How much force to tip over a tree

[Robert Allison]

I had no control over the politics of the decade. I did, however, have control over my costs. While others were purchasing their equipment, I was leasing. When the bottom fell out of the construction industry and it became increasingly difficult to find mills to buy logs, I was able to get out of the business. Others had huge notes to pay and many went bankrupt. I don't really get to count that as tremendous business acumen as much as it was just plain dumb luck.

It should be: Except for pines and a few other species.

[Goedjn]

It depends in where they're growing, how long it's been raining, and whether you've recently changed their wind exposure. A pine tree that's grown in the middle of a pine forest and has spend all it's energy lunging for the sky in order to beat it's brethren to the sunlight will blow over in the next big storm if you cut down all the trees around it. A pine tree that's grown up in the middle of a field because it's too close to the pigsty to mow isn't going anywhere.

[Heathcliff]

Wow, lively topic, eh? I like the idea, it's creative, and anything that avoids having to dig out the damn stump by hand is worth considering. I would advise against it though. Winching it over will create a situation with a lot of potential energy in your system. It is inherently dangerous. The tree could snap, rope snap, whatever you have the rope tied to move, etc. As someone said, if it was practical and safe the pros would do it that way. Many trees blow over in storms taking the roots up, but the wind force is distributed over the whole tree, whereas you would be applying the force in only one spot, making breakage more likely, I think.

I have cut down several trees in the yard (mostly dead elms) of this size or bigger and never had any trouble dropping them in the direction I wanted. A combination of how you do the cut (notch on the side you want it to fall toward, and felling cut from other side) and having a helper pull on a rope attached way up in the tree seems to do it. Yes once the rope is slack your guidance is over but once you get it started in the right direction, my experience has been it keeps going that way. When felling leave a hinge of uncut wood and try to pull it over with the rope. If the tree is leaning or lopsided though you might have more trouble getting it to go where you want.

The stump can be removed by digging around it, chopping exposed roots with an axe, more digging, more chopping, etc. Not fun but it will work eventually.

OK, you want a more fun way. Here is my suggestion - don't use any tools. Push on the trunk, the tree will sway a little and come back. Push rythmically in time with the sway to make it sway more and more until it falls over.

[markharris2000]

I think lots of great opinions here! Roots will always be an issue, depends on how old they are, how far they travelled, how much water they got over the life to determine which direction they travelled, etc. Yes, Pine have larger root systems than Palms, but each tree will be different. There is no magic answer. Key is: SAFETY! A tree this size is DANGEROUS and can cause REAL damage to surrounding stuff (like humans).

Suggestion: Tie a rope/chain to the top section and connect it to a known SAFE area. Lop the tree at 25 feet or so (which will fall towards the rope/chain), then again at 10 feet (again with the rope/chain guiding it's descent). Dispose of those two sections. Now, dig around the tree trunk a bit and see if you can saw the stump below grade. If so, and if you do not plan to build anything on top of it, simply cover it with soil and enjoy your new yard. Alternatively, get a stump grinder to level what sticks up. They can be found for under $100 and their machine takes 20 minutes or less to unload, grind and load.

Joseph Meehan wrote:

[Bob F]

LOL. I think the tree is a little big for that to work.

Bob

[Bob F]

Incidentally, I found this on a Warn winch site.

Pull out shrubs or pull down trees.Use

the choker chain low around the shrub,

then start pulling with the winch.The

choker chain will tighten. Small shrubs can

be pulled out by the roots.

On a larger tree, you can attach the

choker chain high up on the trunk for

leverage, then start pulling.The winch will

pull the tree over and expose roots that

could take hours to dig out. Slack the

tension on the wire rope and cut the tree

roots so the tree can be pulled loose.Use of

a snatch block to change the angle of the

pull to you to position the vehicle out of

the way should the tree fall.

[dadiOH]

They can also be burned out too. Especially pines. For that matter, the roots will burn out underground too...I burned out an old dead pine stump a few years ago and the roots burned underground for close to a week (a heavy rain put them out).

[Bob S.]

Depends on the type pine. Here in the south the majority of pines (Loblolly & SYP) have a tap root that anchors the tree really deep into the ground. Not a dense root system, but a deep one. A hurricane or tornado will break them off, but will *not* blow them over. Oaks on the other hand have a massive root system but it is shallow with no tap root. A saturated ground and a strong wind will blow over 100 year old oaks fairly often.

Bob S.

[lwasserm]

Don't do this near any coal veins that are close to the the surface.

[Goedjn]

It doesn't have to be coal seams. Deep loam can be nearly as bad. Although easier to get at, once you figure out that you've set the planet on fire.

[zapalac]

One huge fart should do it.

[Dutchovencook]