instead of taking trees down, ring them with a hammer and chisel and leave them standing for wildlife to use. just be careful later when they get old and rotten enough to start falling... : )
Lol- all great ideas. We use the already ring barked trees that have fallen over for firewood and I was hoping to use the sawdust for the compost loo so didn't need to buy any in... (Hence my question) I have already planted over 1000 trees in the last two years, so i am ok to cut down some trees for posts and stays. (The sawdust from this is massive too). My poor husband digs all holes by hand. Getting him to cut down the trees too - I don't even want to suggest it. But if there are any volunteers who have nothing else to do, feel free to come by and hand saw... Not too worry about the natives animals. We have more kangaroos than we can count as well 10 acres of natural native land for the Eco system (with a dam for good measure). They are thriving here. We still have birds I can't find in field guides.
Canola Oil is the recommended bar oil replacement. Source: Arborist. There is a caveat though, you need to empty the oil tank and run a mineral oil back through it or otherwise it will gum up and ruin your oil supply for further cuts.
the lack of habitat for nesting owls, bats, woodpeckers, etc. comes about around here because people take dead trees down instead of leaving them standing... i'm not sure what tree hole nesting species you have in your area.
We have kept all the standing dead trees on our property because we have owls, hawks, turkey vultures, etc. that call them home or come daily to take a roost and rest. Woodpeckers like to feed from them too.
a lot of people around here burn wood for heat during the winter months. not much stays standing any place if it is dead and some gets cut even when it is alive too. just saying how it goes some places...
Yeah I know. The owners before us, ring barked all the trees and push them into piles. We have so many piles of dead wood, we will never have to cut down a dead tree. And will alway have firewood for the rest of our lives... Hence why I keep planting lots of trees.
on one permie site someone suggested lacing the bar oil with mushroom spores? Rose ;there is a fledgling Stanthorpe Permaculture group ( They came here for a tour a few weeks ago, Great bunch) see if you can track down Dylan Graves
"Canola Oil is the recommended bar oil replacement. Source: Arborist." interesting, I did not know that. I've always used the silver containers from stihl since they keep my warranty in effect. once they are used up I will have to try this.
Indeed Songbird, I understand completely. Right now we are not in a position to have a wood heat system, the little travel trailer just isn't big enough for a wood stove. That will be in the house I start building, hopefully around the end of next year. Once that happens some of the dead trees will be turned into firewood. When those are gone, I will have to do some thinning cutting of live trees, which will be aged for at least a year before they are turned into heat. You do what you have to do, one of my neighbors is cutting the wood for next year right now. I'm fortunate that the oaks and hickories are very reproductive.
Are you making fun of me again? And yes we will come down one day.... Our list of things that need to be done keeps getting longer not shorter.
You will need both so try it before you run out. Pour out your mineral oil, fill your oil with canola, use your saw, pour out the canola, fill it with mineral and run it for a few minutes for the mineral oil to fully replace the Canola. If you do a lot of chainsawing, you can see how much money you can save as Canola is far cheaper than bar oil.