Cutting Down Crabapple Trees
Maintaining a healthy landscape sometimes means cutting down trees.
I love trees and always feel bad when trees are cut down. Trees are crucial to our environment - they provide breathable oxygen, they absorb carbon dioxide and potentially harmful gasses, and they help create an ecosystem of food for birds and other animals. However, occasionally trees need to be removed. In the back hayfield just off the carriage road is a grove of spruce trees. At some point, we had planted a few crabapple trees in the same area, but after years of growth, they began to block out light, killing various branches from the neighboring spruce. Yesterday, I instructed my crew to take the crabapple trees down. The cut tree wood will be added to the pile for the tub grinder, and be turned into usable nutrient-rich mulch.
Here are some photos, enjoy.
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- This is the back hayfield at my Bedford, NewYork farm. On the right is the giant sycamore tree – the symbol of Cantitoe Corners. this tree is the biggest tree on the property and one of my favorites.
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- The sycamore sits on one end of this large field, where we grow lots of hay every year for my horses, Fell pony and donkeys. It is surrounded by a carriage road and many beautiful trees – some I planted and others that are original to the farm.
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- At this curve in the road not far from what I call my run-in paddock is this grove of evergreen spruce and deciduous crabapple trees.
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- Do you know how to tell a spruce from a pine? One easy tip to remember: on pine trees, needles are attached to the branches in clusters; however, on spruce trees such as this one, needles are attached individually to the branch.
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- Over the years as the crabapples grew, they also blocked important light from reaching the spruce trees. They also crowded them and blocked good air circulation, so I decided they should be felled. Here is one of the crabapples planned for removal.
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- Not long ago, I tagged the trees with metal tape to indicate which specimens should be cut down. There was absolutely no confusion.
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- Here, Ryan assesses the back side of one of the spruce trees – many of the branches died because they were blocked from the light.
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- Ryan prunes the dead branches. Dead limbs won’t regrow, so they should be cut off. This can be done at any time of year.
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- Ryan’s cuts begin just outside the branch bark ridge and angles down away from the stem of the tree, avoiding injury to the branch collar.
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- Here, Ryan also cuts some of the crabapple branches, so it is easier for the main tree stem to be cut down.
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- Pete is next. He removes the rest of the tree using one of our trusted STIHL chainsaws.
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- Our crew is very skilled at operating these tools. We’ve been using STIHL equipment for many years. A chainsaw can substantially reduce the time and effort required to chop, shape, and cut wood.
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- Slowly, the tree is smaller and more manageable. Pete cuts it in sections, so it is easier to carry pieces away.
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- Here he makes the final cut, leaving only a stump in its place.
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- I am fortunate to be able to reuse, recycle, and repurpose trees here at the farm. Once trees are cut down, they are either repurposed as milled lumber, wood chips, or ground and left to decay and made into garden dressings, such as mulch and compost.
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- This is a very busy time of year for my outdoor grounds crew. As the trees are cut and the woods “cleaned,” branches are piled neatly to one side so they are easy to collect and take to the compost yard.
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- Here is Jimmy retrieving a section of the just-cut crabapple.
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- And here is Fernando hauling away some of the branches. Fernando has been working with me for 30-years and helps in so many different ways here at the farm.
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- And here is just one load of many ready to be taken to the compost yard and tub grinder.
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- Here is the grove – it looks so much better. It’s not hard to tell when an area is overcrowded. When the branches of adjoining trees touch, the trees need some thinning to ensure good air movement and necessary light. I am glad these evergreens now have more room to grow and thrive. They will soon look much better and be much healthier. We’re getting so much woodland “cleaning” done, but there is still so much more to do.
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