Hurricane Pruning

[Coloradoboi]

Check out this photo I toke of several destroyed Phoenix dactylifera in Miami.  Whoever did this should be shot!  

Anyone else have photos of photos of excessive trimming?

[Breadfruit Bill]

What is wrong with people?   I still don't understand this kind of poor judgement...

[sonoranfans]

(Coloradoboi @ Nov. 25 2007,23:32)

QUOTE

Check out this photo I toke of several destroyed Phoenix dactylifera in Miami.  Whoever did this should be shot!  

Anyone else have photos of photos of excessive trimming?

Excessive trimming is very common here in phoenix, especially if they are planted as mature trees and the fronds turn brown from inability of the limited root systems to supply water to the fronds. They never seem to develop a full crown with the limited root growth of a transplanted mature tree.  The biggest offenders are washie robusta, but the P. dactylifera arent far behind.  I guess those two are too easy to transport, as the filifera and CIDP's are not planted as mature trees(too heavy) and are rarely overpruned.  At least those hacked ones in miami will grow back.  Pics?  Very depressing seeing them in person, dont take those sad pics.

[deezpalms]

I see this all the time here in California with street lined trees including but not limited to P. canariensis & dactylifera, W. robusta & filifera. I almost cry when I see these trees massacred in such a manner!!  This practice is certainly not good for the trees!!!!  

[Breadfruit Bill]

It would seem that it may immediately be good for the pockets of the landscapers that train customers to expect this practice.

[palmmermaid]

I agree!  And now they've even shellac or varnish the trunks!  I guess nature in all her glory just isn't good enough.

[fastfeat]

Looks like SoCal to me, with nary a tropical storm in sight...

[sonoranfans]

(PiousPalms @ Nov. 26 2007,14:05)

QUOTE

It would seem that it may immediately be good for the pockets of the landscapers that train customers to expect this practice.

And also perhaps for the city managers that only want a trim every 3-4 years.

[Jeff Searle]

It's all about saving money. Trim alot leaves off so we don't have to have them(tree trimmers) come out next year. It's pretty sad.

Jeff

[epicure3]

(fastfeat @ Nov. 26 2007,14:36)

QUOTE

Looks like SoCal to me, with nary a tropical storm in sight...

Except for the coconuts in the background. They don't look that good either, actually.

[Bob Johnson]

This seems to be the rule rather than the exception here in central Fla. as well. We were just over at Festival Bay on I-Drive the other day (which has some pretty decent palm plantings for a mall) and saw many palms trimmed back to 2 or 3 leaves, some were pruned back to only one leaf and a spear. I wish there was something that could be done to curtail this practice, but it does seem to be a decision based on mis-information and economics. This pruning regime cannot be good for the palms in the long run.

[MattyB]

Jeff's right, it's about the money.  I can't really blame a homeowner for not wanting to get the tree trimmed every year.  I know a lot of people who would rather just get their "stupid palm" dug out but it's too expensive if you have a few 75 foot Washies that nobody wants.  So, they get all the leaves cut off so that the fronds don't fall down during a storm and cause damage.  I remember talking with a friend of Dean's who is a native Hawaiian.  He says, "Why you guys wanna grow da palm trees?  Palm trees is for cutting down!"  To most people they're just a weed that they inherited w/ their property.

[realarch]

My lord Matty, those poor palms in that picture! That's as severe a prune  job as possible. More like butchering than pruning. Yikes!

[Tomsky]

I like to watch golf, particularly early in the year when the tour covers Hawaii, Florida, California, and the desert areas in Arizona and Palm Desert. I can look at the palms in addition to Tiger Woods. In January, the desert date palms are all excessively pruned as in that photo. The viewers may get the idea that this is how they're supposed to look.

Jack

[John in Andalucia]

Check out this photo I toke of several destroyed Phoenix dactylifera in Miami.  Whoever did this should be shot!  

Anyone else have photos of photos of excessive trimming?

