Are you experienced.............with alder trees?

S

Spokerider

Hello,
I'm looking for some feedback on climbing / pruning alder trees. Here in the pacific northwest, we have tons of them.... and I have some big [ 3ft / dia at the butt ], mature ones that I'd like to climb and prune.

Wondering, if there are any tips or info related to the safety of climbing these mature alders specifically, such as the dynamics of the wood, the strength of branches, tendancy to "crumble" as climbed, etc....

I know that they can get punky when mature like this, and that they start chunking themselves apart from the top down, as they die. These trees usually have a pretty good lean to them, as they tend to reach for light through the canopy of other trees as they grow.

The ones I want to prune lean about 30 deg. in a sweeping arc, are a good 90 ft tall, have good leafy tops and side branches. Just wondering about the *dynamics* of alder wood / trees.

Thanks.
 
Alders are poor compartmentalizers overall. They can also have weak limbs, and bark inclusions that lead to tearouts and cavities. Inspect on the way up.

You might need/ want to put a guyline on them if you are needing to go every high up, depending on many factors such as how close you need to get to the tops, your weight, trunk taper, angle, if you can just freefall limbs or if you have to rig off of the tree.
Some of these factors are more relevant to removals near structures, but maybe can be helpful. Also, alders are known for barberchairing in the event you'll end up removing any.


At that size, they sound like they will be having a lot of dead branches and widow makers. I'd inspect well with binoculars from many angles if the tree seems to warrant it.

What are your pruning goals? Do you have lots of 6" deadwood to remove, or just some small stuff? Dead wood or live?

If you have pictures, it would spell it out more.
 
They're extremely prone to barberchairing and respond very poorly to anything but the smallest pruning cuts(poor compartmentalization as sean said.)

Be very cautious with anything dead, limbs, stems or whole trees, they have no strength whatsoever.
 
When working in the tops of leaning alders I generally tie-in to another tree behind them and drop down into the top of the one that needs the work. Otherwise it can be rather shaky, and spooky, in them things.

Your situation may be different though. But if you can do it.
 
Thanks for the info, it helps.
The trees are live with healthy green tops when in leaf. They are standing pretty much alone, except for one is close to a maple.....I'll consider working from it.

Looking to prune all of the branches up to about 35 ft, so as to let more light into the garden.

I'm sure it'd be a straight forward deal for seasoned climbers......I'm a newbie, lol, but hey gotta start somewhere while still being safe and anticipating crap before it happens.

I've been told before alders "barberchair" Never have witnessed it, but I have seen them come chunking down when rotten in a stiff wind.
 
How large in diameter and length are these low limbs?
What percentage of the live crown would this be removing, in your estimation?

If taking off a lot of large low limbs on a mature alder, you should hopefully have a plan for if they need to come down in however many years.

Its hard to know much without pictures. Just don't want to see you cause a bigger problem in the longterm by leaving mature alders up over an area that may have perennial plants below, after removing large limbs that aren't likely to compartmentalize well.

Best of luck, or I should say, best of judgment/ prudent action with the climbing.


We just did some large alder removals after one failed near a house. Co-dominant tops in one, cavities in two, very heavy lean in another. I thought about rigging them down, then thought better of it after being in them. Decided to take off only enough of the lower limbs to clear some landscaping near-ish to the trunk for ground felling.
 
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