Could have been very bad

[maple flats]

The ground around my sugarhouse is about 8-14" of top soil and duff, under that it's just sand. As a consequence i get blow downs from time to time, uprooting trees.
I noticed yesterday when I got to the sugarhouse to pack more syrup for retail, that a very large sugar maple was leaning towards one corner of the sugarhouse and the attached elevated platform where my head tank sets. I spent the day moving most things in the way, including my vacuum pump and several smaller things. I then had to winch a log out of a roadway, because a beech tree had been blown over, not uprooted but busted off at about 6' off the ground. I had to remove it in 2 pieces, because my forestry winch on the tractor couldn't pull it all in one pull, both too long and too much resistance, I didn't even limb it yet. That tree was live and it still broke off. Then this morning I had my brother help, my tractor won't lift my sap tanks, the tractor only lifts about 1000 lbs and both tanks weigh more than that. My brother has a big JCB and it had no problem lifting either tank. Both tanks are now out of the way. There was also a 14" DBH hemlock leaning towards my shop. In the way was also my sawmill, that got moved, I still need to move my splitter which is also in the way. After that, I'll cut the maple down this afternoon but just leave it for the time being, tomorrow I'll cut the hemlock down. On the hemlock I'll need to limb it and buck it into sawmill lingth logs and winch them out of the way, the maple can just set there until later in the spring.
While next year I'll be burning oil in the evaporator, I still burn wood to heat my home anytime it below about 30F, when it warmer if I need heat I grit my teeth and turn the furnace on.
Had I not noticed the 2 leaners (I already had 3 trees blow down near the sugarhouse with all of the wind we've had, but they all fell away from the sugarhuse, they just took down 2 lteral lines.) Had trhe big maple come down it likely would have caused major damage, would have crushed 2 dairy tanks, a 300 gal and a 200 gal, plus would have likely hit the north west corner of the sugarhouse, wiping out the elevated platform, my 100 gal SS head tank, and inside the sugarhouse at that corner is my tankless water heater, my solar inverter (was $4000 back in 2009, not they are about $3400), my 48V battery bank, a micro wave and my 2x6 finisher. In the process, breaking a bunch of electrical circuits it could have also set the sugarhouse on fire.
Hopefully I'm successful bringing that maple down in the only safe spot, which is about 5 degrees off where it's leaning towards. I may take down a mainline that goes over the side driveway where those 2 tanks were carried out of the way. I'll report later today on how it went.
The maple is about 30-32" DBH, unfortunately I sold my saw with a 34" bar, I prefer being able to cur straight thru rather than half from each side (it's easier to get a good notch and to form the hinge by one plunge cut, rather than trying to meet in the middle perfectly alligned, then I cut from the hinge out the back for no risk of a barbor chair) but I'll be using a chainsaw with a 24" bar.

[maple flats]

Update, I won't be cutting that big maple down until tomorrow morning. I'll let you know then how it goes.

[maple flats]

