Tree Removal in Maiden Gully for Bush Blocks and Estate Homes

Before anyone picks up a saw on a Maiden Gully job, we work out how we are getting the gear in and the timber out. On this side of Bendigo that question decides more about the day than the tree does.

Getting a truck and chipper onto a Maiden Gully block

Maiden Gully has two very different kinds of property, and they need different plans. North of the Calder Highway around Robin Hill, and on the newer streets south-west of the highway, blocks are conventional estate lots: a house close to the boundary, a Colorbond fence and a side gate that might be 900 mm wide. Out west of Monsants Road the remaining acreages have long driveways, dams, sheds and paddock fences, and often nothing between the tree and the house except lawn.

On an estate lot we usually rig the tree down in pieces. A climber sets lines in the crown, limbs are lowered on ropes past the roof and the neighbour's fence, and the trunk comes down in short sections onto mats. The chipper stays on the street and the mini loader ferries the wood out through the gate. If there is no gate at all, or the tree is leaning over the house, we bring an elevated work platform or arrange a crane. On acreage we can often fell whole, drop the tree into a paddock and process it on the ground, which is quicker and cheaper for you.

Trees along the Calder service road near the Beckhams Road playspace sit close to traffic and overhead lines, so those jobs get traffic control and every limb on a rope.

The trees we take out most around Maiden Gully

The bush that Maiden Gully was carved out of is Box-Ironbark forest: grey box, red ironbark, yellow gum, red box and red stringybark on thin, gravelly goldfields soil. Plenty were left standing when the estates went in, and they are the ones we get called about.

• Remnant gums dying back after subdivision. A retained yellow gum that had its roots cut for a driveway, or its soil level changed by fill, may hang on for a few years and then start dropping large dead limbs over the yard.
• Multi-stemmed regrowth ironbark. Much of the local bush is coppice regrowth from the mining era, so a single "tree" is often three or four stems sharing one weak union. When one stem splits out in a summer storm, the rest usually has to follow.
• Dead or dying trees inside the fire-planning zone. Standing dead timber close to the house is fuel, and after a dry run of seasons we see plenty of it on the western edge of the suburb.

Not every tree that worries you needs to come out. If the trunk is sound and the problem is weight or deadwood, tree pruning in Maiden Gully or a proper crown reduction (our Maiden Gully tree lopping page explains why we do that instead of topping) can keep the tree and settle the risk.

Permits, the overlay and the 10/30 rule

Much of Maiden Gully, especially the western and southern edges that back onto bush, sits under a Bushfire Management Overlay, and the growth area has its own native vegetation precinct plan that flags patches of remnant bush for retention. Whether a tree can go without a planning permit depends on where it stands and what it is. In a designated bushfire-prone area the state's 10/30 rule lets owners clear vegetation within 10 metres of a home and trees within 30 metres without a permit, but it only applies on your own land and it does not switch off every overlay. We check the planning property report before we quote, tell you if a permit from the City of Greater Bendigo looks likely, and help with the paperwork if it does. Our Bendigo permits guide covers permits for removing trees under a bushfire overlay in more detail.

A typical Maiden Gully tree removal, step by step

1. Site look and quote. Tom or one of the crew walks the block with you, checks the tree, the access, the lines and the overlay, and gives a fixed price on the spot or the same day.
2. Booking. Most jobs go in within a week or two; storm damage and hazardous dead trees jump the queue.
3. Set-up. Truck and chipper on the street or in the paddock, exclusion zone taped off, ground protection down if we are crossing a lawn.
4. Dismantle or fell. Climber or platform takes the crown down in rigged sections on tight blocks; a controlled fell with a pull line where there is room.
5. Process. Brush through the chipper, trunk cut into rounds or log lengths, everything loaded or stacked as agreed.
6. Stump and clean-up. The stump is cut low, or ground out the same visit if you have booked stump grinding in Maiden Gully. We rake, blow off the drive and walk the site with you before we leave.

What happens to the wood

Ironbark and box are about the best firewood in the state, which is one reason people in Maiden Gully with a wood heater rarely want the trunk taken away. We can cut it into rounds, split and stack it, or take it away; the choice moves the price a little. Brush is chipped and can be left as mulch on a bush block, which suits the local plants far better than bought bark, or carted off.

The same crew handles tree removal in Marong on the rural side and tree removal in Golden Square and Kangaroo Flat back towards town, so we are on the Calder most weeks. For the broader picture of how we work see the main tree removal service page and our Maiden Gully suburb page.

Questions Maiden Gully owners ask before a removal