Thanks for the detailed video! I have about 100 trees that around 20 years old that I need to do this too in a stand of about 250 so the other can grow better as they were planted ever 8-10’! Also, thankful to hear that is a step for firewood as that was a question of mine if I could do this and later come back to a tree if it would dry out and be good firewood 😊
EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you. I was struggling with how to get some of the overgrown trees to stop shading my pool area & didn’t want to have them cut down right away because I don’t have time to deal with them.
Thank you very much for this information I have been harvesting firewood on my property here in North Carolina since 2006. This will be much better for me and with the tree not on the ground with a few inches of rot by the time I get to it.. girdling and flagging trees this weekend. Thanks again for your information,,👍
Thanks for the informative & straightforward video! I was wondering how girdling affects fungal growth in the wood - like with Holly and Poplar, which develop a stain if not dried quickly after felling. If the tree dries naturally/slowly as it dies, would that reduce the fungal stain? Or checking after cutting? Any thoughts from someone who has done this a lot would be welcome!
Detailed, precise. Love it. Girdling was a favored way for pioneers to clear land for early colonizing ancestors. Often criticized by yanKees how ugly southern poverty-stricken farms without slaves were in the 19th century...they didńt have money to pay “hands”.
Helpful. Thank you. I'm moving to a new home we built on our farm, and have been researching the fastest way to have dry firewood. From your idea, it seems if I go ahead and girdle some now, I could cut them down in a couple years and I'll have a head start on seasoning the wood? Sound right? Thanks for the informative video!. Is one year long enough for the wood to be ready to burn?
I often girdle trees on my place, a dairy goat farm and woodland. Even big girdled trees usually break up slowly and without much damage to surrounding vegetation. Pines, oaks, and beeches die rapidly after girdling. A few local species respond sluggishly to girdling, though. They take forever to die. Examples of those are yellow poplars and gums. Girdle those viciously or just cut them down if they won't get hung up. Fallen trees also provide habitat.
My grand father would drill holes at a downward degree with a good size drill bit and fill the holes with diesel fuel. He called them diesel trees when ask about the odd holes going up in a spiral
you seem like the best guy to ask this. I understand girdling, My goats even had their way with a couple of cedar trees but I just recently did a double girdle with a chain saw and hatchet on a few maples i want to die for future fire would. It didn't work. So i made the chain saw cuts around the tree deeper and made sure no bark at all was left, didn't work so I did what I don't like to do and i sprayed round up in the chainsaw rings, didn't work. there is about 8 inches between chainsaw cuts and no bark between, i thought Cotton wood was relentless but something is still determined in these maples. i did the initial girdling in early February and im on Vancouver Island B.C
A younger thin tree may only require a 1/2" deep cut vs a larger thicker tree that may need a cut of 2" or more to penetrate the cambium. This is once you are past the bark. The width of the cut should be 2".
i try to girdle unwanted pine trees a few each year and have good luck by just cutting two rings around the trunk and do not remove the bark between, it just seems to take longer to die, what say you about my practice?
Do you think 2 rings with a Stihl 261 10 inches apart and 1 inch deep is enough? Also can you put a number on "short order"? Thanks for the great video!
If you girdled the tree right, the tree starts to die off instantly; using glyphosate on top is completely useless, a waste of money and harmful to the environment (without heavy lobbyism, glyphosate would already have been banned some 10 years back). It's like stabbing someone you already shot. You missed a very important reason of girdling: if you girdle a tree in spring and cut it down in late winter, a few days before new moon, you get an extraordinary tough wood that withstands rot, fungus and insects. The oldtimers would remove the bark in several spots up to the limbs too to speed up the process. They say, constructions made from girdled pines can last 800-1000 years (I never tried that-lol).
Have you ever heard of someone girdling a tree to allow it dry upright prior to using for a log cabin build. There is very little information on this. I plan on using Red pine next summer for a small cabin project. Any advise or comments would be appreciated.
I just saw a couple of videos where the guys did this to make the trees last longer? They said the pine sap would cover the wounds making it stronger and live longer. Am I missing something?
