palms and petioles

Joshua Rugg

do you like to leave the petioles after you take a frond off and only remove the dead loose ones or do you like to take the fresh cut ones off? any insights on this eric? thanks mate.

__________________
Stihl
MS192T 14"
MS200T 16"
MS261 16"
MS440 25"

Husqvarna 359 20"
394XP 32"

Poulan P3314 14" ( new hire/groundy saw)

Eric Frei

What type of palm? This matters a lot.

__________________

Joshua Rugg

coconut. cocos nucifera

__________________
Stihl
MS192T 14"
MS200T 16"
MS261 16"
MS440 25"

Husqvarna 359 20"
394XP 32"

Poulan P3314 14" ( new hire/groundy saw)

Eric Frei

Ah, pull the dead ones off, but some might need cutting. Cut green ones as close to the trunk as you can without cutting anything else.

Now over time that green one left (after cutting) will die and fall so people try to rip them off or even get a razor like tool and scribe carefully near attachment point to pull them off. I wouldn't go that far.

__________________

Joshua Rugg

i heard you can use a hammer to remove the petioles. ever heard of doing this?

__________________
Stihl
MS192T 14"
MS200T 16"
MS261 16"
MS440 25"

Husqvarna 359 20"
394XP 32"

Poulan P3314 14" ( new hire/groundy saw)

Eric Frei

A hammer? Maybe hammer the blade of a machette etc to cut them off. But do explain.

__________________

Joshua Rugg

my friend told me you can cut the frond so there is 8 inches of stem left and then hammer it to break it off. i just use my chainsaw haha. but i thought about the hammer idea.

__________________
Stihl
MS192T 14"
MS200T 16"
MS261 16"
MS440 25"

Husqvarna 359 20"
394XP 32"

Poulan P3314 14" ( new hire/groundy saw)

Eric Frei

I think he's being doing this with his hammer.

Seriously, they're stringy buggers and if not dead they hang on, better to cut than bludgeon and tear.

__________________

TreeSpecialist

Here in Texas, the fan palms ( Washingtonia spp.) are the most common palms we deal with on a regular basis.

The removal of the dead petioles is preferred by our higher end customers. It is time consuming but can be done neatly with a utility knife.


Some folks call it "shaving" the trunk. It's a nice, clean look when done well.

__________________

Eric Frei

That hairy husk stuff makes you sneeze and cough like no tomorrow! Big mess to clean up.

__________________

Joshua Rugg

we have done quite a few mexican fan palms that were well over 30-50 feet and had self pruned the dead fronds. bugger of a mess to clean up. the customer wants us to come out to take off the petioles when she has the money again. prolly next month sometime. the tree self pruned in the past so the petioles only go up about 40% of the stem from the ground up. interesting palms these are.

__________________
Stihl
MS192T 14"
MS200T 16"
MS261 16"
MS440 25"

Husqvarna 359 20"
394XP 32"

Poulan P3314 14" ( new hire/groundy saw)