Tree down - anything I'm missing here?

[rudysmallfry]

There's a small tree that's been down for awhile. I offered to take it as firewood. What is the safest way to go about getting this done? I'm thinking take that upper limb from near the trunk and then just take it apart on the ground, but not sure if I'm missing anything. I'm pretty good with the chain saw but usually the wood gets to me in nice already bucked rounds. Any advice would be appreciated. Also curious what species this is.

 

[Dan Freeman]

2nd picture...is that all branches or vines? Almost looks like some trees I've had on my property that were covered with thick, overgrown poison ivy vines that grew up the trees over many years. I let the trees be. You can still get PI from the dormant vines.

 

[tebenhoh]

You want to find out where all the weight is, I can’t tell well enough from the photos. If you can safely reach the limbs off of the ground, I would start there - anything suspended should cut easily and fall to the ground. Be very careful when you get to the load bearing part; it’s a lot of weight, and you need to figure out which way it’s going to move before you cut into it. Unless you have a machine you can move/roll it with? Be safe!

 

[PaulOinMA]

Never knew poison ivy made woody climbing vines until we bought a house. Always saw it as a ground ivy as a kid.

Was clearing the tree line and drinking coffee.

Was itchy late morning and thinking I hadn't had jock itch since I was a kid playing organized basketball. Then it hit me.

 

[Dan Freeman]

Never knew poison ivy made woody climbing vines until we bought a house. Always saw it as a ground ivy as a kid.

Was clearing the tree line and drinking coffee.

Was itchy late morning and thinking I hadn't had jock itch since I was a kid playing organized basketball. Then it hit me.

I never saw them like that either until I bought my property back in 1995. I've seen PI vines as thick as your arm climbing up trees 30-40 feet off the ground.

 

[Ashful]

Always safest for a beginner to work top-down, as much as is possible without cutting overhead. Those horizontal limbs suspended off the ground have weight, and a leverage advantage on that. By working top-down and in smaller increments, you can avoid cutting in a spot where leverage and weight will result in anything too exciting.

That said, if I were doing it myself, and having quite a bit of practice in reading which way things are going to fall and roll, I'd likely make my first cut just above the crotch, my second 15 feet above that, my third cut 15 feet below, and my fourth at the (assumed) buttress to the uprooted mess at the bottom. Then I'd back my trailer up to the whole mess, and start winching 15 foot lengths onto the trailer.

 

[Ashful]

I never saw them like that either until I bought my property back in 1995. I've seen PI vines as thick as your arm climbing up trees 30-40 feet off the ground.

Ditto. Prior owner of this property got lazy as he aged, and we had at least a dozen trees with vines as big in diameter as a man's arm climbing into them, when I moved in. I cut them off close to the ground, and painted their "stumps" with Triclopyr, but was pretty much stuck in leaving the vines themselves mostly hanging from the trees. For several years after, we'd have big Tarzan-like vines swinging from the trees in every storm, until they all eventually dried enough to break up and fall out.

 

[PaulOinMA]

I swung way out on a vine as a kid playing Tarzan. Didn't realize it goes right back to the tree. Hit full force with my back. Lay crumpled on the ground for a while. No sense in crying. My parents were in the house.

 

[Simonkenton]

Could be locust, if it is Praise God.
Start at the top and work your way down, no problem.

 

[rudysmallfry]

Could be locust, if it is Praise God.
Start at the top and work your way down, no problem.

That would be worth the poison ivy issue I suppose.

 

[Eman85]

Do you have to clean up the mess? The vines look like poison Ivy which if you're allergic is going to be a problem. Ignoreing the vine problem I'd trim and limb what's on the ground and then drop the upper limb. If the cleanup is on you I'd probably pass.

 

[Kevin Weis]

Doesn't look like Black Locust to me. With all those PI vines and that size a tree I'd pass but that's me.

 

[rudysmallfry]

I'm not allergic to PI, but I wouldn't enjoy itching for weeks either. Maybe I'll grab just a small piece, split it and repost for ID before taking the plunge. I have lots of free Oak/Maple coming, so no reason to waste time on that if it's nothing but headaches.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Former colleague, toxicologist, told me that a significant exposure could make one sensitized.

 

[PaulOinMA]

Looks like what he told me is true. Just did a search. No one is born with sensitivity to poison ivy. If exposed enough, you may get sensitized.

A former colleague told me that she would make her husband strip, throw his clothes in the washing machine, and shower after spreading mulch. She said mulch may have poison ivy, and she was very sensitive.

 

[Ashful]

Not sure why everyone is so worried about the PI. Grab and axe and you'd have it removed without much effort or any necessary exposure. I've dealt with worse.

If the axe is too close and personal, a pole saw cutting on the top of the bar, such that all waste ejects away from you, is another way to separate the vines from the tree. But it's December, I assume you're not working in shorts and a tee shirt, anyway.

Just don't burn it. I also did that once.

 

[CincyBurner]

Check further into ID of vine. Can you get close up pics of:

• mature vine
• closeup of twig/ bud.

VT Dendro - Poison Ivy factsheet​

In addition to its 3-leaves, PI has characteristic hairy vine. If it's PI any other further discussion about how to clear is academic.
You definitely don't want to mess with cutting into a load of fresh/ green PI vines with chainsaw. It will spray PI juices back onto you.
Had a colleague who needed to clear PI during an emergency. He covered himself with sweatshirt, thinking he'd shower off. He still got PI badly (head to toe), and as others have posted, he become sensitized to it.

 

[Ashful]

Had a colleague who needed to clear PI during an emergency. He covered himself with sweatshirt, thinking he'd shower off. He still got PI badly (head to toe), and as others have posted, he become sensitized to it.