I liked the video but I do have a question. Why not just use the chainsaw to take off all the bark plus the other parts that prevent the sap flow. Seems like more work than necessary to use the hand ax.
From starting the saw to cleaving the last bit of the outer layer is 5 minutes or so. Using a lightweight hand tool is a little more precise for me that the 20" Husky, but it in the end, it is mostly preference.
Thanks, AO. Very informative and lots of context. I'm looking to try this with girdling tool and axe on some large, invasive Norway Maples. Will a tool work on a large-trunks? You mentioned girdling may not be effective on types of Maple. Could I be wasting my time? Thanks.
Black locust are very beautiful trees. They grow relatively straight and can be buried in soil for 100 years and not rot if prepared right. Call a local woodworker, usually they will cut those down for you for free. Do some research on BL trees before you kill them off and use them for firewood. A big black locust is a valuable tree.
Can I do this to a tree that is split and grew high over my house? It's only a matter of time before it breaks and is gonna mess up my house or back deck. Its too high over my steep roof but I will find a way up to cut it back in pieces but if this would work or even doing it from the base where it's split but it's gotta go
sounds risky to me, i’d rather have a healthy limb over my house than a dead one that’s more likely to snap. Call a local tree trimmer and have em quote you for it, only a couple $100 of its just the limb, vs could be more like $800 to take the whole tree depending on size
Cliff Notes version-Girdling cuts the flow of water/nutrients. The tree will begin dying almost immediately, with the leaves turning and dropping in short time. As it dies it also begins to dry out, from top down. Yes, eventually, as the tree rots and weakens, if left alone, it will fall.
I have saw a video recently about a somewhat lost art of girdling hardwood trees in winter by the moon phases and like a year later harvesting the most valuable and impressive wood money can buy. The wood was sold for musical instruments. They called them moon trees? Have you ran across this? Great video you have here, thanks from Arkansas.
I have a bunch of lumber that I harvested by the blood harvest moon light, during a lunar eclipse. It was also a wolf moon at the time. This was in the darkest hours of the night, on the winter solstice. It is very, very valuable. I will sell you some, but it won't be cheap.
isnt girldilng also a good way to ensure you have non-green firewood for the winter? i might have this wrong but i remember reading somewhere that colonial americans would girdle trees as a way to ensure they have viable firewood by winter, for the fireplace, stove etc
I will be needing some logs for a log home that I want to build. And I heard that girdling in the spring and falling the tree in winter they are usually a lot easier to peel. What have you heard? Thanks.
I live in San Diego and I want to remove the eucalyptus trees in our yard rather than paying someone to cut them down. Will girdling work for those trees?
I have two gumball trees that are a safety hazard. The trees themselves are healthy but they drop so many gumballs seedpods that I am indanger of rolling my ankle and falling every step I take . the fressh or even the decayed ones , it's just like trying to walk on marbles. I need them gone but need to save up for tree service. In the mean time I would liek the trea to die so it stops dropping these hazard balls everywhere. This seems like the best way to kill the trees without cutting them down immediately.
Did not work with my Elm Tree. I removed all the bark the area looked like it was just light colored wood. Come back and the thing has healed the area. You could see green and dark area like bark again. The top has finally died after girdling it 2 more times. Now I have a million branches coming out of the bottom of the girdled area. So I will break all the branches off again and dig up the suckers it is now sending up. I will kill this tree. Going to try girdling it closer to the ground
@@Kaelland Sent up suckers and grew branches out of the edge of the girdling. I will be painting roundup on the leaves this spring. 5 yrs. of battling it is enough.
Girdled trees lose branches and fall. Best to log them out. Time is no excuse. Nobody knows when any tree, live or dead, is going to fall. Watch out for the lawyers. I've learned from my mistakes too. And from other people's.
I appreciate it. Thanks for tuning in.
hats off to you, not very often you tubers talk about safety and demonstrates good safety practices.
Thanks for the tree hugger joke, and the experience.
Thank you for the clear concise instructions. Just as detailed as it needed to be!
St Adelaide 7th graders liked this. It was very informative.
Thanks to all of you for watching.
Thanks for the detailed video! I have about 100 trees that around 20 years old that I need to do this too in a stand of about 250 so the other can grow better as they were planted ever 8-10’!
