Removing a huge Bluegum in Korumburra

Evan Enbom • January 23, 2019

We were recently called out to inspect a massive old Bluegum on the outskirts of Korumburra, Victoria. We are huge proponents of retaining old trees whenever possible, but this time removal was the only (sensible) option. Our clients were becoming increasingly concerned for the safety of their tree....and with very good reason...

They explained that they'd owned the property for 14 years and somebody had 'lopped' the tree around 30 years ago. Lopping, or 'topping' is the practice of cutting the top out of a mature tree, usually with the intention of stopping it's growth. Not only does it not stop growth, the trunk will often rot out while huge, poorly attached regrowth shoots for the sky, often breaking away unexpectedly. In this case we had 30 years of 15+ metre regrowth attached to a hollow trunk on a 30 metre tall tree AND only 8 metres from a house! Scary stuff! Pruning simply wasn't going to be an option...

The decision was made to fell the tree through an opening in the treeline into an adjoining paddock (Watch out ponies!!)
We remotely set up a winch line 2/3rds up in the canopy, cleared the area of people, gathered our tools and began our felling cuts.

Here's Evan pounding wedges while Byron (off camera) operates the winch. In total it took 7 wedges combined with the winch to safely ease the tree down to the ground.

And oh my, was she hollow! Check this out...

...this is the old topping cut from many years ago, looking 15 metres down the hollow trunk right out the bottom! All well and good out in a paddock, a totally different story next to a house. Loads of huge 2 to 3 ft diameter leaders barely attached at all, yuck!

Here's one of our shorter employees 'Matt' fitting quite comfortably inside the hollow trunk...

...And our tallest employee (yours truly) getting lost inside the stump!

It's a real shame the old girl wasn't given a fair go - maybe with better pruning back in the '80's, or if the house were built further away, she'd still be with us today. If you've recently moved or have large trees on your property with an unknown history please get them assessed today

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