Throw ball pruning...

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TreeHouser
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All this talk of throw balls and torpedos has me wondering who else out there in treehouse land does fracture/deadwood pruning with a throw line? There have been a few locust trees that it has been a lifesaver.
 
Yup, I've done it before. Can be really quick and useful for the tree that just has a few really crispy branches that need to come out. Depends on the site and client, of course.
 
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Depends on the site and client, of course.

Oh absolutely! If it leaves a stub I go up and get it but the ones that come out nice and clean at the natural collar leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy like I just ate the last piece of pizza.
 
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I am more of a let nature take over unless the custy is really adement about the fresh cut being painted.
 
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Pulled a whole hanger out once with the throw bag stuck in it and the line tied to the truck :lol: It was awesome! :lol:

We just pulled out a whole top of a basswood that was hung up about 50' up with my chip truck. It came down perfect with no collateral damage.
 
We do a lot of throw ball pruning. Dead Eucalyptus can easily break, pop or pull out of socket.
It helps when you have like thirty trees to deadwood. Break what you can get away with and climb the rest.

If the throw line is too small, set a line to a block/redirect at the base of the tree and tie it to the 4x4 or grcs, etc.
 
That 2.2 mm line sang like a harp string in a hurricane.... We had to fold it back into the cube... :lol:
I love popping tops like that... If you can get away with it....
 
We actually use the smaller zing it, 1.7 or something.

Mainly so two (fat) guys can break it at the knot.
I've gotten my throw ball stuck in some far away lands in the tops of some eucs.

Or those big red soft ball deals, I got one of those stuck ridiculously.....
Though, I learned not to look at what I don't want to hit. Look where you want it to go and add a foot or something.
 
For the occasional dead limb, Ill use a throwball to snap it out. If it breaks clean around the already forming collar, bingo. If it comes out like crap, no good. Never really do it intentionally on live limbs. Maybe if during a removal I create a small hanger in a neighboring tree Ill use the bag to snatch it down as long as its small and not leaving an unsightly tear.
 
I do a lot of hazard dead-wooding with a throwline. I wouldn't call it pruning though. If it won't come down with a throwline, it ain't a hazard ... YET.

Pruning is a whole other level = climb, selective, proper cuts - yada yada yada. :)
 
Yep, in all different ways. Sometimes a clean collar, like maples often will give, sometimes a stub left, sometimes deadwood, occasionally live limbs, either already broken or in order to pull hangers out, though I am doing it in forests, not yards, sometimes deadwooding 75'- 100' up with the bigshot.

For residential, I think its fine to deadwood with a throwline, even it it leaves a dead stub. Its natural. Not likely to do it with live wood, though.
 
I pulled a skanky dead maple onto a primary last winter with a throw line (zing it). Was trying to shake the tops out, so I could fall it... Uprooted and across the road it went. Boom.
 
Didn't break the wire, but popped the fuse at the trandformer(?) I guess... The primary hitting the secondary was pretty amazing. Huge blue flash and concussion.
 
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