Caryota Urens warning!

[Harry’s Palms]

I want to put out there that Caryota Urens are very dangerous when they get big. Do not wait for them to flower….cut them down when they get large. I had been warned by @DoomsDave but after posting on here and talking to my tree service , decided to wait for the first inflorescence. DON’T DO IT! We had a nasty Santa Ana wind event following a good amount of rain. That is all it took . This morning I got a text from my neighbor “ your palm fell over! . It was straddling her driveway , her husband had already left for work and his brand new truck would have been crushed! I guided her out of her driveway so she could come and go. My small electric chainsaw won’t help with this one. Harry

we got lucky with this one! Harry

[Harry’s Palms]

Anyone have ideas on getting this cut up? I was thinking starting at the base of the tree and cutting small sections at a time. Tree service is trying to gouge us because of the situation. Thanks for any help . Harry

[DoomsDave]

DON’T plant Caryota urens in suburban settings!

 

 

[RainforestCafe]

@Harry’s Palms Oh no! what a sad way to lose one of your palms. Sorry to hear (and see) this situation happen to you. Luckily it looks like no serious damage or harm came to any people or property though!

As for cutting this up, yes this is a fairly easy situation to clean up, and there's a technique for it. Take your chainsaw and starting towards the base of the trunk, take off a few feet at a time working your way up to the top, and the tree will slowly get shorter and shorter and drop lower.

When you make your cuts, you want to make a small cut on the top (don't go all the way through), and then cut all the way through the trunk from the underside, using the top of the chainsaw bar and chain. If you try to cut from the top, you will bind up and pinch your blade and your chainsaw will get stuck. Hopefully that made sense. I attached a video to show the technique. Good luck!

 

[happypalms]

Wow lucky on that one Harry. I take it you are adept in chainsaw skills. Yes small pieces starting at the base would be best. It will eventually fall out of the tree as you go along cutting it up if you’re lucky. Wallichia disticha palms are the same but not as big I have one near my house that is dying slowly, but iam hoping it won’t  be too big a job. 
Your neighbours house was lucky and your lucky now, you have a new place for a special palm🤣

Richard 

[Jim in Los Altos]

Wow, I’ve had three C. urens grow to maturity, flower and fruit and never expected a problem with any of them falling! They have been removed. I still have one that has been fruiting a few years now and seems super stable. I never would have guessed that these were so unpredictable. 

[Harry’s Palms]

6 hours ago, RainforestCafe said:

@Harry’s Palms Oh no! what a sad way to lose one of your palms. Sorry to hear (and see) this situation happen to you. Luckily it looks like no serious damage or harm came to any people or property though!

As for cutting this up, yes this is a fairly easy situation to clean up, and there's a technique for it. Take your chainsaw and starting towards the base of the trunk, take off a few feet at a time working your way up to the top, and the tree will slowly get shorter and shorter and drop lower.

When you make your cuts, you want to make a small cut on the top (don't go all the way through), and then cut all the way through the trunk from the underside, using the top of the chainsaw bar and chain. If you try to cut from the top, you will bind up and pinch your blade and your chainsaw will get stuck. Hopefully that made sense. I attached a video to show the technique. Good luck!

Thank you that was gonna be our approach. I had a couple of buddies with chainsaws lined up , then a landscaper offered to cut it up and haul it off for $250! They were done in an hour . My buddies are stoked  ….and still friends😂. Harry 

 

[Harry’s Palms]

20 minutes ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Wow, I’ve had three C. urens grow to maturity, flower and fruit and never expected a problem with any of them falling! They have been removed. I still have one that has been fruiting a few years now and seems super stable. I never would have guessed that these were so unpredictable. 

Yea , that palm had been there for 28 years . I grew it from a seedling . I had been thinking about cutting it down ,  as @DoomsDave had shown me what happened when his came down. The thing is , it had just opened a new beautiful frond . I checked the whole tree out for spathes after it was down , nothing. The roots were compromised though . That was the tallest palm on that side of the house. I have one more smaller one over there and I will be cutting that one down as well. Caryota Urens are for open space planting where they can’t cause damage when they come down. Harry

[Harry’s Palms]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Wow lucky on that one Harry. I take it you are adept in chainsaw skills. Yes small pieces starting at the base would be best. It will eventually fall out of the tree as you go along cutting it up if you’re lucky. Wallichia disticha palms are the same but not as big I have one near my house that is dying slowly, but iam hoping it won’t  be too big a job. 
Your neighbours house was lucky and your lucky now, you have a new place for a special palm🤣

Richard 

I have one more to remove. I wouldn’t have one anywhere near a structure. This is the third one that I have personally seen come down .  Caryota Urens are a huge gamble when they get big. I lucked out , as you say . The wind last night was very strong with huge gusts . Harry

[richnorm]

I'd clean up the crown then start cutting sections from the base underside.  Once you get close to that tree pull it through (might need a tow rope) and finish it off on the ground.  You will need chain sharpening skills or a few spare blades as the wood can be really hard. Good luck!

[Harry’s Palms]

@richnorm we had our saws ready then the landscapers across the street came over and offered a killer deal to do it. They did it by starting at the base , as you and others suggested, and worked their way up . They were done in less than an hour ! Those big Husqvarna chain saws ate that palm so fast. Harry

[Stevetoad]

Lucky it didn't cause any damage. I gave mine the chop before it became a problem. it was way taller than I thought and I fell it into the street and it landed all the way in my neighbors driveway across from me. It blocked the road but luckily I live on one cut de sac and it was a week day so I didn't block anyone coming or going. I was able to chop it up with an electric saws all with no problem. I did loose a section that rolled down the street and scared the sh*t out of me. also I learned that the sap will mess up your skin ( or at least my skin). as far as cutting it up goes it was rather easy and soft. 