This is getting worse, I had another delay. The issue started last July, when I got sick for 6 weeks, then 5 weeks later it repeated another 6 weeks. Then about Dec 20, I came down with Covid for the first time. My wife volunteers at a food bank and we suspect someone she was giving food out to brought her a present, of Covid, I came down with it 5 days after she did. Mine last until Feb 12, my wife's hung on until Feb 20. Likely because we are both 78.
Anyways, this is what I suspect caused an issue with my tractor. Being sick all that time, I wasn't using my tractor much and while I normally always keep the fuel in the tractor at 3/4 to full, especially during colder weather, this time the tractor fuel tank was at 1/4 full. I suspect it suffered condensation, and the fuel tank on the tractor has no drain on the bottom of the tank to drain water. As such, I used double dose of Power Service, which helps reduce the water by carrying it thru to burn with the fuel I've also changed fuel filters 3x in the last 4 weeks, the 3rd time being today. I bought 3 filters today , at $25 each from the dealer. I then looked up the number online and found more in Ebay, at $9.00 ea, free shipping. The dealer was originally selling the OEM filter but they recently changed the price from $22 ea. up to $95 each. He then found a replacement that he is selling at $25 each. After buying 3 I later got to thinking. I then, with the new number (and the new matches the original filter perfectly) I googled it online, that's when I found it at $9.00. Amazon had it at $16 each but it required a subscription, which could be cancelled at any time, but $9.00 was better so I ordered those. 2 or 3 other vendors had them for $7.39 and another at $7.99 and one at $8.49, but they all were charging shipping unless I ordered $75 worth, and 2 gave free shipping at $100.
I changed the filter after buying 3 today at the dealer, but so far I only got the tractor to start and run a minute or two, then stall. In the morning I'll need to go thru a sequence of bleading the pump, the filter housing, the and then the injectors. That has always worked in the past. The last time I changed the fuel filter about 2 weeks ago, I only had to bleed the fuel filter bowl. This time it needs more.
Anyways, that took enough time that I didn't get all of the bleeding done and thus I didn't get the last few things I need to move to safe ground before I can cut the leaning maple down. It's about 30-32" DBH, I'm guessing, I didn't actually measure it yet.
If I'm remembering every thing, I need to move a wooden structure where my releaser sets, a head tank and 3 SS barrels. That tank and the barrels are up on a raised platform attached to the sugarhouse, that releaster structure is on the ground and it sets just about 3' from the leaning maple, and in harms way. The other things are being moved just in case my tree felling proves to not be as accurate as it usually is. I have a space of about 25' width between the sugarhouse and more trees I'd rather not knock down, mostly more maples.

[Brian]

Get some 911 red bottle fuel treatment, this works great. not the white bottle of 911. Parts stores have it and I belive tractor supply has it. Good Luck!!

[maple flats]

I've used both, since the tank only holds gal, I used about 1 pt of the Red bottle 911, then I used about the same of the white bottle power service. While the red bottle will remedy any gelling it specifically says it does not remove water, and water is the problem. Thus I used the white bottle which claims to help remove water. It would be far easier if the tank had a bottom drain, but it doesn't. I asked the dealer about that, he said there is no drain. Thus I can either remove the whole tank and drain it which the location it's in woul be a 10-12 hr job, or I can keep the tank full, use extra power service (white bottle) and keep changing fuel filters. I've chosen the filter option. I do still have about half a qt in the red bottle, but chose not to use it because it specifically says it does not remove water.

[maple flats]

I stand corrected, I just looked up the 911 red bottle, it does claim to remove water, I'll add the rest of that and try again. I might also get more if needed.
Since my farm tank is steel, I might also need to add more power service to what's left in the tank, I'd need to dip stick the tank for a guess on how much is in the tank, but I think there is about 100 gal. When filled it had 225 gal and I used a half gal of thr white bottle labeled as being for 250 gal, but that was about 18 months ago, condensation may have also caused a compounding of the issue with the tractor.
Had I not lost about 13-14 weeks last year due to sickness with 3 different issues I'd have used the tank down and refilled it last year. I do have a 64 oz bottle of the Power Service white bottle, I will try up to a pint more in the tractor and add the rest to the farm tank. Then I'll need to pump from the hand pump back into the tank to help blend it. Another option is to add the half gal and order a 100 gal delivery, they pump it in so fast it would mix it well. I'd guess they pump in at 25-30 GPM.

[TapTapTap]

I believe that power service has a treatment product just for correcting moisture problems.

[maple flats]

Bad guess, the base of the tree is oval, it measures 29" wide but only 25" front to back the way it needs to fall. That's fine, a wider hings is good. While I waqnted to get it down yesterday, it didn't happen, I worked on my tractor issue for too long, with minimal improvement, then I tried to get the tractor in position to remove the wooden releaser structure, other trees made it impossible to get in position, so it moved the tractor to about 75' away, pulled the logging winch cabl;e out and tipped the structure over. after the tree is down and I buck the butt log to about 17' long and winch it out of the way, my grandson can help me stand it back up. While it did keep running long enough to run the winch it frequently keeps stalling. I added another hald qt of Red 911 to the tank, we now have 3 days of rain, then on Tuesday, I'll try to drop the tree, I only have 1 more item to move (a 3x6 warehouse platform cart), I ended up moving everything else by hand and hand truck yesterday.

