Tree Lopping, Removal, Pruning and Mulching in the Dandenong Ranges
Sherbrooke Tree Service is available to deal with urgent and emergency tree work in the Dandenong Ranges and Eastern Suburbs as storms hit the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.
Call 0428 383 677
This is the page I’ll be updating with the results
During the early 1990′s, Graeme McMahon monitored the heart rates of climbers using various canopy access systems.
In comparing spurs, prussic, frog and yosemite, he found the single rope technique (SRT) systems were an efficient method of access.
This had been long known within the caving, rock climbing and other rope access industries.
The video was part of a presentation to Arboricultural Association of Australia (AAA), included was Graemes research.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be making a post on our website with the charts, tables and documentation as pdfs.
Tape was used in the systems, as part of the research was to compare the efficiency gains/losses of shortening and lengthening these. Modern systems are tailor made to the right length to reduce bulk.
After chipping branches in The Basin on Mt Dandenong, we came back to Cockatoo and fell some trees from a house renovation.
The small trees we felled in Cockatoo were just the right size to fit into the backyard. When falling trees it is really important to understand where they are leaning, and how the tree will behave as it departs the stump.
On many of the trees I fell today, I used rope and tackle to ensure that in the event of a mistake, or failure in the hinge, the tree would still fall in the intended direction. Ensuring that good distance is made from the tree by the use of escape routes is essential. Cockatoo, like Emerald, Avonsleigh, Clematis, Belgrave and other towns in Cardinia Shire – has a vast mix of tree species. Sometimes the tree can be felled, other times the tree must be climbed and lopped.
Nasty storm damage tree removal in Belgrave a few weeks back. A large Pin Oak (Quercus palustris) had blown out of the ground during a storm that swept through Belgrave.
The tree uprooted and fell downhill through a neighbours roof. There was over 15ton in the trunk alone, and access to the property was particularly tricky given the steepness of the terrain, the season and the sheer volume of tree to be cleaned up.
The tree had fallen heavily onto the Belgrave neighbours roof.
The first task was to stabilise the tree to prevent further damage from being done. We used 3/4″ Steel cable to prevent the tree from moving further. This was pre tensioned with a tree winch or tirfor.
Using the cable, we pulled the stump back into its hole
Tree removal in Belgrave can be tricky given the terrain and sheer size of many of the trees that have grown at the base of the Dandenong Ranges. We used our trees jacks to take the weight of the tree off the house.
A rope access system was installed to ensure work could commence as safely as possible. We then removed any tree branches not touching the roof. Jacked the tree up some more, giving us some more clearance. Removed larger branches, working our way back to the gutter. Once we were clear of the roof, we could easily use the excavator to lift heavy wood sections that were sitting in free space, and load them to go off-site.
We pulled the stump back into the hole (after clearing the stump hole of mud!), and used a stump grinder to get rid of it.
I’ve uploaded some photos of the Belgrave Tree Removal, by the time we had removed many cubic meters of wood from the site the photos became less frequent, but you’ll get the idea.
An emergency job came up where a tree had fallen onto the roof of a house in Cockatoo. The tree had caused structural damage to the house, and the pitch of the roof made access quick difficult.
When we work close to the edge of roofs, or the pitch is too great to work safely on we use rope access systems to keep us safe.
We used our heavy lift tree jacks to lift the tree from the roof, allowing us to handle the tree under control.
The tree had tipped out of the ground after some very heavy rain, landing on the roof of the house. We stabilise the stem so it can’t slide any further then take the weight off the roof.
All the branches were then chipped and the mulch taken away.
Had a recently lightning struck tree removal to do in The Patch. The bark was starting to fall off, but the tree was still reasonably sound. Trees that are struck by lightning rarely seem to survive, and sadly they are often trees of good stature. The lightning will often hit the tall dominant trees. This was no exception.
Anyone that knows The Patch area knows how steep the ground is, we have special techniques for sectioning the tree down so that blocks don’t go flying off down hill into houses and property. Sometimes this includes the use of ropes, other times barriers and catch-rigging.
Be very wary of well meaning arboricultural reports and opinions on the health of trees. Defect inside of trees is difficult to spot and often the opinions expressed are not based on experience of tree removals and storm damage work.
The recent spate of jobs in the Dandenong Ranges has left us with some ugly examples of tree failure.
If you have concerns about a trees declining health, seek independent opinions that are not driven by a desire to maintain the tree, remove the tree or do nothing.
As a company the specialise if tree removal and tree care, we often decline opportunity to assess tree health. It is a conflict of interest, because in most cases work will need to be done.
Carefully consider where the opinion is coming from when you seek advice on your tree. Some species of trees decay very quickly, and after 12 months of rotting the decay may become so bad the removal is dangerous and expensive. The costs of dealing with these kinds of trees in the long term are rarely considered by those promoting habitat retention.
The material from the presentation is included below.
The program hasn’t been updated since I wrote it, normally before this kind of thing would be shared it would go through fairly vigorous bug testing.
If I get some time to neaten it up I will fix some of the major bugs. I will point out some major things to consider:
Apart from that, the formula, presentation, source code and software are provided under a create commons licence. To find out what that means visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/au/deed.en
We had an urgent tree removal to do today in Mt Evelyn. A tree had uprooted through the night and pulled the fence line with it. Fortunately no-one was walking along the footpath when it fell.
