Sanding Palm Trees

[Alicehunter2000]

That's right, yesterday I passed by a crew of workers using a belt sander to sand smooth the trunk of a Canary Island Palm. The top was cut into a pinapple and sanded, then the remaining trunk.

Is this common somewhere else in the world? Or are people down here just a little kooky? It actually looked pretty cool, as the sander was doing a good job at smoothing. Is this a new way of getting that manicured look?

I'm going to try and get pictures tommorow of the finished product........if no one has seen anything like this. Looked pretty darn labor intensive and their was a massive pile of palm trunk sawdust at the bottom of the tree.

[The Germinator]

I always wondered how they did that, I see so many pineapple cut Canary's with these smooth trunks. I personally like the manicured look. I wonder if Kris has ever seen this over where he is.

They have them all over in Vegas.

[Scott]

My first impression is that doesn't sound to good for the palm.

[Neofolis]

Around the Mediterranean there are often Trachycarpus that have had all the leaf bases and fibres removed from the trunks, I wonder if they use sanders at any point in that process. In some palms I would expect sanding the trunk to be very damaging, but in Phoenix canariensis the only exposed surface is dead leaf boots, so I wouldn't have thought it would be too harmful, asuuming it remains fairly superficial. I wonder if they apply anything to the trunk after sanding, maybe some oil or something to moisturise the surface.

[John in Andalucia]

Sanding palm trunks sounds absurd. You don't need to sand the trunk on a CIDP if it is "manicured" properly. When the parks dept. come to clean up our CIPD's they use the traditional hand cutter; a semi-elliptical chrome-plated blade on a long pole. The upward thrust combined with the smooth, sharp blade is sufficient. I can guess where sanders are being used - especially if chainsaws are employed to remove the fronds.

Close up of a CIDP trunk in Motril, Spain:

[PalmGuyWC]

Last year someone posted a thread with pictures of some Butias that had been pineappled and with manacured trunks. They looked pretty neat, but I don't think it would be good for the palms. Someone in S. Calif. published a picture of some living Washingtonias with tikies carved into the turnks. I've seen palms with gapeing holes in their trunks caused by cold damage and the crowns looked fine. I have a Queen palm with a cold damaged trunk from the 89/90 freeze but the crown is fine, but the lower trunk looks pretty awfull. I planted a passion vilne at its base and now the damage is hidden and I have Passion flowers too.

Dick

[Alicehunter2000]

If you think about it, the sanding may not be as bad as some other methods of trunk smoothing. There is relatively little deep damage, and you are able to take off very small amounts at a time with precision. Using a blade such as the picture above does not produce a very smooth surface.

Anywhere there are cuts left in the trunk it allows nasties to find a home. Of course no one wants to see damaged trees, but if you wanted a smooth trunk, then I think this might be the best way. Still going to try and get pictures.....stay tuned.

[John in Andalucia]

Using a blade such as the picture above does not produce a very smooth surface.

Well that's like saying Britney Spears is not fat, she just never had liposuction.

[Adam from Oz]

Oh, I can't wait to see pictures of this!

I caught a glimpse of a row of very shiny looking CIDP trunks in a movie (which was meant to be set in Illinois......)

Bring it on!

Adam

[fastfeat]

Using a blade such as the picture above does not produce a very smooth surface.

Well that's like saying Britney Spears is not fat, she just never had liposuction.

I was going to say that that CIDP head looked very nice, especially for a municipal crew. No complaints there.

[_Keith]

At some of the resorts in Florida, I saw them not only sanded, but sanded and sealed too. That is going to the extreme, but the palms look no worse for the wear.

In the desert and Mediterranean climates I like palms with the skirts hanging and more roughly trimmed, but down here where humidity rules, I'll take a nice tightly trimmed palm, not overly trimmed, but a good healthy tight trim.

[DoomsDave]

I guess it won't hurt the palm, but to me the palm's roughness is part of its glorious character.

SANDING A PALM? Egad! People are going hungry, and we can't spend money any better than that? Oh, I guess declining civilizations are much more fun than rising ones . . . .

Hmm. I thought Britney Spears looked much better with her hair than without it.

While we're about it, let's just shave our dogs and cats. A shaven Siamese, anyone?

[nomolos]

I found this pic, don't know if these are sanded or not but they sure are smooth

[John in Andalucia]

I found this pic, don't know if these are sanded or not but they sure are smooth

The bottom set of frond stumps look distinctly curved towards the trunk. When palms become this much of a focal point in the neighborhood, they are easy targets for becoming too architectural for the sake of appearances. I don't like palms with all the "extras". This is a good thread David. I'm sure it will raise a lot of points.

[galveston1602]

Im going to get a picture of the next one i see, I know it happens here, they actually sand it flat like a 10 sided object LOL!

they shouldnt be allowed to have em if they are going to treat them this way!

[surgeon83]

Those sanded ones in post 13 look like the expensive fake palms!

[Alicehunter2000]

When I glanced at them doing the sanding job, it did look like they were having a time of trying to "round" it and not have flat spots on the trunk. I still havn't made it by there to take pictures.

Those CIDP in the last pictures are gorgeous.. .........Kris you seeing this?

Never cared for Britney's looks...even when she had hair and less fat............something about those ears always turned me off.....and the eyes are set a little wide ...........she would survive drinking from a watering hole on the African plains.........could see those preditors from a mile away

[_Keith]

I will be in Pensacola this Saturday and Sunday at the very hotel where I saw the sanded and sealed palms last year. I will take some pictures if they are still keeping it up.

[Kathryn]

Come on David, where's the pictures!