Also, thankful to hear that is a step for firewood as that was a question of mine if I could do this and later come back to a tree if it would dry out and be good firewood 😊
EXTREMELY helpful. Thank you. I was struggling with how to get some of the overgrown trees to stop shading my pool area & didn’t want to have them cut down right away because I don’t have time to deal with them.
Very informative video. I'm looking to clean up my 25ac of mature hardwoods and this is probably one method I'll end up using
Woods Tree Farm and thank you for watching.
Very informative Sir. Thank you po.
Perfectly done sir, thank you
God bless got me subscribed
Thank you, I am interested in Girdling some trees on my property for snags. This gave me some good points to ponder.
Thanks for watching.
It is very informative, i can use it for my students in forestry as a supplemental video clip.
Very informative, thank you.
Thank you very much for this information I have been harvesting firewood on my property here in North Carolina since 2006. This will be much better for me and with the tree not on the ground with a few inches of rot by the time I get to it.. girdling and flagging trees this weekend. Thanks again for your information,,👍
thank yiu. helpful to me
Thank you! This was very helpful, I just acquired wooded property that I'm trying to establish for wildlife habitat.
Cool man I'm moving deep into the woods of West Virginia I'm starting on girdling this weekend
Thanks
Glad to have helped!
Thanks for the informative & straightforward video! I was wondering how girdling affects fungal growth in the wood - like with Holly and Poplar, which develop a stain if not dried quickly after felling. If the tree dries naturally/slowly as it dies, would that reduce the fungal stain? Or checking after cutting? Any thoughts from someone who has done this a lot would be welcome!
Very informative
Very good.
Well done. Thank you.
Good info thanks
Good information be blessed
Thanks for watching. I just caught your channel the other day thanks to a recommendation from Whipporwhill Holler. Keep up the good work!
Good sir.. 👍
Detailed, precise. Love it. Girdling was a favored way for pioneers to clear land for early colonizing ancestors. Often criticized by yanKees how ugly southern poverty-stricken farms without slaves were in the 19th century...they didńt have money to pay “hands”.
Helpful. Thank you. I'm moving to a new home we built on our farm, and have been researching the fastest way to have dry firewood. From your idea, it seems if I go ahead and girdle some now, I could cut them down in a couple years and I'll have a head start on seasoning the wood? Sound right? Thanks for the informative video!. Is one year long enough for the wood to be ready to burn?
Yes, girdling will allow them to begin drying out without rotting from ground contact. Thanks for tuning in.
Thanks for the info!
I often girdle trees on my place, a dairy goat farm and woodland. Even big girdled trees usually break up slowly and without much damage to surrounding vegetation. Pines, oaks, and beeches die rapidly after girdling. A few local species respond sluggishly to girdling, though. They take forever to die. Examples of those are yellow poplars and gums. Girdle those viciously or just cut them down if they won't get hung up. Fallen trees also provide habitat.
will girdling poplar in winter speed the process I wonder?
My grand father would drill holes at a downward degree with a good size drill bit and fill the holes with diesel fuel. He called them diesel trees when ask about the odd holes going up in a spiral
you seem like the best guy to ask this. I understand girdling, My goats even had their way with a couple of cedar trees but I just recently did a double girdle with a chain saw and hatchet on a few maples i want to die for future fire would. It didn't work. So i made the chain saw cuts around the tree deeper and made sure no bark at all was left, didn't work so I did what I don't like to do and i sprayed round up in the chainsaw rings, didn't work. there is about 8 inches between chainsaw cuts and no bark between, i thought Cotton wood was relentless but something is still determined in these maples. i did the initial girdling in early February and im on Vancouver Island B.C
A younger thin tree may only require a 1/2" deep cut vs a larger thicker tree that may need a cut of 2" or more to penetrate the cambium. This is once you are past the bark. The width of the cut should be 2".
It can sometimes take a year for the tree to die after girdling
I have several 100' giant pine trees, providing unwanted Winter shade. Should I girdle them?
i try to girdle unwanted pine trees a few each year and have good luck by just cutting two rings around the trunk and do not remove the bark between, it just seems to take longer to die, what say you about my practice?
