Good way to trim hemlocks?

[clipster]

I have many hemlocks which need trimming every year...most are 15-20 high...any suggestions on how to trim?

I use a pole trimmer, but there are so many individual cuts and at the higher levels the pole becomes wobbly. There must be a better way.

Thanks.

[Joseph Meehan]

Cherry picker?

[Chris Owens]

Hire it done? That's sure to be easier; but, way more expensive; and, unless you stand there and supervise, you may wind up with some undesireable results.

Plan B would be a lift platform. You can buy one at a good hardware store. Ours disassembles for ready storage. It consists of four metal stanchions, each of which has a moveable, lockable foot and a wheel at the base. Then there's a flat metal platform 2' wide and 6' long -- they also come in other sizes -- and a rachet mechanism for raising and lowering the platform. The platform also has insertable gates that keep you from accidentally stepping off the edge when it is in the air. You roll the platform over to where you want to work; stabilize the level; lock the feet; step onto the platform; and rachet it up to the height you need. When you're done, or need to move, you rachet it down; then repeat the process in the next location. I've also seen ones with scissors mechanisms; they don't disassemble; but, they're a fairly short, flat package when all the way down.

Chris Owens

clipster wrote: