Removing coconuts

[miamicuse]

Is there an easy way to remove coconuts from palms?

I have two very tall coconut palms  one over 25 feet another one about 35 feet and there are many coconuts on top.  These two palms curved over my swimming pool and drop their coconuts right on the pool.  So far I have been lucky and not a coconut hit my head when I was swimming, but I don't want to tempt fate.

[aztropic]

No easy solution... At that height and location,I would remove those palms and start over with shorter ones.Only other choice is somebody has to get up there to cut the cocconuts off, and it will be an ongoing, yearly expense.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[tropicbreeze]

Some years ago the authorities here went around and cut down all coconuts in and near schools. In some places they provide a service cutting down bunches of coconuts before they begin to fall. But it's an ongoing thing. You either keep doing it regularly, or you get rid of them completely as suggested.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

  On 8/12/2020 at 1:35 AM, miamicuse said:

Is there an easy way to remove coconuts from palms?

I have two very tall coconut palms  one over 25 feet another one about 35 feet and there are many coconuts on top.  These two palms curved over my swimming pool and drop their coconuts right on the pool.  So far I have been lucky and not a coconut hit my head when I was swimming, but I don't want to tempt fate.

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Gorgeous trees.   Id hate to see them go, but i guess if you arent willing to pay someone to cut them down there is not much of a choice.  Although maybe someone would do it on the cheap if you allowed them to keep the fruit.   

[miamicuse]

I hate to lose them, they provide some shade to the pool, and the left one has a swing rope tied to it about twenty feet high so my kids can swing into the pool.  I think these are too tall to climb most likely need a bucket truck to reach up there?

[Jim in Los Altos]

I’ll bet you can find a climber locally. I’ve seen guys climb Coconut palms taller than that without that much effort that do the task regularly. Your pool area would be losing a couple of great looking accents if you had them cut down. 

[Dypsisdean]

Here's your solution:

 

[WaianaeCrider]

Tree trimmers here in the islands somehow just climb up and harvest.  Not being racist but Samoans and Tongans pretty good at that.

[Cluster]

You could try to watching how they do it in Thailand and other parts of the world. They have tools which seem good enough to cut them free.

Take a look at this:

 

Example of a tool:

 

With some luck you could get something like that working for you, try to put something on the ground to soften the fall, if you think they will miss the swimming pool.

I do not know why no one has invented drones with chainsaws:)

It would be very sad if you had to cut those gorgeous coconuts:(

 

 

Edited August 12, 2020 by Cluster

[redant]

  On 8/12/2020 at 5:44 AM, miamicuse said:

I hate to lose them, they provide some shade to the pool, and the left one has a swing rope tied to it about twenty feet high so my kids can swing into the pool.  I think these are too tall to climb most likely need a bucket truck to reach up there?

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A good tree service will have no problem cutting off the coconuts for you. It will be a ongoing expense but worth it IMO.

[awkonradi]

  On 8/12/2020 at 6:26 AM, Jim in Los Altos said:

I’ll bet you can find a climber locally. I’ve seen guys climb Coconut palms taller than that without that much effort that do the task regularly. Your pool area would be losing a couple of great looking accents if you had them cut down. 

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I agree with Jim.  I recall seeing a young man damn near sprint up a coconut palm, at least as tall as those, at the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu.

[miamicuse]

  On 8/12/2020 at 6:45 AM, Dypsisdean said:

Here's your solution:

 

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Can I rent a monkey like this at Home Depot?

[NOT A TA]

Here there's guys I refer to as "coconut procurement specialists". Some are thieves and some do it with permission showing up at regular intervals.  The one's who are not stealing will trim & remove the coconuts for the nuts and depending on circumstances may pay a bit  for nuts.  Ask neighbors, there's probably guys who do it where you are. My neighbors normally use a couple different guys but due to the lack of tourists this year the coconut market is relatively dead so they're not paying for nuts. No one has tried to steal them off the tree in front of my house since Feb. .

[miamicuse]

If I hire someone to remove them by climbing, is this something i need to do multiple times in a year?  Do these coconuts grow year round or is there is a perfect time during the year that you can remove the flowers before they form the clusters of nuts?

[PalmatierMeg]

Remove inflorescenses when they emerge to prevent any coconuts. Coconuts take two years to ripen but they also abort much of their fruit so you will have immature coconuts raining down much of the year aside from any that ripen. Mine drop aborted fruit wherever they are. They can be quite messy. Fortunately, I have no pool so don't have to fish out the mess.

[miamicuse]

I finally got a tree company to come remove the coconuts.  It's expensive because they have to do it with a bucket truck.

I also found another tree service that would do it by climbing, he said he would wear a pair of spiked shoes and climb all the way up, he is cheaper but I didn't want to take the risk of someone getting injured.  It's a long way down.

[WaianaeCrider]

40 years ago before I was a palm nut I had a coconut tree in the front yard.  Not to tall and I could knock them down w/a long handle shovel.  Well one day one came loose, rolled down the shovel and hit me in the head.  OUCH!!!  Went in the shed, got a machette and cut that bugger down to the ground.  LOL  Never gonna get hit in head again.  Haven't had a coconut tree since....but last year a friend gave me a sprouted  one and its happy in the ground.

[Looking Glass]

  On 7/5/2021 at 9:59 PM, miamicuse said:

I finally got a tree company to come remove the coconuts.  It's expensive because they have to do it with a bucket truck.

I also found another tree service that would do it by climbing, he said he would wear a pair of spiked shoes and climb all the way up, he is cheaper but I didn't want to take the risk of someone getting injured.  It's a long way down.

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My neighbor’s tree guys seem to come about twice per year, and he has similar coconuts hanging over the pool and getting into the power lines. They go in a big pile, out to the curb for bulk trash, like everyone else’s.  If it were me, I’d cut down the trees now, as the problems with these only get worse as they get bigger.  

You could put any number of great palms in there that look amazing, grow straighter, and self clean, and don’t drop bowling balls on people’s heads.  

Every home owner I know around curses the coconuts someone planted years ago at their place.  They grow fast, are a lot of maintenance, and are a liability in most spots around here.  
 

 

[SEPalm]

Coconut palms are self Cleaning at that size.

Do not let anyone climb the trees with spikes. You’ll get the holes and wounds that ooze and invite disease and decline to your trees.

spikes are old school and have been proven detrimental to palm tree health. If you get a climber use one without spikes and make sure he has insurance.