Hi all. Future wood lot owner or tree farmer here. Wondering if anyone ever pays attention to pruning of their wood lot. It seems to me that a couple days work every five to ten years would make a HUGE difference in the quality of timbers harvested. I've got my hot little hands on a book on growing veneer quality trees,, but wondering if anyone goes out with a pole pruner and nips off limbs before they become massive knots.
Hopefully this is food for discussion.
dave

Hi Dave,

Yes I possess and use a Silky high pruning saw. I use this mainly on softwood trees and tend to remove only dead branches to a height of about 16 - 18 ft. Above this height the saw becomes very whippy and the angle of cut steepens such that one has to stand too close to the tree trunk and therefore within the target drop zone of the falling branches. You will also need to wear eye and head protection. Sawdust raining down is a major nuisance and I have found that wearing a baseball type hat is ideal.

I cleaned all of my softwoods about 10 years ago when they were in the 30 - 40" BHG region and really I should have done this a bit earlier. I would caution against removing large live branches on softwoods since this can result in large amounts of resin weepage and in some species the formation of bulbous callouses e.g. especially Norwegian spruce. I have had good clean results from Douglas Fir, Cedar and Larch which have healed over real quick. Ideally branches should be no larger than 1 - 2" and removal of live branches of this size and greater runs the risk of allowing pathogens to enter the tree.

The downside to this practice is that the woodland floor becomes littered with branches which makes negotiation through the woodlot more difficult and increases the prospect of foot & leg wounds and tyre punctures so I tend to gather and stack fallen branches in heaps to provide better access and also to provide wild life refuge habitat and encourage rotting down. I have found that a major safety benefit to high pruning softwoods is that there is no longer a danger of getting a poke in the eye from a sharp stick and owls seem to frequent the wood more being able to fly unimpeded through the trees. It becomes much easier to look up into the canopy and make better decisions about which trees should be selectively removed and there are also less incidents due to hang up on branches as a tree is felled.

I have not had good luck with high pruning deciduous trees like oak, ash, etc. The saw can bind in the kerf as the branch sags as the cut proceeds and care needs to be taken on live branches to make 2 pruning cuts - one to drop the branch and one to remove the branch peg. This is because deciduous branches have a nasty habit of tearing the bark back along the underside of the branch.

In medieval times commoners were allowed and indeed most probably encouraged to remove deciduous tree branches to a height of about 16 feet for cutting up and stacking into firewood bundles (faggotts [from the Latin fagisti]) and this process gave rise to the right of gathering firewood in some woodlands however this had to be done "by hook or by crook" and so it was not a right to cut down trees. Most medieval buildings are 16 - 17 feet wide and this timber length fits rather nicely with high pruning practice.

The major downside of high pruning is that it results in a major crick in the neck and is thus best tackled in easy stages.

Regards

Ken Hume

Ken.
Thanks for your insight. More owls would be reason enough for me! I suppose It is more of a practice when starting out a tree lot with new trees. (which I aspire to do!)

Cheers!
dave

From an old forestry book ~1950's, which unfortunately has flown the coop, it was suggested to never remove more than 1/3 of the crown at a time. It was definitely worth pruning the first 16', a toss up on the next 16' and a loss to prune the next 16'. They also said it begins to pay off 40 years after pruning in quantity of clear lumber produced. That would vary greatly if timbers are desired though. Its a pretty nice way to spend a few hours in the woods.

I like to get into the timber stand in the winter, it allows an extra 2'-3' of height on top of the snow. Also it is colder and less of a chance for infection. Most of what I am taking off is already dead.

Tim

i've been doing this on the advice of a woodlot manager/sawyer - it should make a difference to the quality of wood in the future, but it definitely makes the bushes nicer to walk through. plus it has you looking up the trees and paying attention to them in relation to each other, maybe making thinning decisions, and thinking about the selection of trees you have.

i find this something to do in spurts, both to keep your neck healthy as mentioned, and to make it manageable to make brushpiles of the branches.

this is a very satisfying job- i feel elf-like doing it.

I need elf time for sure! And would love to massage a wood lot to my liking!
dave

The elves are butting heads in our wood lot.
I look at a tree and see a good post that could be a better beam in another 5 yrs., my father sees easy splitting firewood...

Sounds like a wise old man is going to get his firewood delivered