Video of my neighbor's tree getting chopped down

On February 4, 2008 my neighbor had his giant eucalyptus tree chopped down because it was diseased. This is a one-minute time lapse movie of the 4-hour event.

(The song is Eee-Ooo by Lady Bombon Vs. Gigaboy.)

Link to video

[#1 posted by JulianR , February 4, 2008 3:04 PM]

This is gruesome, I don't really want to see this. Even if the tree may be diseased, I don't want to watch it being chopped up... It has been living in that spot for a century at least.

[#2 posted by jeblis , February 4, 2008 3:06 PM]

Why didn't he film the whole thing? I was disappointed.

[#3 posted by Mark Frauenfelder , February 4, 2008 3:25 PM]

There were two trees. One was chopped down, the other was trimmed.

[#4 posted by libelle , February 4, 2008 3:50 PM]

Julianr: actually, Eucalyptis are very fast growing. That looks like a 20-25 year old to me. Not that that would make it any more pleasant to watch.

[#5 posted by zoundsPadang , February 4, 2008 4:36 PM]

Alright, Mark. Totally busted this time. Where the heck do you live that you can see such a FREAKING BLUE SKY in the middle of winter? Cus I know Im in chicago and there aint no such thing as a blue sky with your cutesy white puffy clouds IN THE MIDDLE OF WINTER.

[#6 posted by savqagela , February 4, 2008 5:07 PM]

This wasn't CHOPPED DOWN! What a rip! I was waiting for ...3..2..1. Timbrrrrrr! Bonk! and nothin! Just a tree haircut! Brrrrrrr... what a tease

[#7 posted by TopFrog , February 4, 2008 6:06 PM]

@zoundspadang
In a surprising coincidence, I walked past that tree (or rather now, the lack thereof) today. It was very windy - brave guy in the cherry picker. It is (or was) in Menlo Park, CA.

[#8 posted by gabrielm , February 4, 2008 6:19 PM]

Funny you should post this. I just took a time lapse while cutting down my x-mas tree. What kind of camera/setup did you use?

[#9 posted by trr , February 4, 2008 6:45 PM]

What Savaqagela said!
Boooo!

[#10 posted by pelrun , February 4, 2008 7:08 PM]

It's fairly important to keep an eye on eukalypts and trim/chop them down if needed. They're *extremely* fast growing, and they aren't particularly strong - they have a real tendency to drop branches as they grow, potentially injuring or killing anyone unlucky enough to be under them.
(And double the risk if there's a dropbear living in it at the time!)

I've seen multiple gumtrees in my various backyards over the years snap in half or be clean torn out of the ground in bad weather too...

[#11 posted by Lex10 , February 5, 2008 5:46 AM]

Here's photos of mine in action - 40 yrs old & killed by "Shot Borer" currently working its way through all the pines in the neighborhood:
http://www.glyphjockey.com/2006/12/pine-autopsy.html

[#12 posted by ZzmeeY , February 5, 2008 9:29 AM]

We could see the dendro-barbershop :)

[#13 posted by JulianR , February 5, 2008 3:10 PM]

It may be that they're fast growing (there is no Eukalyptus here in Germany, too cold, I guess), but having to watch that is hard nonetheless. At least for me.

[#14 posted by Evil Jim , February 5, 2008 9:05 PM]

The link crashes my Firefox when I try to access it.

[#15 posted by ZzmeeY , February 6, 2008 2:56 PM]

Use the Opera, Jim. There is just mov-file :)