all the palm climbers

[arboromega]

i used to live in coastal SC and worked of ten with palms. at the time i only ever prunned them off a ladder or off the frony of my truck, but other guys i worked with spiked 'em. at the time, even though you could not spike a dicot tree i guess the thinking was it was still ok to hook n prune a palm tree. now i see in catologs guys rope climbing palms and i wonder how do you do this without breaking the "heart" of the palm with weight on your rope? i saw a few palm hearts get broken during transplant and the tree died in a matter of hours.

 

[wct4life]

...................

 

[rumination]

This topic has already been thoroughly hashed out in this excellent thread:

http://www.ArboristSite.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=11157&highlight=palms


Koa Man challenged all the AS members to come up with a method of efficiently climbing palm trees for production without spiking them. Swiss tree climbers were ruled out for several reasons, although they definitely work well on smooth, straight trunked palms without much taper or lumpiness. The best idea that I recall (and I can't remember whose idea it was) was to toss a throwline over the crown of the palm and then pull up a long bight of climbing line up to the base of the crown. Wrap this bight around the trunk, tie a running bowline, and pull it tight. You now have a climbing line attached directly beneath the crown. Ascend SRT and work, perhaps using some girth hitched loop runners for foot holds. Attach the throwline to the loop of the bowline, rap down, and yank on throwline to retrieve climbing line. Hardly efficient, and probably a pain in the butt to work from, but it is an alternative.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

This method of choking a bowline around the stalk also works for removals without climbing and getting a high leverage of pull, use in almost branchless pines etc. too. Get thowline over a baby branch you wouldn't pull from and just work running bowline up as high as ya dare on spar with throwline.

On the backside, have throwline under non-knot side of running bowline, then you can use that to keep the bowline ring open to ride up higher, and also ease line over imperfections/stobs.

Some have said they use the throwline to pull the climbing line through head, then tie one end to base; this places 2/1 pressure on top + bouncing of advancing. A smaller line places that tension into a smaller concentrated area. So, i'm not too sure if that is best.

 

[rumination]

Rocky, Spydy, wct4life: I'm just curious what are the most common palms that you have to deal with in your neck of the woods?


Thanks

 

[Guy Meilleur]

Most of the palms I worked on in FL were known as cabbage palms. Roach-and-rat condos. More royal pams in Miami, more cocos in the keys.

 

[Jumper]

Spiked Supra must have this figured out by now!?

 

[Gord]

that was my input...we don't see too many palms here in canada, the few that are planted are no more than 30' tall. and brian i think that i noted a climber could bring webbing slings to stand above his tie in with. not very efficient i'm sure...but my 2 cents.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i'm not real south for Floida; so don't get the full tropical array.

We see Cabbage, Palmetto (palmetto Bug is like a 2" 1/2 # flying cockroach), Washontonian.

Some Queen, Chineese, Bismark.


In the model of trees i've been trying to see i have keeping cool in food handling areas; the palm strategy as different in insulating this process in the center, not very many spreading roots, for they wouldn't be cooled, and the sand erodes a lot anyway. Large fans even dying and littered down stalk aiding this, also the tough fans covering the ground to protect for a long time. Cuz palm don't cut, chip, chop, even burn right; so the fans would hang around i think.

They are roach, rat, snake, bat, bee, bird condos. A real sea of life at each undisturbed oasis!

Or something like that
:alien:

 

[wct4life]

...................

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've never climbed a palm in my life, but something tells me they don't grow wild. Therefore, the wise palm planter will plant them where they are bucket accessable. But only if they are thinking towards the future.

Do they grow wild in North America?

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Are the Pope's kids Catholic?

Did Rose Kennedy have a black dress?

If a man alone in the woods spoke, with no woman around;
would he still be wrong?

Have you ever asked someone about their vow of silence?

 

[rumination]

The answer is...YES! There are species of palm that are native to the southern United States. Mostly species of Sabal, I think, but there may be a few other genera. I have even spotted a native Sabal growing wild as far inland as the Texas hill country.

On the other hand, you probably don't see too many of these wild palms growing in urban or suburban areas (that's just a guess, so correct me if I'm wrong!). A majority of the palms you see in Florida are probably planted. If they are cocos, royal palms, bismarckias, etc. they are definitely planted. So you do got a point about the bucket access there, Butch.

My question is why do people keep planting the darned coco palms all over the place here if they know that they're going to have to pay someone twice a year to come cut the nuts out? There are plenty of palms that cleanly shed their fronds on a regular basis and don't produce any brainsmasher size nuts.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

Thanx fer helping him out, he is getting a lil'slow..(er)


We don't get coconuts, but plenty of the cabage/sabal palm that is the state tree. They grow very abundantly in some areas, especially at the Green Swamp in central Florida that is like the next thing to the everglades as far as natural balance to the water etc. for Florida's aquifier.

Having small root systems, fairly transportable etc. lots of people have palms planted, gives tropical flavor, a hole tree of some diameter the the least fuss of transportation and planting. It is not unheard of them to be stolen out of there holes within a week.

 

[arboromega]

something else for your list of what is in palms...besides spiders snakes etc...golf balls.
twice i found golf balls in the tops of palms. hell of a shot.
as far as ladders go i had a ladder kick out from under me in a tree, my lanyard was around the trunk so i didnt fall, just hung there like an idiot till the groundman set it back up. i dont see a problem with ladder pruning a palm, i guesss my question was specific to the story in the new sherril catolog (dont have it near me for page number) beside that new black 1/2"bull line. i just dont see how you weight on the rope over the center of a sabal palmetto does not break the heart and kill the palm. seems like a real chance to take by climbing rope that you could kill clients tree. then it must get removed and palm is the worst wood in the world to remove.

 

[Stumper]

FWIW. Climbing the ladder unsecured to get up to the point where you lanyard in does present a problem (though you could do it with a choked bowline climbing line set high on the trunk, that gets awfully slow). To avoid ladders rocking,sliding and kicking out-- sling'em! A piece of webbing bridging the top of the ladder will avoid the rocking that comes from resting a round rung across a round trunk.-Note that you need to still have enough siderail protuding to trap the ladder if you make it walk around the trunk (The webbing gives enough surface contact to help prevent that).

 

[geofore]

ladders

Werner ladders make an attachment to handle (fit around) the trunk, visit their web site. If you have never toured a ladder factory you'll not know what you can find. They have a factory here in Greenville, Pa. and they make different kinds of ladders for different industries. They also make accessories to get the job done. If you don't ask you'll never know what's out there.

 

[rmihalek]

What about this: lean the ladder against the palm, get a ratcheting tie-down with a 30 or 40 foot strap like the kind that truckers use to secure loads, hook one end up to the ladder 5 or 6 feet up, walk the other end around the stem of the palm and then connect the other end to the other rail of the ladder. Crank the ratchet to tighten the strap and pull the ladder against the stem. Process could be repeated with another ratcheting tie down 15 or 20 feet up.

 

[arboromega]

geofore i guess this is it...looks like it would work



at www.wernerladder.com

under ladder accessories 1/3 of the way down the page.