Murphy's Tree Service

09/24/2025

Still rocking big trees in Wayne PA. We could have brought in a crane but we were able to get two big trees down and chipped up without leaving the backyard.

08/20/2025

Had to open the face up a little to make sure this back leaner had a wide enough notch to allow the tree to make the lay before the face closed

This shows the falling cut for what was left of a large locust that had fallen on a client's house... The tree was leaning back at about 45 degrees and on t...

04/29/2025

Tree work entails creative problem solving. The object of this cut and rigging set up was to have the piece stand up as it was lifted into the overhead rigging block. Ad then, before the piece was stood up all the way, have the but slide off the cut and hang well way from the wires.

This tree removal over the wires demonstrates the power of combining proper cutting and rigging techniques. The rigging was set up to keep the large top but ...

04/07/2025

Here's what's going on in Britian... My son has never heard me use the N word... not one time in his llife. But I do wonder why Dave Chapelle can make a good living by using it, and others can't even say the word without, in this case, going to jail.

04/07/2025

this is my comment on a video by a scientist talking about assessing hollows and decay in trees:

species is a very important factor... after 40 years of subutban tree cutting, I've seen monster white oaks with over 90% decay before they fell. But qualifying safety per amount of decay by species would be far too laborious and difficult for a scientist.. Just one of the many limitations of science when applied to trees.

crowm reduction always works to mitigate risk. Your suggestion that crown reduction cannot be tolerated by some species and condition is a bit misleading... Crown reduction can be limited in sensitive species and older trees, but it is always a good stratedgy to redcue risk of failure. I call it ... taking away "the straw that breaks the camels back". It often doesn't have to be much. And it's always better to take weight off the branch tips, especially on large lower, over -extended, reaching limbs, as a general practice which will prevent storm damage and summer limb drop on those limbs and reduce the forces on the main stem(s).

One relatively unaddressed yet important factor is not putting additional pruing wounds anywhere near the decay. And all new sprouts around old wounds and decay shold be left. That's the trees way of building new wood as fast as possible. That's the type of common sense, practical information that I have never heard coming from a scientist.

The scientist's perspective is focused on technical aspects that have little practical application in the field. The vast majority of trees will never get decay assesed by instruments. The practicing arborist has to go out and talk to Mrs. Smith about her trees based solely on visual assessment. What has this or any other presentation done to aid him in that task? Your suggestion that arborists are going to walk around and do hazardous tree evaluation by entering data into a laptop which will then do the calcuations is devoid of sensibility. That's the same ivory tower mentality that Shigo had regarding target pruning, saying.... when it comes to unconventional branch unions, the arborist should go back to look at the pruning wound a year or two later to asses whether the wound wood indicated a proper cut. It lacks common sense. It's never going to happen.

A much better and more practical strategy would be to show photographs of trees that actually failed in storms and show the visible indicators of the type of decay that leads to failure. That would actually have some practical value, but of course you can't get a PhD by show and tell pictures of fallen trees.

I don;t mean to be too harsh, as your making a solid effort with these videos. But hoping to jog your mindset a little. Consider the subject from the working man's prespective, just as the working man would do well to consider the subject fromt he trees perspective. The ability to consider this or any other subject from multiple perspectives is quite valuable, yet rarely taught or even acknoledged as a possibility.

One of a series of 'Hot Takes' to support students studying arboriculture and urban forestry.

01/03/2025

Apparently a bunch of high school kids working on a science project got crerative and found a unique way to prove that the DNA that wasn't supposed to be in your covid vaxxines BUT WAS, can be brought to life... If you're not feeling like your same old self after taking that shot, maybe this is why... if you get turbo cancer or blood clots, or heart arhythmia, or dimentia, maybe this is why... you believed the lies and now your contaminated... FOR WHAT? What good did that shot do you?

PS... here comes the bird flu.. they already have the vaxxine all figured out and will not want to miss the opportunity to make another bunch of billions of dollars, even if it means they have to use gain of function to get bird flu spreading human to human...

WAKE UP.. your life may depend on it..

Future research is warranted to address DNA presence in COVID product vials

12/25/2024

For anyone that is interested in pruning strategies for young healthy maples that have congested limbs, that will become a problem in future years.

https://youtu.be/_qvvvTVbPSY?si=UQ2DRjPLRAgRVYZ7

11/15/2024

This video shows several interesting cuts. First is blowing a big top using a plate cut. This is the fastest easiest cut I know to create height to the hinge...

08/23/2024

This is from last Friday...

The complete job with the GRCS... Most important thing was bucket positioning in 2 sets with the second set being positioned to be able to reach each of the two back leads from either side of the front lead. Of note is the 3-cut stepped snap cut used to take the second pic with GRCS, and the lack of undercuts throughout the video.

This was pushing the limits a but, but ended up being easier than it looked from the ground, due in large part to how durable hickory trees are.

A fairly complete look at a large ash removal with some technical rigging using the GRCS

08/18/2024

We preloaded with rigging line with the GRCS and continued to crank it over as the cut was being made in order to get as much clearance as possible from the adjacent hickory. The Weight of the but caused the limb to rotate tips up and away fromthe hickory as the piecews ws swinging down and towards the hickory. I only tried this cut because hickory ios such tough stuff. I expected there to be a lot of contact, but was pretty sure that no damage wold be done to the hickory. As it turned out, the pieces swung down like a ballet and didn't even much bruh the hickory. This is a great example opf rigging where the GRCS was actually used to help clear some obstacles below.

We preloaded with rigging line with the GRCS and continued to crank it over as the cut was being made in order to get as much clearance as possible from the ...

07/04/2024

I originally called this cut the "Stangle", but have decided to rename it "the trapdoor", thanks to a suggestion from Mick Dempsey. Thanks Mick!

The cut is used to blow a top out when the top is taller than the drop zone has room for. The purpose of this cut is to control the direction of the fall with a hinge, but use a very narrow face that closes very early in the fall, after the top moves only 10 to 20 degrees,. The face is a steep downward facing Humboldt, so that as soon as the face closes, the but slides right off the cut and the top drops straight down and spears into the ground.

This prevents damage to the surrounding trees. It's crucially important that the top moves far enough out on the hinge before the face closes. so that when the top drops, it doesn't hit me on the way down.

I AM very happy with the video as a good illustration of the technique. Leave your thoughts and feedback in the comments.

I originally called this cut the "Stangle", but have decided to rename it "the trapdoor", thanks to a suggestion from Mick Dempsey. Thanks Mick!The cut is us...