make such a mess. Not to mention that we also had 2 acres or so of prickly pear that we didn't know was there till we started stick picking around the gums.

I'm crying just remembering that.

Eric Frei

LOL, It's good to see I aint the only one that sees stuff like this, all the time. Largest count I had was 12 wires through/beneath one tree. Wires fed two houses most were comms but PITA.

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stjawa

Norfolk Island Hibiscus ,Lagunaria Patersonii ,Pyramid Tree what ever you like you call it.As soon as you have an open seed pod rub against you its red rash and itching for hours.Put it through a chipper and it magnifies the problem a hundred times,anyone near the chipper will cop it big time.

Done it

Ha, I thought I was going to be the only one.

It's got a lot of names, [see post 6] I've got one for it that can't be posted. That stuff gets into everything, takes ages to get rid of it.

Bowani Siam

Poplar with a Bougainvillea twice its size growing out of it.

Great site!

Jon

Couldnt have said it better myself.

trout

yeap norfolk island hibiscus also bunya bunya (Araucaria bidwilli )rips u to shreds

TrevMcRev

Lagunaria (itchy)
Phoenix, Erinthryna, Robinia (spiky)
Anything previously 'lopped"
Anything underquoted

dov

I'm terrible with quoting. Problem is I actually like my customers. Don't think I've ever had a really bad customer - worst I've ever had is customers who take a couple of weeks to pay.

I usually seem to go home with more sawdust and leaves etc. in my pockets than money anyway... On the other hand, my customers seem to like giving their friends and family my phone number with a glowing recommendation, so things aren't all bad!

Garry Brockley

Im not surprised they pass you on if your working really cheap, the problem is that you will get to a point in life where you need to stop climbing and working so hard and if you havent charged enough over the years to sustain an income you are stuffed, you do a hard job and do it well, you deserve a fair days pay for a fair days work.
How many weeks do you get to friday and sat and say "oh is that all i have left for the week"?

People will take advantage whenever they can, even when they are smiling with you they are thinking wow this guys really cheap!(thats not a compliment) they should be saying "thats a fair price"

We have all learned that lesson in business, sit down and look at ALL of your outgoings annually then divide by 52 for your weekly minimum, from there you can work out your daily minimum or hourly whichever you choose to charge.

Do the maths it might surprise you how much you spend.

Earn what you need and dont do the customers a favour its your life on the line not thiers.
You guys who are undercharging hurts everyone, it leaves you out of pocket, cheapens the industry overall by letting jo public believe its a lower profession than say builders or plumbers, yet we train, learn and are just as professional as the other trades.

Sorry rant over

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stirmantrees

any palm tree that isnt plastic.
Ear trees. they always get big, break, then grow twice as tall with rot. very challenging to rig. not hinge factor, etc, etc

Dbill

i would have to ssay the honey locust is me least favorite to trim. ive seen a guys run the thorn straight through the side of his boot and the poison in the thorn hurts for a couple days after a good poke.

dov

I've recently raised my fees. I'm still a bit of a soft touch when it comes to haggling. Scary thing is, there are guys out there quoting much cheaper than I do. Who knows how they deal with their expenses!

windthrown

A poplar with huge thorns? OUCH!

Bougainvillea freezes to death up here, and even in Northern California, so we do not see any of that. There was a lot of it in San Diego though.

Ace Master

love jobs for friends

Done cactus, prickley pear, trees once before, spikey and chipped like soup


ACE

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glennak

Norfolk Island Hibiscus spiky things are bad but Lagy fibres stay with you for weeks. The fibres are 80 micron in diameter and they are hollow silica tubes with razor sharp points on either end. This is 10 times larger than anything known to cause lung cancer but what if they break? Young growth on Plane leaves is probably no better but I have never examined them. 3 of us were clearing Norfolk Island Hibiscus from power lines for a few weeks and we all had runny noses when we stopped and started on proper trees no more runny noses. They get in rake handles get charged going through the chipper and stick all over the truck you can't wash them out of your clothes. I told an employee to wash lagy cloths separatly to everything else, but his sister washed everything together and they were going to change washing powder because all their cloths were itchy.
Funny thing is on Norfolk Island they hardly have any pods. In Melbourne they have as many pods as leaves. Maybe they are worse on Lord Howl Island where they are also native. Or maybe they have a wonderfull insect we should import.