Palm Advice
The Washingtonia Robusta is the most common palm in SoCal, it is the skinny trunked one, also called a Mexican Palm. This Palm has killed many amateur arborist who were unaware of the danger of climbing up under older full bagged trees and having the bags detach from the trunk slide down on the climber effectively trapping them against the trunk in their saddles and slowly suffocating them to death.
It takes an experienced eye to recognize a tree that presents this danger, as it only seems to occur in older trees with large bags, usually over 35-40 feet tall. Tell-tale signs of this danger present itself as a separation of the uniformity of the bag itself in older trees. Anytime you see a section of smooth trunk above a bag of fronds, this is a clear sign of danger, never climb a tree like this! Get a bucket, a crane or walk away!
Rich Magargal is a SoCal Palm expert who speaks at seminars on this very subject and has an excellent slideshow to educate arborists on this very real and deadly danger that has taken many lives here over the years, if you are serious about learning proper and safe palm techniques, I highly recommend you attend one of his seminars. Info cah be obtained by contacting The Professional Tree Care Association of San Diego.
One of the more interesting characters I've ever met in this business was an old man back in the 70's who rode around on a ten speed bike trimming Mexican Palms from the bottom up using only two carpet knives, one in each hand effectively peeling the trees fronds and collars off in one piece, leaving a beautifully skinned tree with a huge pile of fronds at the bottom. It was a no haul operation, and he did it dirt cheap! I particularly remember shaking his hand and wincing at how powerful his handshake was. Anyone who's ever peeled a palm with carpet knives will know how difficult and exhausting it can be, and this old man did it his whole working life getting around on a bike to boot!
Most tree services do palms with a bucket and chainsaw from the top down of course. Trimming those out of reach of a bucket by climbing can be done in many ways with a variety of different equipment.
I myself got started in this business doing Mexican Palms from the bottom up with army surplus spikes, a linesman belt with a chain lanyard and loppers, three cuts for each frond. I wore a welders leather vest and a hardhat to muscle up under the bag without getting torn up by the barbs on the stems of each frond. A few months of this led to using a little electric chainsaw in place of the loppers. I eventually got smart and bought a Homelite dual triggered power saw called a Super2. Then bought a 40 foot extension ladder to get above the bags so I could spiral down the tree cutting with one hand and flipping my chain lanyard down with the other in a nonstop manner. I was a self taught palm boy and business was good way back then in 73.
One thing to remember about any palm is that they are hard on saws and you. Wear a bandanna or respirator as the dust is truly nasty with all types of nasty bird, rat and who knows what kinda crap. So wear some type of respirator, keep your saws aircleaner serviced with each tank of gas or less in some trees. Chainsaw kick-back danger is very high in palms so try to be careful and deliberate with each cut, don't be like me as a teenager, use both hands on your saw!
Work Safe! Get educated about the dangers associated with working palms!
jomoco