[ebliese]

You may consider Hotshots Secret which is better than the Power Service (white one), according to Project Farm. He's a guy who tests all sorts of tools and such on youtube. Here's the video for the diesel additives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9XC4AJ20RE

I have had good success with HEET on a gas engine. They do make a version of HEET for diesel (red bottle).

Whatever you do, hope you are able to get your tractor running. Water in the fuel is no fun, that's for sure.

[maple flats]

Finally a change in the weather for a few hours. The wind has been 18 mph or more for several days and out of the west, today until about the 4:00 hour the wind is out of the east or ESE at 10-12 mph. Having such a narrow window to safely drop that large leaning maple in I didn't want the wind blowing it towards the sugarhouse so I waited. Today, the wait is over. I'm going down in about half an hour , fueling all 3 gas saws, (I just got fresh gas and mixed it, what little was in the mixed gas can was over a yr old). Once fueled and bar oil topped off, I'll have lunch then I'll go back and drop the tree. If all goes well, I'll buck the bottom 16'8" off + enough to square up the butt end, Not sure yet if i'll slab it or make lumber or maybe even firewood. The decision will be made early summer. The rest will be made into firewood, for winter 2026-7 and beyond. To fully season sugarmaple does best if it has 1.5-2 yrs to season.
After reading the suggestions and watching videos on tests done on diesel to address moisture issues I ordered Howe's Diesel Defender and also 2 pigs (they are lowered into fuel tanks to absorb water without absorbing and fuel). I have 2 fuel tanks, one is off road farm diesel, the other is on road diesel, I'll place a "pig" in each and then stick the tank with a water finding paste on it to determin if I need to repeat right away. The Howe's Diesel defender, I ordered enough to add to both tanks as well as the tractor tank.

[maple flats]

The badly leaning large sugar maple tree is now safely on the ground and it landed exactly where I needed it to, didn't hit any sap tanks, nor the head tank, nor the wooden releaser structure nor the vacuum oump nor the elevated platform nor the empty SS barrels, and finally, not the sugarhouse.
I've never cut a sugar maple while the sap was still flowing in the past, but when I cut the felling notch sap ran out of the cut for at least 5 or 6 minutes in a pencil size stream, after that it slowed to a smaller stream. When the tree was on the ground the stump was putting out lots of sap, but because the chainsaw puts out lots of bar oil, there's no way it could be used.
I haven't yet bucked off the butt log, maybe next week, or the week after. The season is done, several trees have now budded, but this one had not yet.
Once I pack about 20 more gal of Dark, I'll pump a barrel of Amber into the finisher and pack that. Then I"ll cut the hemlock leaner down, limb it, and cut it into log lengths for the sawmill. I'll need to do that soon after the hemlock is down, because it will be blocking the double doors into the workshop and right noe the 2 man doors are both blocked with 30 gal barrels of bourbon barrel aged syrup awiting when they are ready, about late June or early July.

[DrTimPerkins]

Thanks for letting us know that the tree was successfully removed Dave.

[maple flats]

It is a downer to need to remove a healthy mature sugar maple that's right next to the releaser, but it was leaning so much I didn't feel safe working in the sugarhouse, so it had to go!

[johnallin]

Thanks for letting us know that the tree was successfully removed Dave.

You bet, and thanks for continuing to contribute to Trader...both you and Dave.

[Ghs57]

job well done.

[ebliese]

Now you'll be leaping from tree to tree!

[maple flats]

