Palm damage from storm in The Gap

Darren

G'day ,

I have some well established palm trees (I think that they are Alexander Palms - around 30 years old) that were exposed to the storm in The Gap (Brisbane) three weeks ago.

They were at a severe angle at the height of the storm, and still have a bit of a bend to them in the direction that they were blown in the storm. We are at the top of the hill so may have been more exposed to the wind more than other properties.

The first picture was taken the day after the storm, and the second picture in the last couple of days where the second palm from the right has folded over at the base of the crown (this palm is the third from the right in the first picture, slightly obscured by some other palms at the front of the picture). The third picture is a further two palms at the side of the house.

Given that these palms still have a slight bend after the storm, are these permanently damaged? I thought that these types of palms would generally be able to survive even a storm as severe as what occurred.

I think that I will go with an independant arborist's report, but any other advice would be helpful. I have more photos if they may help.

thanks ,
Darren

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Eric Frei

Once the head (crown) of the palm bends over like that in the 2nd pic it's toast, has to come out and dont take too long about it because unlike trees they turn to soft mush and cannot be climbed safely (if it cannot be felled).

Time will tell for the rest, what is unusual is that they didn't lose many fronds, it's also unusual for that palm with the broken head to have done it at that spot. Usually the spot is where the grey trunk meets the green crown. Sometimes the whole head just falls off.

Personally from my experience long term prognosis is poor. I seldom see the heads straighten, I have watched some over a period of 3 years stay bent then the head starts to die, rot or falls off.

Palms are basically trunks with hundreds of tiny tubes inside which transport water up and sugars down. Palms unlike trees only grow upwards (on top). The trunks dont get fatter like trees. The crushed vascular system unable to rebuild or repair. On one side the tubes are crushed, on the other stretched which could have localized fractures internally. The flow has been impeded, the palm simply will have less available resources and strength yet continue to grow upwards if it lives.

The call is yours, if there's little chance of damage if the head falls off leave those others and wait/see. Keep in mind that the root system can also be damaged and could decay. Less resources moving around the palm means less for all parts including roots.

The best indicator when watching them if you decide to wait and see is the density of fronds, colour, more lean/sag in the heads and thinning or tapering down of the trunk as it grows ... it will grow smaller as it's getting less resources.

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OutofMytree

Ekka, this sounds a little odd. Surely the trunks expand over time? Am I misunderstanding what you said here? Or are you referring to mature palms as per the pictures?

Darren. The bent one should go as a safe precaution. After that sort of damage the odds of survival are low whereis the odds of it rotting and falling on yer head are too high for safety. Drop it, chop it, grind it and plant another.

Cheers mate.

Oh and good pictures. It is really easy to offer advice when you present such a well supported question.

Eric Frei

Is not the DBH of the palm same when it is 10' and when it is 30'?

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Sean Freeman

What Eric is saying is that palms since they don't have the ring of cambium around their circumference cannot produce secondary thickening as trees do.

Palms do have meristematic tissues they are arranged in bundles that often appear quite random to the naked eye when you cut through the stem as a disk or radial cross section.
Because of this palms don't exhibit the type of increasing girth that trees do with increasing age.

OutofMytree

Yeah I kind of worked out what Eric was saying a little after I posted. I originally took his comment to mean that palms NEVER expand in circumference rather than palms do not expand after a given size/age has been acheived.

My bad....