In eucalyptus it also works to produce shoots to propagate in cloning programs
Do you think 2 rings with a Stihl 261 10 inches apart and 1 inch deep is enough? Also can you put a number on "short order"? Thanks for the great video!
If you girdled the tree right, the tree starts to die off instantly; using glyphosate on top is completely useless, a waste of money and harmful to the environment (without heavy lobbyism, glyphosate would already have been banned some 10 years back).
It's like stabbing someone you already shot.
You missed a very important reason of girdling: if you girdle a tree in spring and cut it down in late winter, a few days before new moon, you get an extraordinary tough wood that withstands rot, fungus and insects. The oldtimers would remove the bark in several spots up to the limbs too to speed up the process. They say, constructions made from girdled pines can last 800-1000 years (I never tried that-lol).
why remove the bark between the cuts?
Girdlining to cull to keep and maintain reasonable and excellent industry standards..
😂🎉😢😮😅😊🎉😂
I learn most things from my mistakes.
My ol' man (may he rest in peace) used to say-
Hard Lessons are Learned Best.
!
Today i did one( oak), used myy 4lb axe and spade shovel
Have you ever heard of someone girdling a tree to allow it dry upright prior to using for a log cabin build. There is very little information on this. I plan on using Red pine next summer for a small cabin project. Any advise or comments would be appreciated.
How long b4 you can burn it
I just saw a couple of videos where the guys did this to make the trees last longer? They said the pine sap would cover the wounds making it stronger and live longer. Am I missing something?
New to me.
I liked the video but I do have a question. Why not just use the chainsaw to take off all the bark plus the other parts that prevent the sap flow. Seems like more work than necessary to use the hand ax.
From starting the saw to cleaving the last bit of the outer layer is 5 minutes or so. Using a lightweight hand tool is a little more precise for me that the 20" Husky, but it in the end, it is mostly preference.
Why vertical cuts?
If I girdle halfway around will that stop the branches from growing on one side only? Thanks
I would not partially girdle for that reason. You are making a tree that will be sickly, subject to disease and a potential safety risk down the road.
Thanks, AO. Very informative and lots of context. I'm looking to try this with girdling tool and axe on some large, invasive Norway Maples. Will a tool work on a large-trunks? You mentioned girdling may not be effective on types of Maple. Could I be wasting my time? Thanks.
David Falchek Girdling isn’t as effective on trees that sucker or resprout around the trunk.
Would this work on black locust since they sucker so bad or will it also kill off the suckers?
Black locust are very beautiful trees. They grow relatively straight and can be buried in soil for 100 years and not rot if prepared right. Call a local woodworker, usually they will cut those down for you for free. Do some research on BL trees before you kill them off and use them for firewood. A big black locust is a valuable tree.
@@austinroberson8 Complete nonsense. They are invasive weeds and pop up everywhere.
Can I do this to a tree that is split and grew high over my house? It's only a matter of time before it breaks and is gonna mess up my house or back deck. Its too high over my steep roof but I will find a way up to cut it back in pieces but if this would work or even doing it from the base where it's split but it's gotta go
sounds risky to me, i’d rather have a healthy limb over my house than a dead one that’s more likely to snap. Call a local tree trimmer and have em quote you for it, only a couple $100 of its just the limb, vs could be more like $800 to take the whole tree depending on size
Total newbie here. If i'm understanding completely, the entire tree will just fall one day or will leaves and branches begin falling off first?
Cliff Notes version-Girdling cuts the flow of water/nutrients. The tree will begin dying almost immediately, with the leaves turning and dropping in short time. As it dies it also begins to dry out, from top down. Yes, eventually, as the tree rots and weakens, if left alone, it will fall.
I have saw a video recently about a somewhat lost art of girdling hardwood trees in winter by the moon phases and like a year later harvesting the most valuable and impressive wood money can buy. The wood was sold for musical instruments. They called them moon trees? Have you ran across this? Great video you have here, thanks from Arkansas.
Do you still have the link for that video? I watched once, now I like to watch it again, I couldn’t find it. Thank you!
