The power company just cut the top of my palm off without warning!

[miamicuse]

I am quite upset so my posting may be somewhat incoherent, sorry...

Here is a picture of my palm, it's a large Washingtonian Palm, the picture was taken in 2016.  The reason for this old picture is to explain how things happened.  The palm is inside the property line, there is a wooden posts 5 feet outside the property line where the power lines, cable, telecom wires are attached to.  The white metal fence is on the property line, later on the metal fence was removed.

5.

In 2018, the power company (Florida Power and Light) came and put up new power poles, bigger taller ones in concrete.  The poles were set at the property lines.  I spoke to the crew at the time, the poles will be very close to my palm.  They said no worries, the poles are very strong, very tall, way taller than the palm.  Nothing to worry about.

They then came a few weeks later to move the power lines from the wood post to the concrete post.  The cable and telecom wires stay on the wood post.  You can see from the next picture, the power lines are very close.

Last week I replaced the roof, so I was on the roof top and took a picture of the palm.  As you can see, the entire front yard is concrete driveway and this is the only spot for the tree.

Last night I came home, and the top of the palm is gone.  G O N E!

The neighbor told me it's FPL came by and chopped it off.

The palm is dead right?  There is no recovery from this correct?

I called them to complain and there isn't a department who deals with this except they sent me around and around in a circle.

[96720]

It looks like the heart is still there so it should recover 

[Zeeth]

It'll recover. They did that to the big Sabal lisa near my house in January and it's already mostly recovered. 

Here's the 'before' pic (haven't taken an 'after' pic but it's pretty much regrown by now):

[NOT A TA]

2 hours ago, miamicuse said:

The neighbor told me it's FPL came by and chopped it off.

FPL does that for reasons. They don't spend money just to upset customers. That was "The shot over the bow". They could have easily killed it but they didn't. Perhaps you've never seen one catch fire. The electricity starts arcing from the wire to the palm. Then fronds start dropping sparks and flaming bits down, then if there's old dried fronds below the green ones the thing goes up like a bonfire 20 feet in the air. Burning debris lands on cars, lawns, etc. and can start more fires at ground level (like your car cover). I'd plan on removing that palm and replacing it with a more appropriate size plant. It appears the people that moved the wires over to the concrete poles put extra insulation (perhaps temporarily?)  in the area where they know arcing would start. They probably notified the FPL maintenance office of the potential problem.

Also, you probably don't want to be the homeowner whose tree causes all the folks who live near you to be without power after a hurricane.

I'd use it as an opportunity to replace it with a nice (smaller growing) specimen plant. That palm was beyond being an asset and becoming a liability anyway. As soon as it got taller than the telephone poles a lightening strike would probably kill it anyway.

[kurt decker]

Your palm would recover from the pruning, but it's headed up into those wires anyway. You're not going to be able to have a tall Washingtonia in that spot. Sucks that they changed the paradigm on you, but sometimes life's not fair. You have a couple of good choices however, I always have them cut the heads off palms at my place when they need to, and I leave the trunk standing. First we get woodpeckers, later we get parrots. Makes me feel better about the whole thing. The other option is to remove it and plan something that's not going to grow up into the lines. FPL has a big job making sure everyone in South Florida has power, one palm tree is never going to stop that. They can seem kind of ruthless at times, but they have a big job.

[aztropic]

People pay good money here in Arizona to get them trimmed like that. 

It will grow back.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[JLM]

A roebelenii would look really good in that spot imo

Edited August 30, 2020 by JLM

[miamicuse]

I knew at the time when they moved the power pole this may be a problem, but their crew told me it's not going to an issue.

Now I am the one who has to solve this.

I don't even think I can cut the palm down.  In order to do that I need to remove the outer hedge and the dense cluster of bromeliads surrounding it just to have access to the base of the trunk.  All that would have to be ripped out.

[GottmitAlex]

14 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

I knew at the time when they moved the power pole this may be a problem, but their crew told me it's not going to an issue.

Now I am the one who has to solve this.