On last Saturday I had to remove another tree, leaning towards to front of my shop. It was a hemlock, about 15" at the stump, at least when I cut the felling notch and then plunge cut in to define the hinge my small gas saw (a Husky 543XP with a 16" bar barely reached thru on the plungs cut), any way, I had an even smaller window to drop it than I had on the sugarmaple. This time I had 14' between the front of the shop and a dissabled excavator. Because I thought the shop vwould sustain more damage if hit, I favored dropping it closer to the excavator. If the excavator was not opened to work on the engine, there would have been no issue, but I've removed the ROPS, the operator's seat and both parts of the engine cover, so the engine sets there fully exposed. I was luckey again, the tree did fully miss the shop and only a few very small branch tips hit the excavator, no damage at all. It just took a minute or 2 to remove a few small branch tips, nothing even 1/2" diameter, all smaller.
Then today, I started cleaning up from the hemlock because it was blocking easy access to the shop. Rather than being able to walk straight from the sugarhouse to the shop, I had lots of hemlock limbs to navigate thru, had to squeeze past the excavator, go another 10' or so, around the top of the hemlock, then back to the double doors into the shop. The hemlock was so close to the shop that I had to hold limbs out of the way to swing the doors open.
I so far have removed all limbs from the bottom 35' or so, and I cut 4 logs off the butt end, a 9', and 3 8.5 ft. I'm debating on whether to cut off another 8.5 ft or not, it is down to 8.5" diameter at the big end and about 7" at the small end if cut at 8.5' long. While I don't usually saw logs that small i haven't decided to do it or not. At any reate, other than that last decision, the rest will be hauled to make a brush pile for critters in the woods. It will break down in 3-5 yrs I'm thinking. Once cut up , logs piled off the ground, I'll likely buck up the sugarmaple so I can split it and make some great firewood. While I won't be firing my evaporator with wood anymore (going to oil), I still will be burning wood most times when the outside temps are at 25F or below, if warmer it gets too hot, and we use the furnace.
Once I buck the maple into blocks (14" long) I'll see if my brother can come and use his big skid steer with a spltter mounted that can break up the large blocks into a size I can lift onto my splitter. At 78 I can't lift what I used to and even then I don't think I could have lifted such large blocks in my younger days, I'd likely have needed to roll a block into the bucket on the tractor loader and place it on the splitter table, then work on it and hope none og the largest chunks fall on the ground. My brother's splitter is hung under the loader arm on his skid steer and it slipts in both directions, the wedge going left or right amd he's good enough that he makes it look easy operating the skid steer, picking up blocks, splitting them and picking up another to split. I don't know if the sugarmaple will be dry enough for next winter, but I have quite a number of dead ash trees if needed, in fact 2 recently blew down in recent winds, but they missed both structures.
I haven't checked yet, but i likely have at least a few other trees blown down over the rest of the property. My land is all just 6-14" of topsoil and duff, then it's all sand under that, not very good for holding trees upright given the winds we've had this past year. In yrs past I never had more than 1 tree hit or risk hitting the sugarhouse or the shop, this year I've had 6 blow down or lean so I had to cut them or risk a building.

[maple flats]

Today after I lifted the log and put a 4x4 under it to reduce the risk of hitting the dirt, I cut off 2 more blocks from the big maple, and cut 5 more cutting down from the top and working the chainsaw towards the ground to cut in about 12-14" along the opposite side, Then my battery needed recharge. While I usually use my bigger chainsaw with a 24" bar, today I opted for quieter, and used a DeWalt 60V chainsaw with an 18" bar. Next time I'll finish off the 5 I started, and start some more. This time I didn't have the batteries ( I have 2 @ 60V, one is 8 AH, the other is 9.6AH) charged beforehand, they will be charged before I start next time. Now that I've removed quite a lot of weight, the forks on the tractor will be able to pick the logs easier. I've been cutting from the upper part of the trunk, before the 1st crotch, once I get to the 1st crotch, I'll then use the skidding tongs to winch the butt log out from where it landed about 10' so it's in the roadway, from there I'll be able to raise it either using the forks, or using the tongs and 2 pt hitch skidding winch enough to slide a 4x4 under it to keep from sawing into the dirt. Once 4 or 5 more blocks come off the tractor will easily lift it to move the 4x4. As well as the 60V saw did, I'll likely use that for the rest, if I can. The butt might get too big in which case I'll need to go back to the 24" cut chainsaw, gas powered, I'm not sure if I cut using the 18" electric by starting at the top, and work the saw towards the far side and straight down, if I can get enough to finish down the front side to finish. Where I'm sawing now the log is down to 21-22" wide, by sawing like I did, the 18" bar easily reaches thru the rest. Where it's 29" wide, maybe, maybe not, I'll see. While that 60V saw only cuts at about half the speed, the quieter saw is golden.