Often in wet weather, the increased amount of water in the ground allows the development of pools to occur in the root ball. As the tree moves in the wind, the roots hydraulic causing the dirt that holds the tree to be turned to mushy mud and pushed away. Over a few days this destabilises the tree and often leads to failure.
This tree was large enough to cause considerable damage to the fence line and surrounding garden. After chipping the branches and cut the tree into firewood and left the firewood and mulch for the home owner.
These kinds of tree removals are not unusual at this time of year, as trees tip out of the ground due to prolonged wind and rain. If you need your tree removed call us!
If you need immediate assistance with storm damaged or emergency tree work, call our emergency tree service on 0428 383 677 or 0359 688 041.
We have a ready supply of rigging equipment to make safe trees that are immediate hazards to life and property. We have a rubber tracked excavator with a log grab for clearing roads and handling fallen trees.
Cardinia Shire is where Sherbrooke Tree Service is based, servicing the surrounding shire councils like Yarra Ranges.
Tree lopping and maintenance on rural properties is quite common for us. The range of works is everything from pruning, weight reduction, canopy thinning and trimming, through to large scale tree removals, lopping, cutting and felling.
The job we completed last week in Upper Pakenham was for a semi-rural property needing a fence line cleared of trees. Under the 10/30 tree removal laws set out by DSE, we were able to move along the fence line removing problem trees, and pruning trees that satisfied the owners needs.
Managing the trees land owners have is preferable over large removals, as they form important wind breaks and green corridors. Our experience in clear fell logging allow us to easily handle large volumes of tree removals, however we always encourage careful consideration when performing drastic changes to the vegetation – once they’re gone you can’t put them back up again!
On this particular job, the land owner was happy to do the clean up, however we also provide tree clean-up services such as mulching and stacking for fire heaps.
We often do work on trees that are obstructing solar panels from receiving maximum sunlight, or satellite services. Sometimes the tree has grown toward the available light, other times the solar or satellite service was installed in a poor location. Most of the time the tree can be pruned and trimmed to allow good service.
Recently we completed a job for a new solar panel installation where a number of large trees were blocking out almost all of the available sun throughout the day. Trees are very good at doing this as their major source of energy is through photosynthesis – this makes them natural competitors for light.
When considering how you are going to manage the installation, it is important to consider the effects of performing tree works to the surrounding environment – not just the improvement of light!
By removing or heavily pruning trees your property has a higher exposure to wind, and is less protected from extreme weather. The shade that is normally cast over your house during the summer may be gone, increasing the energy cost of keeping cool. Increased wind flow can affect other trees which did not grow accustomed to high wind loading, potentially leading to failure. The wind can also reduce your homes ability to stay warm.
Do you have the required permits for the works to be done? By going ahead with unapproved tree work, you may be opening yourself up to liability from your local shire or neighbour.
If you have considered the environmental effects of canopy reduction of your trees, then we can help.
I’ve put a few photos of some recent work where a house extension had been planned, solar panels had just been installed and the owner was interesting in maximising the energy gained during the day.
His 11am solar input went from 260 kWh to 2800 kWh. Over 10 times!
With careful planning and analyse of your vegetation problem, we can trim, prune or remove the trees you require to improve your solar power system or satellite reception.
Did another job in Kinglake earlier today, removing fire killed and damaged trees from a block.
Hazard trees still posing a threat to the rebuilding effort in Kinglake and Marysville are carefully monitored for defects and future failures.
We removed a number of Blackwoods and Mountain Ash which hadn’t survived the fire, and pruned two Mountain Grey Gums.
Joe Harris from ‘into trees‘ assisted in the tree works. The photos were taking from Kinglake Central with the backdrop of Melbourne (DSE had a big burn on today, so it was a bit smokey around the state).
We had a mature Mountain Ash to fall recently in Sherbrooke. We had a set of tree jacks to test, so we set them up and tipped it over.
The tree was completely dead, and was standing up quite straight – wedging isn’t really practical in this situation.
Click on the pictures to see a larger version. We do tree removals all throughout Cardinia and the Yarra Ranges.
Whilst many of our photos are from Sherbrooke, Olinda, Mount Dandenong, Ferny Creek, Sassafras and Menzies Creek, we also work in the surrounding suburbs of
Emerald, Cockatoo, Avonsleigh, Clematis, Belgrave, Monbulk, Kallista, Upwey, Ferntree Gully, Tecoma, Yellingbo.
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Removed several dead trees from a home in Avonsleigh that were over the top of the children’s cubby house, neighbours clothes line, fence, garden, gazebo and an incinerator.
Nothing was damaged, and the job was done using our well adapted dead tree removal techniques.
When the opposing pendulums system was developed, there was no literature or evidence that such a system had been developed ever before. Graeme wrote a paper on the successes of the system and submitted it to the “Journal of Arboriculture“, however it was later published in ArborAge magazine in the 2000 October/November edition (Vol. 5, No. 3). You can download the abridged ArborAge Opposing Pendulums Article.
We regularly present this rigging system in advanced rigging seminars as a potential solution to difficult tree removals. If you are interested in having this system presented at your next arboriculture conference, rigging conference or company training day, check out our seminars page.
A few pics from the Grants Picnic Ground Removals. Quite a number of mature Eucalyptus regnans were removed from the picnic area for public safety.
