Tree Lopping, Removal, Pruning and Mulching in the Dandenong Ranges
Sherbrooke Tree Service removes tree’s of all sizes, and can have your tree simply dropped our completely removed using our chipper and excavator!
You can keep the mulch, or have us take it away and dispose of it.
Contact us to arrange an obligation free quote.
I was contract climbing for a Yarra Ranges based tree company a few months ago, and this photo was taken as I took the top of the tree out and caught it on rope.
This meant we could preserve the owners precious garden below, but still remain efficient in the tree removal process.
Angus takes the top of the tree out, and catches it on rope; allowing it to be safely lowered to the ground without damage to the garden below.
We service all of the Dandenong Ranges in the Shire of Yarra Ranges.
Some of our services include
Contact us for more information!
We had two interesting jobs on today – one at William Ricketts Sanctuary and another at Burnham Beeches.
This brief post is about the job at Burnham Beeches where we used a helicopter to remove some storm damaged limbs from the forth story roof of the building.
There was insufficient access to use a crane, and a large crane would still not do the job as efficiently. There were no significant highpoints within reach of the roof top, and extensive gardens either side of the building would not allow material to be thrown from the roof.
The sheer volume of the branches, spread over two storeys would have meant they would need to be propped to stop the branches from falling further and doing any more damage.
When we release a longer video, there will be a more in depth explanation of why we used a helicopter for tree lopping and storm damage in the circumstance – compared to conventional rigging or craning techniques.
Special thanks to Mike Dunn from Heli-Serv (www.heli-serv.com) and Tim Shannon.
Had a job last week where a 70 feet tall dead tree had fallen into another tree over the top of a shed. I snapped a photo with my phone I descended onto it to work.
Looking down onto the uprooted tree over the shed.
After setting a large lowering line in another tree, I abseiled onto the tree below and tied it slightly back from the lowering centre point. This would ensure that as the tree is lowered the attachment point doesn’t shift too far ahead.
I then sent another line opposing the direction the tree will move as it loads up on the top line. This allows me to avoid shock loading the system, and complete control over where the tree goes. Another risk in shock loading the tree was the entire tree could possible snap in half as all its weight is put on one part. Gentle is best.
I then cut and lowered on branches that would affect the tree being lowered. After putting significant pre-load on the lowering device I positioning myself above the tree I was lowering, used a pinch-bar to lever it off the tree it was sitting on.
Then working the two ropes simultaneously lower the tree down.
Looking between the tree's and the corner of the shed: The tree was lowered in between with absolute control.
The photo above is looking down from the top of the trunk, showing the tight squeeze where the tree was lowered.
By using efficient rigging techniques, this job was done in just over an hour. Achieving the same outcome using a travel tower would have taken significantly longer and in this situation been more expensive.
We provide advanced tree climbing and tree rigging services to other tree companies and work throughout Cardinia Shire, including Cockatoo, Emerald, Avonsleigh, Macclesfield and Gembrook.
Our new Rayco mulcher has arrived and it got a test run at One Tree Hill on Mt Dandenong. We fell two tree’s then chipped the heads and branches.
The 8″ chipper can be towed behind a standard four wheel drive, and is fantastic for jobs where there are access limitations.
The mulch is produces is fine and consistent, fantastic to handle.
Our new chipper, chipping the tree branches back into the forest.
The two tree’s were part of a fire break easement that we were helping to clear. The wood was put into the forest using our excavator with the log grab.
By using our excavator on jobs like this, the manual, back breaking work of cutting up all the wood and rolling it aside is forgotten – allowing us to be more efficient and safer.
Graeme carrys a log down the hill while rolling another with the excavator with the log grab.
We hired one of Red Roo’s 730X chippers for some work we were doing in the Alfred Nicolas Gardens which is part of the Dandenong Ranges. Jim Kerr from Red Roo kindly took some video of the chipper doing what it does best.
Some quick snaps of the vegetation management work we are doing on Mount Bogong.
All of the tree assessments indicated that there was a significant threat to power transmission and distribution services. We have been engaged to remove trees that pose immediate threats to assets. We are also required to prune and monitor trees that are of moderate risk. Being alpine terrain there are a number of environmental issues we must constantly assess, on a tree-to-tree basis.
We were back on Mt Dandenong today. Tree lopping for something different. A few photos of PNF’s 18M travel tower.
PnFs 18M travel tower
The 18M travel tower next to the 160M tower
Ace Tree had their chipper out.
Deciding which tree to chip next
A large Eucalyptus regnans out the front of William Ricketts sanctuary needed to be removed. William Ricketts Sanctuary is located in Melbourne’s south-east in the Dandenong ranges, and is managed by Parks Victoria.
Graeme accesses the tree and rigs a branch for lowering.
Lowering the branches using a variety of techniques.
The newest employee of Sherbrooke Tree Service has arrived.
Our new excavator arrived just before Christmas. This will be used primary for the tree lopping and track maintenance work we do in Cardinia Shire and Yarra Ranges Shire. The excavator has a log grab, or ‘beck’, that is used to grab hold of logs and trees to reduce our handling time. During the fire clean up post Black Saturday, machines like this were invaluable for crews in handling large trees and branches. The excavator will have an angle grinder attachment in the near future, which will make large metal cutting a lot easier.
This excavator will also save a lot of the back breaking work involved in track clearing and track maintenance – another service which we provide as part of our tree hazard reduction in high visitation areas.
Used in tandem with our Lucas Mill, moving logs in and out of the processing area will be a lot simpler too!
Similar to Grants Picnic Ground removal, Graeme hangs the tree upside down and then uses a crane from Campbell Cranes to lift the long limbs off.
Ace Tree and Ace Tower were there on the day helping us out with their chipper and 60m Tower. Once the limbs were removed, the heads were felled and the log sections lifted.
A number of tree’s were vandalised in the Otway Ranges in an area called “Triplet Falls”. Sherbrooke Tree Service was engaged to safely remove the semi-mature mountain ash from the affected area with minimal damage to the under story below. In this short video, Graeme takes the top of the Eucalyptus regnans.
This climbing video is also on youtube in HD!
Graeme descends onto a dead and rotten tree so that he can safely work on it. After lopping out the head, the rest of the tree is blocked down.
When the tree we are removing is too dangerous to climb or be attached to normally, tree loppers will often gain access from another high point. This particular Mountain Ash was over the top of a high visitation walking track, and was one of several dead Eucalyptus regnans that needed to be removed for public safety.
On Sherbrooke Tree Services second visit to the Tahune Airwalk in Tasmania’s south-west, we removed a large dead Eucalyptus regnans from alongside the airwalk. There were a number of difficulties in climbing this tree, as it was so dead there was very little holding the tree up. The whole stem was oscillating as Graeme spur climbed it, and since there were no high points anywhere near the tree, access was very slow.
In the first video, the location of Tahune and some of the access difficulties are shown. Even with the top of the tree gone the stem still stood approximately 30m over the top of the 30m high platform.
Graeme lead climbed the trunk using ratchet straps. These provided a dual purpose; they held the tree from falling apart, and allowed Graeme to clip his climbing through.
In the second video, the tree is being blocked down. Scott Sharpe uses a pulley system to rig the trunk sections over as Graeme cut them. During this video, the stabilising lines can be clearly seen. These stabilising lines were pre tensioned to 1000kg, and were offset 90 degrees from each other.
This large dead Eucalyptus regnans was threatening a viewing platform over the top of Olinda Falls in Yarra Ranges Shire. The tree had a bee’s nest, and had a thin shell at the base which had been burnt out in a previous bushfire. After using explosives to safely remove the large limbs, Graeme then fell the head away from the viewing platform into the forest.
The large dead Mountain Ash seen in this video was hanging precariously over the newly built Olinda Falls viewing platform. In particularly, three large limbs were pulling a lot of the trees weight.
At the base of the tree, the stump was so severely burnt out that only a small semi-circle shell around 80mm thick held the tree. This was extremely brittle and extended nearly 40′ above, where it formed back into a chimney.
Around 120′ from ground level was a large bee’s nest. The risk that was facing Parks Victoria meant something needed to be done to mitigate the hazard so as to allow visitors to use the platform as expected.
In this situation Graeme elected to pre-rig the three limbs, and then cut them with explosives. This had a number of safety advantages;
- No-one needed to be under the tree as it was shock loaded with the limb being cut-off
- Graeme didn’t need to be in the tree as it could potentially pull out of the ground, or snap off above him as the tree was loaded up by the branches
- The limbs were so long that traversing out and lopping was not an option given the tree’s condition
- Long term exposure at 80′ was likely to attract unwanted attention from the Bee’s nest
The video shows one limb being severed with explosives, and then being caught on rope.
In the main entrance to Sherbrooke Forest, there was a large Eucalyptus regnans which had three 120′ long branches overhanging the car parking area. Graeme removed these by lopping each and catching it onto itself in order to protect the facilities below. To do this safely, Graeme needed to be able to egress from the departing limb and stay clear of the spar. The video shown is the first of three.