I don't even think I can cut the palm down.  In order to do that I need to remove the outer hedge and the dense cluster of bromeliads surrounding it just to have access to the base of the trunk.  All that would have to be ripped out.

Unfortunately, yes.

And those washies grow much much taller than any power pole. 

 

[aztropic]

Or you could just cut it 6-8 feet above the ground and make a tiki.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[kurt decker]

Since you are in Fort Lauderdale (so am I), you do the work to get rid of that thing so you can dig a hole, DM me, and I'll give you a blue latan or something cool that won't grow tall to replace it with, gratis.

[Meangreen94z]

Sorry, I’m sure that was devastating to see, but it made me laugh. Found humor in the fact they just went ahead and did it with no warning, not your loss. 
 

At my old house they came out and marked where the utilities are on my property for a project being done outside my property line. The guy just spray painted right onto plants, limestone rock, etc. including a large barrel cactus that doesn’t exactly shed growth. All in my backyard. I was furious. 

[dalmatiansoap]

I would use their service to complete move that palm. It will regrow but it will again be dangerous. 

Plant something else, that Latan mentioned above seem like a good idea to go

[Gonzer]

In my view there's way too much concrete in your yard to start with. Remove portions and replace with planters. Not much fun to make decisions like you have to when your choice of planting areas are one single spot.

[PJP]

Look at the positive that has come from this.  I would definitely take Kurt up on his offer!  The Blue Latan will be an excellent replacement palm.

[miamicuse]

On 8/29/2020 at 11:59 PM, kurt decker said:

Since you are in Fort Lauderdale (so am I), you do the work to get rid of that thing so you can dig a hole, DM me, and I'll give you a blue latan or something cool that won't grow tall to replace it with, gratis.

Thank you for the offer Kurt.  I really appreciate it.

Looks like I have to replace it eventually.  I will wait a few months to see if it grows back, but yes, a long term solution is a replacement with a shorter plant.

I was furious and upset for a few days, and now I am back to my calm self LOL.

[miamicuse]

On 8/30/2020 at 6:21 AM, Gonzer said:

In my view there's way too much concrete in your yard to start with. Remove portions and replace with planters. Not much fun to make decisions like you have to when your choice of planting areas are one single spot.

I don't have a choice.  I need the parking spaces in the front yard, the back yard is on the waterfront so there is no place to park there.

[miamicuse]

On 8/29/2020 at 11:51 PM, aztropic said:

Or you could just cut it 6-8 feet above the ground and make a tiki.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

nice.  but my understanding is a dead palm stump will rot out in a few months no?

[miamicuse]

One of my neighbors did this after a hurricane.

[Tracy]

29 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

Thank you for the offer Kurt.  I really appreciate it.

Looks like I have to replace it eventually.  I will wait a few months to see if it grows back, but yes, a long term solution is a replacement with a shorter plant.

I was furious and upset for a few days, and now I am back to my calm self LOL.

As Kurt and others pointed out, with the location of the palm, your utility will be back again if it does survive.  I don't see any good coming from waiting so I would get it out now and take advantage of Kurt's generous offer.  Heck I would love to take a couple of Washingtonia's out of my neighbor's yard which shed seeds (read "PALM WEEDS") in my yard and would consider it a bonus if someone else was donating the replacement palms, especially if it were something like a blue latan.

Your real problem started the day they moved the power lines closer to your lot, but if they are in a public easement, there isn't much you can do about that.

 

[kurt decker]

Where are you, Citrus Isles? That's real close to me. The offer stands, now or whenever you have to deal with it. It sucks, but it'll be alright in the end. We have the best tiki guy on this board here in Fort Lauderdale also, Tiki Rick if you need any advice on carving that thing up for fun. 

[aztropic]

2 hours ago, miamicuse said:

nice.  but my understanding is a dead palm stump will rot out in a few months no?

They very well may rot quickly in your environment.Here in the desert where I live,they are good for 6 or 7 years.

 

aztropic

Mesa,Arizona