Mike Bondi

Looking for a pruning system that requires almost no effort to remove a limb? Pneumatic or air-powered pruning loppers may be the answer you've been looking for.

We all know every pruning system has its advantages and disadvantages. There just isn't any perfect answer that fits every forest owner or every situation. But pneumatics are gaining popularity with those that are looking for a way to lop off those limbs without spending a lot of energy to do it-just pull the trigger!

Pneumatic pruners have been used for years in the berry and orchard industries where a lot of pruning cuts are made in relatively small areas, up and down crop rows, and on mostly flat ground. Doesn't sound like many forest plantings, does it?

But, if you're willing to lug around the 75-pound motorized compressor unit that provides the power source to create the pressure to run the pneumatic lopper, this system really is about the easiest way to take off branches. Those landowners able to get around their ground with an ATV or farm tractor can make this system work very practically.

The most common pneumatic system found in the Portland metropolitan area is one manufactured by Maibo, an Italian company. One distributor is Pacific Harvest Grain & Supply in Cornelius, Ore. The pneumatic lopper head comes in three sizes of jaw opening-one's able to handle up to 1, 1½ or 2¼ inch branches. The same four horsepower gas powered air compressor runs each lopper head. Extension handles can be attached to the lopper head for reaching up to 18 feet. Up to 50 feet of air hose are used to move out away from the power plant to the trees that are being pruned.

Rick Blem, a sales representative with Pacific Harvest Grain & Supply, says he's sold about as many pneumatic pruners to woodland owners during the past five years as he has to commercial berry or orchard growers. "It's a great system. Many of our blueberry growers and those with filberts use pneumatics. Now the forest owners have found the technology. If you can get in and around your trees, using a pneumatic works better than anything else," Blem says.

Blem reports that the pneumatic pruners are very simple and durable with rare breakdowns and relatively few problems. "It's amazing to see the pressure they develop. The larger head pruner doesn't even grunt to take a 2" branch from a fir tree!"

Blem says the easiest way to prune with the pneumatic is to set up and work a 50-foot radius. "We can put up to 200 feet of hose on the system, but you get into a real problem with hose management. It seems there's always something in the woods to get hung up on. Also, I tell landowners to get the big pruner head so you can take the bigger branches." Pneumatic pruning systems cost about $1,400 to $1,600, depending on the model, and include the pruning head, hose and compressor.

Clem Hunter is a woodland owner in Clackamas County. He has pruned the first lift on about 15 acres of plantation during the last three years. He's done all of his pruning thus far with regular hand loppers. Last December Clem attended a pruning demonstration event held at the Hopkins Memorial Tree Farm near Beavercreek, Ore., saw all kinds of pruning equipment and had the chance to get first-hand experience with a pneumatic.

"That really made a believer out of me," Hunter reports. "It's amazing how effortlessly these loppers can take any branch you can get around. I'm looking for something easy that I can do for several hours a day-this is it!"

Clem acknowledges that he is just getting started learning how to use the pneumatic system in his forest, but figures he'll be able to increase his production per day by about 40 or 50 percent. "It does take work getting the equipment in position and keeping the hose from tangling. But, it's a lot less work when it comes to cutting branches."

Mike Bondi is an extension agent in Forestry and Christmas Trees for Oregon State University and has served Clackamas and Multnomah counties since 1985.

This article appeared in the Northwest Woodlands Magazine, Spring 2000- Published quarterly by the World Forestry Center as a benefit of membership in the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Washington Farm Forestry Association, Idaho Forest Owners Association and Montana Forest Owners Association.