Tree Trimming

Another nice day Wednesday. Most of the day was sunny but clouds arrived late afternoon in advance of our next weather front and rain.

I took advantage of the good weather and pruned my apple trees a little bit. I prefer to prune in December. When I have done so I got apples the next season. Once when I pruned late Spring the apple trees did not blossom and no apples. This year the trees still appear to be dormant so I hope my pruning does not prevent blossoms and apples this year.

After I pruned my apples trees I turned my attention to my willow tree between the house and garage. It is large and old and sickly. When I say large, I mean large around and tall. The tree towers higher than the house.

I extended my long extension ladder to its maximum then climbed up the ladder and into the tree. I climbed up the tree trunk threading my way through a few curly branches. From here I could reach high enough to cut some of the top branches.

There was barely a breeze which made being high in the tree easier to handle. Still as I cut some of the larger branches I could feel the tree trunk move.

It was difficult to cut the first branch, which was about 8 inches in diameter. Leaning against the tree with my leg and knee I had to use my right arm and stretch up to cut the branch. The cutting was slow as I had to frequently rest.

Once I finally cut through the branch it fell to the ground with a mighty thud. Since the ground was frozen the branch didn't make a crater.

Then I decided to cut a branch on my left side. I didn't have to reach quite as far, and being left handed, this 6 inch cut went far quicker. As the branch fell the tip fell against a power line running from the house to the garage. The power line is wrapped around a steel cable so nothing was broken. *whew*

I trimmed a few small branches on my climb back down. I have more large branches to cut but I felt this was enough for one day. That turned out to be the right decision as I wasn't very sore from the cutting the next morning.

Here is a photo of the tree taken last Fall. The photo doesn't give justice to how tall the tree is.

The part of the tree I climbed was the left side. I climbed as high as where the power lines cross the photo.

The first large branch I cut can't be seen as it is hidden by other branches. The second branch is the one that comes out this way. From this angle it tends to blend in with the large branch that curves to the right.

I plan to cut the smaller branch that appears to grow straight up. I also want to cut the branch that curves to the right. This branch will be the tricky branch to cut as I haven't figured out how I will do this.