 

[sdpalmgabe]

Wow.  Do you think gigas/obtusas are equally dangerous? Asking for a friend

[richnorm]

55 minutes ago, Stevetoad said:

Lucky it didn't cause any damage. I gave mine the chop before it became a problem. it was way taller than I thought and I fell it into the street and it landed all the way in my neighbors driveway across from me. It blocked the road but luckily I live on one cut de sac and it was a week day so I didn't block anyone coming or going. I was able to chop it up with an electric saws all with no problem. I did loose a section that rolled down the street and scared the sh*t out of me. also I learned that the sap will mess up your skin ( or at least my skin). as far as cutting it up goes it was rather easy and soft. 

 

Interesting and very welcome news that you found it soft as I have a few on borrowed time and have been told that the wood is really hard.

[Harry’s Palms]

1 hour ago, sdpalmgabe said:

Wow.  Do you think gigas/obtusas are equally dangerous? Asking for a friend

I am keeping an eye on my C. Obtusa . They are not as prone to falling as far as I know . Mine is short compared to the C. Urens that was there. I will give it a trim as there are some huge fronds that can catch wind and possibly break and hit something. I know the basic train of thought is to not trim before the fronds are brown but here , I trim the heck out of anything tall to reduce the risk of injury or property damage .The Santa Ana winds this time of year can easily reach hurricane force . The less wind age ( mass ) the better. Harry 

[DoomsDave]

3 hours ago, Jim in Los Altos said:

Wow, I’ve had three C. urens grow to maturity, flower and fruit and never expected a problem with any of them falling! They have been removed. I still have one that has been fruiting a few years now and seems super stable. I never would have guessed that these were so unpredictable. 

If you get high winds remove your last urens standing. My sincere recommendation.

[DoomsDave]

Here’s a picture of my Caryota urens mixed in a crowd off the left of the hybrid Archontophoenix crown.

They were planted as two and five gallons about 10-13 years before the picture was taken about 2017-2018.
 

[DoomsDave]

There’s a Palm Talker who liked to carve Caryota wood like this cup with Conan the fierce Guardian of the Garden for scale.

 

[DoomsDave]

3 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

@richnorm we had our saws ready then the landscapers across the street came over and offered a killer deal to do it. They did it by starting at the base , as you and others suggested, and worked their way up . They were done in less than an hour ! Those big Husqvarna chain saws ate that palm so fast. Harry

So glad to hear good karma came your way. 

[Harry’s Palms]

20 minutes ago, DoomsDave said:

There’s a Palm Talker who liked to carve Caryota wood like this cup with Conan the fierce Guardian of the Garden for scale.

 

I think Conan likes the color of that beautiful vessel. Harry

[DoomsDave]

22 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I think Conan likes the color of that beautiful vessel. Harry

If you saved some of the wood from your fallen specimen you could try your hand!

[Harry’s Palms]

Well , Dave , after all the drama we went through I was happy to see it go. The chunks that the guys were throwing in the box trailer were super heavy . It was still blowing a gale up here . I paid them , shook their hands , and thanked them over and over. It is 9:35 pm and STILL blowing hard . I keep checking on everything. This is gonna take a while to get that visual out of my mind. I can’t even imagine what you went through when yours came down and turned your van into a taco. I can’t stress enough how dangerous these are when they get big. The ground was not muddy or anything , the roots just ripped out of the base of the palm , no stump left. 
    The part that makes me feel bad is that @DoomsDave had warned me months ago , even sent pics of his that came down. I just thought it would be ok until it flowered because it was pushing out huge , dark green fronds ….no inflorescence at all . Healthy by all appearances. Harry

[Mazat]

22 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

DON’T plant Caryota urens in suburban settings!

 

 

Oh no!

[Mazat]

23 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I want to put out there that Caryota Urens are very dangerous when they get big. Do not wait for them to flower….cut them down when they get large. I had been warned by @DoomsDave but after posting on here and talking to my tree service , decided to wait for the first inflorescence. DON’T DO IT! We had a nasty Santa Ana wind event following a good amount of rain. That is all it took . This morning I got a text from my neighbor “ your palm fell over! . It was straddling her driveway , her husband had already left for work and his brand new truck would have been crushed! I guided her out of her driveway so she could come and go. My small electric chainsaw won’t help with this one. Harry

we got lucky with this one! Harry

yes, a blessing in disguise 

[Harry’s Palms]

@Mazat A blessing indeed. The neighbors have small children and with the holidays , they have been outside playing and coming and going. Neither people or property were damaged . We gave thanks for that. Harry🙏

[Jim in Los Altos]

16 hours ago, DoomsDave said:

If you get high winds remove your last urens standing. My sincere recommendation.

I guess that’s my luck. A 30 mph gust here would be pretty unusual. A 50 mph gust almost unheard of. My last C. urens is fruiting way down at reachable height now but still managing to push new but distorted fronds out its top. Will keep it as long as it’s green.  

[Harry’s Palms]

You are lucky , Jim. The offshore winds here are no fun. We get a nice warm spell with them and most of the time they aren’t too bad. A few times a year they get very gusty and turbulent. Last year that same Palm survived 90mph gusts! I enjoy the drying out between rains , it gives the crowns a chance to dry out . This is important for damp sensitive species like Chrysalidiocarpus Decaryi. Every area has its ups and downs . Santa Paula , especially up on our hill , is a very Palm friendly environment …..until the bloody wind blows one over!! Oh well, Harry

[JohnAndSancho]

This looks like it came really close to being one of those mayhem car insurance commercials....