@@hlmw2 let me work on it I might.
@@hlmw2 just search girdling trees by the moon. The video from northern is it. Good luck!
I have a bunch of lumber that I harvested by the blood harvest moon light, during a lunar eclipse. It was also a wolf moon at the time. This was in the darkest hours of the night, on the winter solstice. It is very, very valuable. I will sell you some, but it won't be cheap.
@@Joe_Mission Your a real man. I wish you luck selling the lumber it will be worth a fortune to the right person.
What types of trees require girdling and what does not ? from India
The kind you want to kill.
Is it possible to do a small ring instead of the size in the video? Don’t want people noticing the tree is girdled
Anthony T Absolutely. A wide ring just better ensures the ring can’t heal/grow together. This is for your tree, right? Lol
@@American-OutdoorsNet Haha yeah. I'm just the corner house and my neighbors are nosy.
isnt girldilng also a good way to ensure you have non-green firewood for the winter? i might have this wrong but i remember reading somewhere that colonial americans would girdle trees as a way to ensure they have viable firewood by winter, for the fireplace, stove etc
Yes it is.
@@American-OutdoorsNet much obliged for the reply! saw this was an older video and didnt expect one, cheers for the prompt response as well!
I use to dry my firewood when it is standing
My late father was a logger he taught me this. And basically told me not to do it unless I wanted to kill the tree.
why else would you consider doing it?
Dont use Herbicides in your forestry work!!! Just remove spots of bark all around the tree and in 1-2 years you will have stone hard wood.
I will be needing some logs for a log home that I want to build. And I heard that girdling in the spring and falling the tree in winter they are usually a lot easier to peel. What have you heard? Thanks.
Yes, if they have dried sufficiently,
I live in San Diego and I want to remove the eucalyptus trees in our yard rather than paying someone to cut them down. Will girdling work for those trees?
They will die, but then fall who knows when and where. I cut trees for a hobby, I’d take a look for you.
I have two gumball trees that are a safety hazard. The trees themselves are healthy but they drop so many gumballs seedpods that I am indanger of rolling my ankle and falling every step I take . the fressh or even the decayed ones , it's just like trying to walk on marbles. I need them gone but need to save up for tree service. In the mean time I would liek the trea to die so it stops dropping these hazard balls everywhere. This seems like the best way to kill the trees without cutting them down immediately.
I told my wife that I think its time we consider girdling, and for some reason I ended up sleeping on the sofa for a week.
I told my wife I've been girdling when I go to the farm. She said to stay at the farm.
this is a Win-win
them wifes i told mine i was going to cut the Thanksgiving turkey on the sawmill trip to the hospital john
Must be a girl tree, with the girdle and the pink tape. Plus, you mentioned that it could become hazardous at any moment, without notice.
I cut a 1/2" poison ivy vine and stuck it in a jar of round up. Sure enough 2 out of 20 hemlocks died in a hedge row. They weren't even adjoining.
Did not work with my Elm Tree. I removed all the bark the area looked like it was just light colored wood. Come back and the thing has healed the area. You could see green and dark area like bark again. The top has finally died after girdling it 2 more times. Now I have a million branches coming out of the bottom of the girdled area. So I will break all the branches off again and dig up the suckers it is now sending up. I will kill this tree. Going to try girdling it closer to the ground
Good luck. Elm trees can be hard to kill. Try girdling lower and deeper and see how that goes.
@@Kaelland Sent up suckers and grew branches out of the edge of the girdling. I will be painting roundup on the leaves this spring. 5 yrs. of battling it is enough.
I don’t know about you... but if it needs a girdle, then it’s not for me! I prefer mine to have skirts!
Patrick Fennessy lol, thanks for watching.
Wow, its called ringing the tree and is simply the act of removing the bark so it starves to death. Not supernatural folks.
Girdled trees lose branches and fall. Best to log them out. Time is no excuse. Nobody knows when any tree, live or dead, is going to fall. Watch out for the lawyers. I've learned from my mistakes too. And from other people's.
This is sad to me. Poor trees. Homicidal tree dude smh
how large of a girdle is sufficient? would 5cm be enough for a pinetree of 40cm diametre?