Chainsawing my palms

[Zac in NC]

Bo- I am glad I am not currently camping on your property. Those odds of a tree falling now aren't to my liking. 3 in 4 days is high.

Zac

[bgl]

Thanks guys for the comments!

Steve, no we don't have a fireplace in our house, so have to find other uses for these trees that are falling down!

Mike, as far as I know, the A. alexandrae was introduced to the Big Island almost 100 years ago, and have since naturalized in many areas, especially up on the Hamakua coast north of Hilo. They are also used extensively in landscaping for the simple reason that they are easily available, cheap and fast growing. If you're an average home owner and you want some palms, that's good enough, and that's why they are all over the place.

Scott, thanks - the website is a work in progress, and our daughter Annika is responsible for that! I think she's done a great job, especially since this is her first website design!

Zac, living dangerously is part of the fun!!

Bo-Göran

[alex_7b]

Fortunately, that was a wimpy palm that you cut down. I once had to remove a sick Pindo palm that was about 16" diameter. Very difficult. Palms are soft and spongy, not hard like trees. I had a helluva time trying to get it down. It is still sitting in the burn pile, after a year. Very slow to dry out.

[Zac in NC]

Yeah Bo- I like to live on the wild side, but I also would like to continue living for a long while yet.

Zac

[Gtlevine]

Thank god it was not one of your Bejofo's, that would be a crime even in Hawaii.

Gary

[bgl]

Gary,

Well, the first Ohi'a that fell (that was on Monday, 4 days ago, which is what made me start this topic) landed right smack on top of this Dypsis sp. bejofa. As you know these are VERY heavy trees. It landed right in the middle of the fronds, and broke one of them (the one that's been cut off). It missed the new spike, and a frond that was JUST about to open up by about an inch or two. The new spike can be seen in the middle. It's amazing that it didn't just wipe out the palm.

Bo-Göran

[bgl]

A full view of the palm. The new frond that just opened up over the last 24 hours is visible, and certainly seems to be OK. And the new spike is certainly OK.

[Gtlevine]

It's a horrible sight, but I agree with you that it looks like it will survive. Thank God you live in Hawaii, it should recover quickly.

Gary

[bgl]

It's been more than 3 months since the events above, so I thought a quick update might be in order - to show how resilient palms can be!

At first I had no doubt the Dypsis sp. bejofa that suffered a direct hit by this 80 ft tall ohi'a tree would survive. As can be seen above, it opened up a new beautiful frond and the new, unopened, spike was nice and firm and seemed to be perfectly OK. BUT...a few days after the above photo was taken the newly opened frond simply flopped over and we had to cut it off. About a week after that, the new spike (still not open) also collapsed and that was very discouraging. At this point I was convinced the palm was dead. But, I've learned that you just never know...so we poured fungicide down the center of the palm. Just in case. A couple of months went by (and I think we poured fungicide one more time), and then about 3 weeks ago I happened to be passing by the palm and noticed something very unexpected: new growth!! OK, not very pretty, but still new growth which is always good news when you've given the palm up for dead!

Here's a photo of the new growth this afternoon. Looking down towards the ground, you can see where the palm USED to be - that's the area just to the left of where it is now. I.e. the semi-open area just to the left of the stem. The whole palm moved about 8 inches (20 cm) sideways when the heavy tree landed on top of it!

[bgl]

And a view. I'm standing exactly where the stump is from the ohi'a tree that fell. It was 80 ft tall and fell pretty much straight down the center here - right on top the little ti plant, and landed on top of the D. sp. bejofa just beyond it (that's the palm in the photos above). It broke off a frond on the bejofa to the left (front) and also a frond on the other bejofa that's to the right. Beyond the bejofa on the right, there are two more bejofas (on the other side of the path), in a direct line, so if the tree had fallen just a few feet to the right it could potentially have wiped out all those 3 palms. And if it had fallen just a little to the left it would certainly, at a minimum, have caused major damage to at least a couple of the bejofas there. In retrospect, considering the fact that the damaged bejofa will now apparently survive, it was pretty amazing to have this tall tree fall among dozens of palms, and not lose a single one!!

[BS Man about Palms]

Thank the tree gods, Bo.  

[doubravsky]

Glad to hear that the prognosis looks good for recovery!