Taking down the big Euc.

 Taking down the big Euc.

In the middle of the Rectangular field there is a patch of pure Eucalypts. They are of mainly 3 species  gunnii, glaucescens and dalrympeana. They were moved from the lowest part of the Triangular field after the flood of winter 2012 and planted at 1.5m spacing. The trees are of mixed diameters and mainly 40-50foot tall. The area to the East of them has been felled as part of the 2022/23 planting and they were felled before planting in this area commenced. (See Preparing for the 22/23 Planting season). The idea being to be able to fell into the cleared area without damaging any other trees large or small. They would also provide the wood fuel for 23/4 winter.

The last Euc standing.
The foreground has Alder and Poplar stumps.
The Euc stumps are further back. 

The Eucs on the South side of the block had grown best. The two largest were E. dalrympleana. The largest had been coppiced 3 years before. It's coppice regrowth is the euc to the right of the big one in the picture.

Thin etiolated stems and regrowth from previously cut stems were left to grow on. One, the other large dalrympleana remained. It could not be felled in a direction without risking other trees. I wanted to take it down as the longer it remained the bigger and more difficult it would be. It had been forked and the smaller northern limb had been removed.  

Almost no collateral damage.
Mainly Luck.

It's natural direction of fall was to the south on top of a row of not particularly fine
trees but if it fell on them it's height would demolish at least 10, a risk worth taking. I decided to fell just above the fork. The diameter was much less than lower down where my 12" chainsaw would not be able to make a simple cut. This would mean cutting from a tripod step ladder. Not a decision I made lightly. Two ratchet straps were attached above the prospective cut and tightened. They were fixed to trees in the rows either side of the row the Euc would likely fall on. On a dead still day it was cut down. When it did fall it went down between two rows of trees causing little damage to the trees. I do not claim any credit for this. The taller trees in the rows will have guided it down. I now have to cut it up and move it. With all the fuel size Eucs down I can start clearing the area building deer barriers and replacing the few gaps in the planting.

The forked area of the stump is an intrinsic weakness. (see Splitting Logs) The two limbs do not fuse and water can get between them causing rot or an instability which cases one limb to be blown down, sometimes followed by the other.  One of the main reasons for removing the fork the previous year. The cut limb had already produced coppice, strictly pollard, regrowth which I wished to preserve. Instead of cutting the raw ragged stump off cleanly I tried to cut through the main limb leaving the previous one.

The cut made the stub then had to be removed by splitting the bit before it was possible to get behind it and lever off the whole section. The cut went into the remaining limb rather further than I had hoped. Only time will tell how successful it has been. 

Removing the forked joint.

The junction between the two limbs can be seen in the third photo. The originally cut limb has been partially surrounded by the other. The live bark can be seen in the fourth photo to have been under cut and may not heal. White fungal hyphae can also be seen on the outside of the bark. How the tree responds will be interesting. My guess is that the established regrowth will make fuel logs. Hopefully the fresh cut will also regrow. 

For the record the cut length was 13.50 m to the top leaf and the height to the cut on the stump 2.09m total 15.59m or 51 ft. The girth of the stump at breast height was 1.05 m just over 13" diameter.