I’ve been doing tip reductions for 17 years. Have had more than a few call backs when the tips drop sap onto patios etc, so that’s worth mentioning. I’m also careful about massive canopy lifts. Don’t went 70’ of free fall before hitting a roof.

So helpful Daniel. Your focus on climbing/rigging safety and proper tree care brings the conversation beyond modified chainsaws and dramatic tree felling.

I only recently started hearing more about wind dampening and the hazards associated with thinning. It makes a lot of sense. The tip reduction seems like a brilliant way to get the intended result of reducing limb failure.

100% agree! The other issue I commonly see is arborists "elevating the crown" of Douglas Firs. One or two windstorms later they shear in half due to the unbalanced load of the altered wind sail

Redwoods as well. So many tree guys sell over thinning. I agree with this but end weight can also cause serious future issues. Many trees will develop multiples in a few years which increases tip weight. If you keep up with the trees, great. I have seen so many end weight jobs with massively heavy new growth which causes limb failures after time.

Great info, just what I was looking for, thank you!

Great content as usual Dan!

I like these informative videos. A LOT. thank you

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and opinion about douglas firs. It is definitely an eye opener and a reminder to keep an open mind and welcome new approaches. However I (used to) believe thinning firs is ultimately to help prevent a catastrofic STEM failure. Branch failures are secondary compared to a broken top crashing down during a wind storm. I get it, a single fir branch is enough to crush a car in your driveway. I am in the interior BC and snow load is also a factor. I understand that branches need to clash (we are talking douglas fir specificly) but by my experience, I find thinning the branches allows them to flex individually and in result help the tree to shed snow.

Cool! Thanks for the info. Makes sense to thin this way so the wind doesn’t tip the entire tree over as well.

Well done Dan. Excellent overview of CCG. Many thanks If you’d like to talk more about Avant-garde Arboriculture, lemme know amigo.

Great video. I'd love to see a more in depth video on the techniques and positioning you are using for reducing the branch length. Limb walking is hard on these Doug fir limbs, especially the longer skinny downslope ones...

Great video, thanks!

Long time sub. Didn’t realize you were in wa. I’m going to try and find out if you do work on the Eastside!

Wicked! What a great video. For how common they appear in the PNW, Pseudotsuga are a very unique tree. Will be sending this video to concerned clients and friends all around. Great tip about the heading cuts- could've only learned that from watching this. Thank you! Hail Douglifer!

Awesome video great work

Thanks for the useful infos.

Brilliant video

Thanks for sharing this. Do the ends that get cut branch out some more? Thinking of those trees that have been topped where the growth that follows can be a mess, like our western red cedar that prior folks topped and now branches below that cut try to become the new top, and get quite huge.

This is most helpful. In your opinion, can a slice of the vertical canopy (perhaps10-15%) be removed to stop limbs and debris falling on an adjoining home and deck structure? The remainder of the canopy would not be touched. Thanks again for the video.

Full sun Doug’s 😍.., they pretty much prune themselves if you’ve ever lived next to them lol

Very difficult to prune the end weight of long Doug fir branches Great Job

Man I'd love to climb something that tall. The most comparable tree species (in terms of growth pattern and limb length) in my area is the eastern white pine but I haven't encountered any monsters. Maybe 70ft tall at the most. Highest I've been was ~85-90ft in a ~110 ft cottonwood.

Awesome video. As always, thanks for your content. On the subject of firs and thinning, I recently was working on a fir that was experiencing lots of branch failure. Probably 110 ft tall. In clients lawn, retaining wall a few feet away that was also a few feet. The side walk was next to this retaining wall. Fair to say there could have been previous root damage but i think that would have happened decades ago. Anyways, fir looks relatively healthy but is experiencing lots of branch failure. I went up to fish out a hanger and had an entire fir branch under me fail all the way to the branch collar. It essentially just popped off. Hadn't experienced that before while climbing a fir... Any idea why the branch failed at the collar/trunk? It also looked a little funky. Not like fresh green wood that just teared. I feel like all of the above is factoring into this but I'm curious if you have any input. Thanks again for the content. Would love to connect with you someday. I'm in Portland Oregon so also the PNW. Peace!

Thanks a lot for a very helpful video. I hope I'm not too late for you to see this. Is this also the case for Picea abies and other spruces?

Dr. Coder describes your recommended practice as “streamlining”.

Do you think reducing the height of the tree could reduce wind drag nothing major maybe 15 to 20 feet, cut under 6 inches?

Bay Area California, people are just removing every mature Doug Fir in favor of Redwoods in mixed second growth forest / rural home areas. It's a shame to watch.

MONEY : Doing an SRT rope walk with high canopy - limb tie to just tip a BIG fir is a lot more time intense ....vs....speed lining a few whole limbs off....My customers won't pay a thousand bucks to do that. I would lose most of my climbing job's...... I do what my customers want and I tell them the ups and downs.... Douglas Firs are actually very wind resistant, I live in extreme southern Oregon we have 140 foot 100 year+ Doug Firs and they just held up fine in an 80 mph wind storm last month, they don't live to be that long if they are fragile.

Do you think this would be similiar for eucalyptus trees in Australia?

Would this be applicable to big ponderosa pines?

Ever come across the ‘limb snare’ Dan

Why thin any tree? It makes no sense from the tree’s perspective. Only ever need to prune for structure & clearances.

If the customer wants it thinned and I don't do it, they'll hire someone else and money is lost. If I recommend reducing limb length and one still breaks off in the next wind storm, they'll blame the tree service and say to themselves, "I knew I should have had the tree thinned." I say give the customer what they want.

This goes to show we still don't really know, science is verifiable and repeatable, im sure these people are intelligent and experienced but this is still just anecdotal opinion.

Seems like an officious tack for an argument based on conjecture and anecdotes- I would venture the notion that there has been no dynamic analysis of pseudotsuga menzeisii canopy behavior and its a pedantic and baseless argument either way. Just cut the thing down or leave it alone.