Upon to tackle this huge hedge tree in the middle of my sons circle drive...I have the equipment to do it...but it is huge...lots of work...
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Debating...
- Thread starter Tar12
- Start date
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Looks like a nice tree. Why do they want to remove it? Is it sick or dead?
A little of both and it is splitting...his wife runs a daycare out of the house and cars must pass under it.
Don't look at it as a lot of work.
It is a whole lot of little jobs strung together.
You will be surprised at how fast it will go when
you do it one small job at a time
It is a whole lot of little jobs strung together.
You will be surprised at how fast it will go when
you do it one small job at a time
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Caw
Minister of Fire
We don't have hedge around here but everyone always raves about how it burns. Seems like a win win as long as you can do it safely!
What’s the debate about if it’s going to be a problem tree then cut it up or you could just prune it back. Thats a dandy, maybe cut some posts out of it then use the rest for firewood. See, you didn’t need me to bring out any Osage you’ve got your own.Upon to tackle this huge hedge tree in the middle of my sons circle drive...I have the equipment to do it...but it is huge...lots of work...
MoDoug
Minister of Fire
Caw
Minister of Fire
What I meant to say is that it's total crap wood, dangerous in fact. You should send that up here to MA for your own safety. I have a 65k BTU/hr unit that specializes in proper disposal of such wood. 
Looks to me that the biggest PITA is dealing with the branches. If you know its going, I would girdle the tree to cut back on it leafing out and rent a chipper to deal with the tops. I try to drop all my trees in the winter to not have to deal with leaves. Its cuts the volume of stuff to move around down by 90%.
mpaul
Burning Hunk
Or you can let it sit and hope a limb doesn’t land on someone resulting in a whole lot of other issues. Best to tackle the job now before it bites you.
Caw
Minister of Fire
I second the renting a chipper idea. There's a lot of useless small stuff on that tree. Can make some nice mulch or fire pit fodder.
Grizzerbear
Minister of Fire
Like jimbear said you could cut the 4-8 inch limb wood into 8-9 ft lengths and sell them as corner, brace, and line posts or keep them if you need them for fence yourself. The rest keep for firewood. That's a good one. I would start with one of the branching trunks that are under the rest....so you don't have to worry about it catching the top of another ..... and get it down, bucked up and out of the way of people pulling in and out and repeat.
This is the biggest one i have encountered..there are many hedge rows plants around fields here in certain areas...they can get very large...back in the day they were used for fence post and firewood and did get as large as they do now...
I have found that a pole saw will be your best friend when dealing with Osage. I use mine to trim all the low hanging limbs & stickers then drag them out of the way. After I fall the trees I use the pole saw to trim the limbs. It’s much easier to poke the pole saw into that mess to trim the limbs than with a chainsaw.
MoDoug
Minister of Fire
@Tar12 , just curious, does that one produce hedge apples? If so, I bet that's thing drops a bunch of them, wouldn't want to park a car under it. The hedge tree has a very interesting history, originally (since the ice age at least) it was only native to parts of Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Here's an interesting read on it. (broken link removed to https://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1995/11/enduring-osage-orange)
I like this paragraph in the article, "In the 1860s, the Osage orange market went wild. Prices jumped from $8 a bushel to $50 a bushel. In one year alone, 18,000 bushels of seeds were shipped to the northwest United States - enough seed to plant over 100,000 miles of Osage orange hedge! "Hedge mania," as one newspaper called it, was rampant".
Another article shows fossils of osage orange originally grew well out it's "native range", before the ice age.
With all the thorns and intertwining branches, I could see where a pole saw, as @JimBear mentions, would be very helpful.
I like this paragraph in the article, "In the 1860s, the Osage orange market went wild. Prices jumped from $8 a bushel to $50 a bushel. In one year alone, 18,000 bushels of seeds were shipped to the northwest United States - enough seed to plant over 100,000 miles of Osage orange hedge! "Hedge mania," as one newspaper called it, was rampant".
Another article shows fossils of osage orange originally grew well out it's "native range", before the ice age.
With all the thorns and intertwining branches, I could see where a pole saw, as @JimBear mentions, would be very helpful.
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It will still be more than a fruitless endeavor.
MoDoug
Minister of Fire
LOL, You are correct sir, it will also be a hedge investment.
Hopefull you have help, a cold beer, and can be a hedge fun manager. Please don't block me.
That tree is so pretty I hate to see it cut down--can't you kind of trim it for your son and cut back all the dead branches so that the birdies will be able to have it for nesting and perching and loving and things like that for I am a birdie lover and have a loft but just some worthless pigeons but that tree is just so pretty wish you could save it even if it has no apples. It will save you some work and you drink a cold beverage as well...clancey
