Last night we got a little wind and rain. Not much, but this morning when I went outside, I discovered that my old Widow Maker Dead, Rotted, Birch tree had partially fallen down...
That's about 20 feet of dead tree on the ground. You can see the remainder of the Birch tree still standing about 15 feet tall. This has been a pain in the butt tree because I knew it was all rotted. What you can't see is how badly twisted the tree trunk was when fully standing about 30-40 foot tall.
That tree has been shedding branches for years. If you look at the basketball hoop and backboard, you can see that a branch fell down on it a few years ago and did some damage. I have been cleaning up after that tree for a good 10 years.
For the last ~5 years, I have been trying to figure out how to take down that dead tree without killing myself. The trunk was twisted and the branches up high were not even. I had a hard time knowing which way the tree would fall if I cut it down. As many trees as I have cut down over the years, you get a good idea where the tree wants to fall naturally. But the twisted trunk and offset branches had me second, and third, guessing myself. Add to that I knew the wood was rotted, and those are the worse trees to cut down because you never know how that will affect where it ends up falling. For my skill level, it was a dangerous tree.
Thanks to Mother Nature, more than half the tree is now on the ground. I think the remaining tree trunk will be safer to take down. To give you an idea, that base of the Birch tree is about 2 feet across. When it was 35-40 feet tall, that was just too much rotted wood above me that I had little confidence as to which way it would fall if I cut it down. It's much safer now, but still that base of the tree is all rotted out - so I'm concerned it still could end up falling the wrong way coming down.
Here is a closeup of the rotted wood. As big as those pieces are, they have almost no weight compared to a healthy tree. Well, enough weight to kill you if it fell down on your head, but mostly it is rotted out. I looked it up online and read that this rotted wood can be as much as 70-80% lighter than a healthy tree. I believe that. Still, that remaining 20-30% of weight is enough to kill you if it falls on you!
I am trying to decide what to do with all this rotted wood. Option 1) toss it into the chicken run and let the chickens peck out any ants or termites that are still in the wood. I think the chickens would be happy to explore that rotted wood for insects to eat. The wood can later be covered and composted in the run. It's almost shredded wood in its current state. I think it would make good compost with all my grass clippings and leaves in the run. Option 2) use it in a hĂĽgelkultur raised bed. Rotted wood is always good in a hĂĽgelkultur raised bed and I do that a lot. However, I am wondering if there are still ants and/or termites in the wood and if that would infest my raised bed? Option 3) use the wood to burn out the stump of the tree when I cut down the remaining trunk. I will have to burn out that trunk at some point, but the wood is so rotted that I don't know how well it would serve as burning wood. Burning would be my last option, but it's also the option that requires the least amount of work.
If anyone else has had to deal with a rotted tree trunk and knows how to safely take it down, please let me know. I would also be interested in what others would recommend doing with this rotted wood. I listed my options, in order, of what I think I will do, but I'm open to other suggestions as well. Thanks for any responses.
That's about 20 feet of dead tree on the ground. You can see the remainder of the Birch tree still standing about 15 feet tall. This has been a pain in the butt tree because I knew it was all rotted. What you can't see is how badly twisted the tree trunk was when fully standing about 30-40 foot tall.
That tree has been shedding branches for years. If you look at the basketball hoop and backboard, you can see that a branch fell down on it a few years ago and did some damage. I have been cleaning up after that tree for a good 10 years.
For the last ~5 years, I have been trying to figure out how to take down that dead tree without killing myself. The trunk was twisted and the branches up high were not even. I had a hard time knowing which way the tree would fall if I cut it down. As many trees as I have cut down over the years, you get a good idea where the tree wants to fall naturally. But the twisted trunk and offset branches had me second, and third, guessing myself. Add to that I knew the wood was rotted, and those are the worse trees to cut down because you never know how that will affect where it ends up falling. For my skill level, it was a dangerous tree. Thanks to Mother Nature, more than half the tree is now on the ground. I think the remaining tree trunk will be safer to take down. To give you an idea, that base of the Birch tree is about 2 feet across. When it was 35-40 feet tall, that was just too much rotted wood above me that I had little confidence as to which way it would fall if I cut it down. It's much safer now, but still that base of the tree is all rotted out - so I'm concerned it still could end up falling the wrong way coming down. Here is a closeup of the rotted wood. As big as those pieces are, they have almost no weight compared to a healthy tree. Well, enough weight to kill you if it fell down on your head, but mostly it is rotted out. I looked it up online and read that this rotted wood can be as much as 70-80% lighter than a healthy tree. I believe that. Still, that remaining 20-30% of weight is enough to kill you if it falls on you! I am trying to decide what to do with all this rotted wood. Option 1) toss it into the chicken run and let the chickens peck out any ants or termites that are still in the wood. I think the chickens would be happy to explore that rotted wood for insects to eat. The wood can later be covered and composted in the run. It's almost shredded wood in its current state. I think it would make good compost with all my grass clippings and leaves in the run. Option 2) use it in a hĂĽgelkultur raised bed. Rotted wood is always good in a hĂĽgelkultur raised bed and I do that a lot. However, I am wondering if there are still ants and/or termites in the wood and if that would infest my raised bed? Option 3) use the wood to burn out the stump of the tree when I cut down the remaining trunk. I will have to burn out that trunk at some point, but the wood is so rotted that I don't know how well it would serve as burning wood. Burning would be my last option, but it's also the option that requires the least amount of work. If anyone else has had to deal with a rotted tree trunk and knows how to safely take it down, please let me know. I would also be interested in what others would recommend doing with this rotted wood. I listed my options, in order, of what I think I will do, but I'm open to other suggestions as well. Thanks for any responses.
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