Washingtonia filifera

swexler680

Question? I live in South Florida (Palm Beach County) in a new development (5 years old). The builder used Washingtonia Palms on the front lawns of the homes. I am now told that this variety of Palm is not safe due to our potential for hurricanes. The tallest palm on my site is about 15'. We are being advised to remove these Palms and replace them with a more hearty and hurricane resistant type. I cannot find any information regarding the hazards of a Washingtonia palms in our area. Is it true that this type of Palm is a hazard in the south Florida climate?

newguy18

They can be,i'm not really an expert on palms as they don't come my way very often,but from what i've seen,they can be 70' tall,maybe bigger,they tend to hold beards if not kept clean.I've never seen one jsut blow over but if winds were strong enough,any tree or palm would blowover,is the guy who told you this an arborist,or is he just a neighbor ,friend or a local uninsured guy looking for work?

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old schooler

swexler680

Thanks for the reply. Actually it is our commnity association that is asking all residents to remove the palm trees and replace them. I think someone on the board is getting is back scratched.

newguy18

What you should do is find an isa certified arborist in your area,have him inspect the palm and make a decsion based on his recomendations.
Heres a link to the isa's website
International Society of Arboriculture

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old schooler

Sean Freeman

Quite right get an independant qualified experienced professional to give you a documented assessment of the palm trees of concern and go from there.

dannyboysfc

We've got tons of those palms out here in CA, if it is a filifera they are not the 70 foot tall W. robusta that NG is talking about. I've seen a few as tall as 35-40 feet, they are a big heavy palm though and wouldn't want one to fall over on my house. That being said, we get some gusty winds over here in winter and have never seen a healthy one go over. Huricane winds may be a different story! Definately talk to a local arborist for a good assesment.

swexler680

Thanks for the input.

Eric Frei

Swexler,

In all the years of seeing palms and trees in storms I can say that inch for inch compared to a tree a palm is most likely to stand up to a hurricane.

It's just like a pole with cabbage on top. For the diameter of trunk there's little wind resistance, and they bend alright. The filifera has a thicker more solid trunk than robusta. In high winds the dead fronds blow off, they have short barbs that can pose an air born hazard.

Palm roots unlike common myth are very strong. Although they're fibrous and might only average your finger in thickness there's thousands of them all the way to the trunk (unlike trees with a few structural roots). Their capacity to hold in any loose sand shows that volume and distance spread works. In heavy clays they are less likely to be as strong especially if there's soil layering,clay on rock.

If the palms are cleaned (dead fronds removed) then little wind resistance is offered.

I personally think that some-one is full of BS.

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TreeSpecialist

When Hurricane Ike recently hit the Texas Coast, one of the few trees left standing was the palm.

Ekka (as usual) is exactly right. I can think of no other tree that suffers less damage or is less likely to fail in a hurricane than a well cared for palm.

Washingtonia sp. are great palms. While palms are not actually true "trees," they are interesting landscape specimens.

For additional information about trees and plants for your part of the world, check out Dr. Ed Gilman's web site at Edward F. Gilman; Plant Pictures, Plant Information, Landscape Pictures, Horticultural Plant Photos, Garden Photos, Landscape Designer Software, Plant Identification Software, Plant Labels, Horticopia

Click on the "plant lists" button.

Diversity is the key to any healthy urban forest.

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