Mythbusters Straw through a Palm

[Zac in NC]

Finally, they have aired the show.  Watch it, we had feedback on the old board.

Zac

[Palmarum]

Yes, watching it as of now. They should have chosen a Coconut trunk to experiment on. After Hurricane Andrew went through, I found quite a few Coconuts with strange piercing holes through their trunks.

Ryan

[Zac in NC]

Yeah I know. At least they called it by its Latin name though. I am waiting to hear if they mention this board or something.  Have you ever wanted to make a female robot?? JK I love this show.

Zac

[Palmarum]

I had a feeling they would dump the Washingtonia. Although it does grow in tropical areas. Quite well in fact.

Ryan

[Zac in NC]

Yeah I am glad they dumped it. It was almost like there was some ESP coming from you to them...LOL... I wonder which palms they will use. I imagine finding a Coconut in San Francisco (or most of California in general I would think, judging by what I have heard from the forum members) would be difficult.  This should be interesting.

Zac

[Palmarum]

A Queen Palm.....figures.

[Palmarum]

Theres a flaw in their experiment. The targeted straw is not hitting the actual trunk, but the bottom part of the leaf bases. Compacted, green leaf bases would be a significant different materal than the stem.

Ryan

[Zac in NC]

Yeah I know. Should we email them about it? There is still 20 minutes left. Hmmm

Zac

I love how Adam was describing a palm tree as" a tall skinny thing with coconuts at the top." LOL That is a coconut Palm....Well, duh! I am glad they did ask us for some help though.

Zac

[Palmarum]

If the show was done live, that would be interesting. I might email them if something else doesn't happen. I should attach a photo I have of a Royal Palm pierced with a 2x4.

Ryan

[Zac in NC]

I think they have that, as I have a board through a Royal saved on my hard drive too. It'll be interesting to see the rest of the show. The Piano wire was classic though.

Zac

[Zac in NC]

The Palm people say no, you may not put it to bed yet.

Zac

[Palmarum]

A good episode nonetheless, I enjoyed it. It is not everyday, that palm trees make their way onto a primetime show.

Ryan

[Zac in NC]

True, It was done in true Mythbuster's style.  Now I wonder if anyone else besides us watched it?

Zac

[jam99]

I didn't watch it. Which channel was it on?

[aussiearoids]

I watch it often , its very popular here in Australia .

[BS Man about Palms]

I watched the last 40 mins or so, I stumbled on it, called a couple of folks, but "Palmtalk" had crashed out here. (several folks including me could not get on)  I came in at the point they decided they had to switch palms.  I think that might have been on the old thread where several of us noted that the TYPE of palm might have something to do with success or not.

Based on what I saw on the show, and remembering the posts, I dare say they were roughly filming about the same time the thread was going on.....

[Zac in NC]

Yeah I had issues logging in last night afterwards too. I kept getting a server is down message. Oh well, I am glad to see the board back up and running again.

Zac

[MattyB]

I saw it too but couldn't log on to chat.  At 300 mph they did get thatched reed to go 2" into the palm, but as you guys pointed out they failed to clean off the leaf boots.  Those things are hard on Queens!  Oh, man I was yellin' at the TV!  "That's not the trunk ya dumb a$$e$!" .  What a palm snob am I.

[deezpalms]

yep the board was down n' BS clued me in on the myth busters show so I saw it too! It was cool to see the piano wire shoot straight thru the palm, the board and into the wall!!

[MattyB]

I just emailed them the following:

Hi guys,

Great job on the show!  If you ever do a revisit on the "straw through a palm" myth here's some input.  You used Syagrus romanzoffiana (Queen Palm) which is a close relative to the Coconut but you failed to remove the old leaf bases which are persistant (for several years) on the Queen Palm but fall off readily on a Coconut Palm (Cocos nucifera).  The straw and reed were not able to even reach the softer trunk because they were hitting the hard, woody leaf stems.  These can be removed by cutting around them with a utility knife, exposing the trunk.  Also, the trunk of a Queen Palm is pretty hard.  A Royal (Roystonea regia), native to hurricane regions, is a fat trunked palm but mostly made up of water and is very soft.  It sounds like a huge watermellon when you knock on it!  Also, Dypsis lutescens is a small trunked clumping palm that has less of a trunk diameter, so you might get results that way.  Thought I'd give you the heads up.  Thanks for an awesome show!

Matt Bradford

(MattyB on the International Palm Society, Palmtalk forum)

If anyone else wants to email them the contact is:

mythbusters@m5industries.com

[BS Man about Palms]

I'll probably send something too...I have seen shows where they "revisit" past shows to quiet rumours of incorrect tests, etc.

Fun to watch though....I just only knew of the wood going thru/into a palm, not straw....

[MattyB]

Yeah, I think the myth is "busted" also.  Even if they clean off the leaf bases, I don't think they can get the thatched reed, let alone the straw to go through a Queen, Cocos, or Royal.  Now, maybe a C. tuekerhemii?