I'm wondering with the poolside location, whether it's not about eliminating excessive shade for swimmers and sunbathers. I'm not saying it makes it right. Maybe someone complained about not getting a tan on one of the many loungers facing that row of dactylifera.

[rozpalm]

Tomorrow if I can I'll sneak a picture of one of my neighbors and the "hurricane pruning" they did on their Royals. Its so laughable that I hope all their trees die (we are talking about 30 of them). I don't know these people, so I can't tell them how bad they have been scammed. Some tree pruner must have done a great sales job convincing them to turn their Royals into feather dusters.

[SubTropicRay]

I guess they like replacing the palms every few years. Eventually, this practice starves the palm to death.

[gsn]

I guess they like replacing the palms every few years. Eventually, this practice starves the palm to death.

Ray,

You couldn't be more right.

You see this all the time around here, especially with Phoenix robellini.

They are so over trimed that the crown keeps getting sparser and sparser, then the fronds become shorter and shorter. Soon you have this little short stubby top on a skinnier than even normal robb trunk.

[Alicehunter2000]

They sometimes do it to the B. capita around here.........It looks totally ridiculous for a palm like Butias that normally hold alot of fronds to be cut back to 6 or 7. It takes years to replace them on slow growers such as this.

[elHoagie]

Like a couple other people mentioned, I think this look is what people are groomed to expect. At my old place I had a huge Phoenix canariensis, and I never pruned it. The dead fronds would just fall on their own and it always had a nice full crown. EVERY single neighbor advised me that I should get it trimmed up so it only has about 10 leaves. They thought I was an idiot when I said I thought it looked better with a full crown...

[Guest Keith in Zone 9]

A local Catholic Church had all of the fronds removed from all of the palms on their multiple acre site here in Jacksonville. Every single frond on dozens of palms...Dates, Sabals, etc. I was thinking I'd stop in and see I could just trade them some telephone poles for all of those abused palms. I mean, wouldn't it just be easier to stick a telephone pole in the ground than have idiots with chain saws show up every year?

[galveston1602]

so common,

even a place that claims to be a botanical garden does it

mule from moody gardens here in galveston

Some others from around town.....

[Alan_Tampa]

There is no accounting for taste, and for those that prefer sticks instead of palms all their taste must be in their mouths.

As for money saving, as they re-butcher when the palm almost looks normal, if they just waited till the right time to trim, the amount of time from trim to trim would be about the same. That is, they overprune early and re-uglify early. Maybe not, but I cannot see how people think this looks good and are satisfied with this sort of "service".

Alan

[Dave-Vero]

The worst I've ever seen was a one-leafed European fan palm at the life guard station in La Jolla, Callifornia.

Our local city government somehow reformed its pruning habits and the palms are looking vastly better.

A very few palms with wind-catching feather leaves might possibly be a bit more wind resistant if a few lower leaves are removed (I'm thinking Syagrus). Our Sabal palmetto come through all but catastrophic hurricanes with, usually, no damage at all. The day after, they'll look as if nothing had happened.

[ed110220]

This makes me really sad and angry. It's so unnecessary, ugly and ultimately bad for the palm. Palms look their most beautiful with a full crown. Even a common palm like a CIDP fully grown (say 50+ years old) with a complete, almost spherical crown is a magnificent sight. Mutilated it is little better than an eyesore.

Here in Cape Town fortunately this practice is normally limited to smaller specimens that are easier to reach and to malls etc where the owners have money to waste. Once they get past a certain height palms in private gardens are usually left alone. People simply accept that they have to pick up the odd frond after a winter gale.

I think this mutilation also has something to do with current risk averse trends. In the old days people would accept that the risk of being hit by a falling palm frond was sufficiently remote not to spend large amounts of money and mutilate their trees. If it's going to fall it will fall in a storm when you are inside, not lounging under your palms. I've certainly never heard of anyone being injured by a falling palm frond. Now people get worried about silly things rather than the really dangerous things in life.