I suspect he was already sensitive to it, to some degree, and this event may have just made him more acutely aware of it.

Results may vary, but I have bucked trees with arm-diameter PI vines wrapped around them more than once, and as long as I'm wearing long pants, long-sleeve shirt and gloves, I've never had much of an issue. I have had a few pink bumps show up around the wrists or collar, where some dust or chips got in, but usually gone within a day if I come home and scrub with Tecnu soap within a reasonable time after cutting. Maybe I'm uniquely "insensitive", but I don't think so.

I usually try to kick or pry them off before cutting, if I can, but some big vines are just wrapped to well on the tree to let go until after you buck the rounds.

 

[peakbagger]

I was one of those immune to poison ivy until one summer surveying. I was obviously exposed and got it on my hands. It was a hot day and I must have wiped my face. I got a real bad rash in the face and had to take steroids to knock it down. I know several others who were the same way including a fee who took a leak and got it on their privates. The exposure builds up, some folk can get to the point that if there is brush fire nearby enough of it can get in the air that their lungs can get the rash.

There are couple of good videos on You Tube about working with poison ivy. It takes several hours to start doing the damage so if someone cleans up correctly after the exposure they will not get the rash. The problem is the oil that does the damage sticks like grease so cleaning it off requires scrubbing or some sort of detergent that will break it down. One of them uses heavy black grease to illustrate how well the ivy oil sticks. If you have black grease on your hands and you touch any other part of your body, the grease transfers, same with poison ivy oil. It got be scrubbed off with soap. Same with getting it on clothes, hot water helps but its has to be abraded off.

Barrier creams applied prior to exposure can help. Its a commercial product that you apply like suntan lotion and then it sets up into a barrier that keeps oils and chemical from binding to the skin. It then washes off with some scrubbing at the end of the exposure. I find it works pretty well if you are using gloves but it can wear off during the day with abrasion.

 

[Simonkenton]

Poison ivy doesn't bother me. When I was 6 years old, I was out in the woods with my buddy Michael. We found a big poison ivy vine, and I told Michael if he had the nerve to eat a big leaf, I would too. We both ate fresh green poison ivy leaves the size of my palm. Michael got covered with poison ivy, even on his eyelids, and had to go to the doctor. And our parents said, "Michael! Simon!! You ate what??" Our parents didn't know whether to whip our ass, or to send us to a psychiatrist. I didn't get sick. True story. I may have invented a vaccine against poison ivy.

I am still immune to poison ivy. Up here in the NC mountains we have enormous poison ivy vines, 3 inch diameter and running right to the top of 90 foot trees. I have cut big vines in two on 30 or 40 trees, just to kill the PI. I have wacked a dozen locust trees that were covered in PI vines, that's why I said that tree might be locust. As someone said, cutting poison ivy with a chain saw, you get sprayed with poison ivy juice. Doesn't bother me.

The only way poison ivy affects me is, if I have a fresh nick on my arm, a place where I got pricked by a thorn, and if I get poison ivy juice in that fresh nick, I will get a poison ivy infection about the size of a penny. I must say that is not pleasant. However the little poison ivy infection does not spread and it goes away in a few days.

 

[Ashful]

My favorite way to deal with those big PI vines is to wait until all the brush has died back in mid-winter, grab my 2-bit axe, and cut a foot-long section out each vine near the ground. Then I pour a little triclopyr (eg. Ortho Brush-B-Gone) full-strength into a yogurt cup, and paint both exposed ends with the product using a throw-away chip brush.

Winter is a great time to do the cutting, not only because there's less brush, bugs, and because there's no PI leaves to rub up against, but I also believe the oils and water in the vine itself are at their yearly low. The only thing is that absorption of the chemical is also at its yearly low, so you may want to repeat the "painting" process in early spring, before everything starts pushing out a lot of growth.

Do note that glyphosate will rarely kill large PI vines. They don't love the stuff, but it won't kill them either. Of things available OTC, triclopyr seems to be the best product.

 

[CincyBurner]

I may have invented a vaccine against poison ivy.

That's the basis of Samuel Hahnemann's alternative medicine of homeopathy, where a diluted preparation of the substance causing a disease is ingested in belief that it will prevent or cure disease.
There's still some arborists that ingest prepared dilution, such as Oral Ivy in weeks prior to work season.

I am still immune to poison ivy.

That used to be my thinking as well, but having seen and heard of a few cases of those with contact with PI with no issues, including my colleague who is an arborist and would have periodic contact with PI without issue, I'm thinking that that for some individuals a singular bad event might push them into hypersensitivity.

healthline.com poison-ivy-immunity​

 

[CincyBurner]

If the axe is too close and personal, a pole saw cutting on the top of the bar, such that all waste ejects away from you,

That's worked well for me too. One isn't producing a high-speed stream of chips back at you.
Unfortunately, their are situations where one doesn't have a choice to refuse like first-responder clearance of roadways. Sometimes cutting techniques, and equipment (grapple crane) can mitigate or limit exposure.
I typically get a few only a few red bumps from PI, but I am cognizant that the PI oil, urushiol acts like 'grease' and as peakbagger recommended to treat PI exposure with soap/ detergent.

 

[Ashful]

What is funny is that after more than a page of poison ivy talk, we don’t even know if these vines are PI. We get some big poison ivy vines around here, but overwhelmingly, the vast majority of vines that look like those in this photo would be grape vine, at least around here.

 

[Simonkenton]

Look at that, I was right in there with Samuel Hahnemann, at just 6 years of age. I should have gotten the Kindergarten Nobel Prize in Medicine.