Wierd above ground root and other problems

[justaguy88]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading through this forum the past couple days and think it's great. I have a question I was hoping someone could help me with concerning a group of three palms I inherited at a house I just purchased.

A Canary Island Date Palm appears to have grown into two Mexican Fan Palms that were planted closely behind it. Compounding the problem, the two fan palms appear to have substantial "root boss" (that's the term I think) that creates and extremely unlightly massive base among the three connected palms.

My question is what can be done to make this less unsightly? Can the root boss be shaved or cut off without killing the palms? Can the three trees be separated, and if so, how? Finally, does anyone have an idea as to the cost of these things in the San Diego area?

I realize that these may be some very basic questions, but I am tremendously appreciative of any and all help. Also, for what its worth, I couldn't find anyone with a similar problem in all of my searching online, including here on this forum.

Thanks! Here are some pictures:

Edited March 29, 2013 by justaguy88

[Stevetoad]

Welcome to the forum!!! washies seem to put out adventitious roots when the trunks get hit by sprinklers. as far as cutting them off i think you will just make it look worse. washies are all but worthless as far as money but the date palm will have value. if you dont like the washies then i would chop them down and start over. being on the coast you can grow some amazing palms.

[Kim]

You might try growing ferns, bromeliads, staghorns, or other plants directly on the roots, or grow plants around the base that are tall and bushy enough to hide the root mass.

I don't know for certain, but it looks like it would be fatal to the date palm if you tried to separate the fan palms at the base. You could just cut off the trunks, but that would look even worse than what you have now.

[bgl]

Hi Patrick,

Welcome to the forum! I agree with Steve and Kim. Attempting to separate those three palms in all likelihood fatal - possibly to all three. If it were me I would cut down the Washingtonias close to the base, and then do what Kim mentioned - utilize the root mass for other plants. That could be a very interesting and attractive part of the landscape.

Aloha from the Big Island,

Bo-Göran

PS. And like Steve said - lots of palm you can grow in Solana Beach!

[Hammer]

You got some good advice from three experienced and smart folks. So I will just welcome you to the forum!

[Shirleypalmpaws]

Justaguy, I have an idea but don't know if it'll work....you'd have to ask more knowledgable palmtalk members if it could work. I like the look of those roots, it'd be neat if you could use them to your advantage. If you have to cut down the two Mexican fan palms, but have to leave the stumps for the sake of the CIDP, it might be kinda cool to make the cuts higher up on both the trunks of the fan palms....higher than what might be considered normal. Then stand back and have a good look at the higher than normal stumps and decide which one would look better being shorter than the other, so as to create a staggered heights effect of the two stumps---maybe choosing the one further from your house as the shorter one, kinda-stair-stepping them, whichever one would enhance your overall landscape and home. Then hollow out the two stumps to create planters, can plant it with many options (can even drill extra holes toward the bottom on the sides of the make-shift containers to improve drainage if necessary). Or you can formulate a cupping situation out of the staggered height stumps to set actual large-size containers in them, or even a collection of smaller containers.....or place a beautifully made bird-bath in one of them. Then follow Kim's idea plant out the ferns, bromeliads, staghorns, or other plants directly on the roots to enhance that part, just like Kim suggested. Presto! Depending on sun/shade situation it'd be fun to turn lemon into lemonade.

[Shirleypalmpaws]

Another idea that just hit me....also not sure if it could work....but to turn the higher than normal cut stumps into totems, maybe actual totems (or tiki gods? lol), or just totems for something as cool as monstera deliciosa, or other big climbers that your environment, garden-zone, and sun/shade situation calls for such sturdy ready-made support.

[Kostas]

What i think is that you are blessed with a great area and medium to grow bromeliads and other epiphytes on,as well a as ferns as Kim mentioned. You can't rot them growing them on the exposed Washingtonia roots and once the bromeliads,orchids and other epiphytes spread and cover them,it will look like a piece of rainforest there,truly awesome! Just pull off the leaf bases from the Phoenix canariensis to show its nice trunk,tie epiphytes on the exposed roots and put some ferns maybe in the wetter spots and place a few microsprinklers to wet the area every day for 5 minutes(which makes for minimal water consumption and happy epiphytes as well!),maybe a couple of times per day at the hottest period of the summer,and stand back and watch the transformation! In a few years,the epiphytes will be running up the trunks and spreading around the exposes roots and on the ground!

[justaguy88]

Thank you so much to everyone who has responded for the information and suggestions. The canary palm is worth keeping and if that means I've got to keep the Mexican fan palms then I think that is the sacrifice I have to make. If I can cover up the root base as noted then it probably won't look too bad. Again, thank you so much for the insight. I will be posting more here I am sure.

Patrick