Worst Pruning of CIDP ever!

[OverGrown]

Caught this on a recent drive.

[Tassie_Troy1971]

That is absolutely pathetic ! obviously unskilled labour or a cheap property owner "trim off a wee bit more fellas so you don't have to trim again until next decade !

[Steve Mac]

Oh no, close this thread before Kris sees it, he will freak out!

[PalmatierMeg]

Simply ghastly. Nothing else to say.

[sarasota alex]

Kind of reminds me of how the CIDPs at the SRQ airport were butchered in 2008. But then what I see on the picture is much worse. I heard somewhere that hurricane cuts were made illegal in Broward County, because it made the structure of the palm weaker during hurricanes and made it more possible for it to produce debris. Could anyone confirm if it's true?

[Peter Pacific]

Caught this on a recent drive.

What could you be thinking?

[Kris]

Oh no, close this thread before Kris sees it, he will freak out!

.

[PalmatierMeg]

Kind of reminds me of how the CIDPs at the SRQ airport were butchered in 2008. But then what I see on the picture is much worse. I heard somewhere that hurricane cuts were made illegal in Broward County, because it made the structure of the palm weaker during hurricanes and made it more possible for it to produce debris. Could anyone confirm if it's true?

I've heard the same thing and it makes sense. All that cutting has to weaken the structure of the palm - after all, that kind of butchery doesn't occur in the wild unless a palm is already dying. And such cuts leave almost no fronds for the poor thing to photosynthesize and feed itself. Since these CIDPs are in LA maybe everyone figures: "no hurricanes, no problems". Serves this guy right if all these wretched palms die & he has to replace them for big bucks.

[sarasota alex]

Meg, he's probably going to end up paying the big bucks to the same landscaping company that butchered them in the first place. I'm beginning to notice a conspiracy to over-prune.

[happ]

Sadly, over-pruning is not that uncommon and can result in diseases such as fusarium.

[MattyB]

No wonder all the CIDP in Los Angeles are dying.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

I would personally find the property owner and question them, and try to set them straight. Those things look like feather dusters that have been so badly over used they have lost most of the feathers.

I wonder what goes thru those peoples minds? Maybe they are trying to give them the "Medjool" type look, but went way over board. I mean thats just silly looking!!!! Shame on the person who pruned them and the person who hired / allowed them to be pruned in such an awful manor.

[PalmatierMeg]

Unfortunately, tree/palm trimmers know little or nothing about their victims and care even less. Around here they just assume the homeowner wants the most "bang for the buck", i.e. cut off as much as possible. In fall of '08 my husband hired a couple trimmers to cut our 7 queens in the backyard while I was at work. I got home and said, "What the !#@$%^(*%)?" My queens had topknots above pineapples - and my shade garden lost most of its shade. We had to rig up a canopy to protect sensitive seedlings in 2009. My husband says he will never let anyone near our queens unless I'm there to watch. The queens are finally recovering but I've had to chase these two guys away twice in the past year. There's really very little to trim except healthy fronds. These guys had lopped off a year's growth.

Here in FL trimmers frighten/intimidate homeowners by telling them they should get palms a HC to protect the neighborhood from flying debris. But our palms came through cat 4 Charley in 2004 just a bit tousled. However, flying shingles and other human-sourced debris caused a passel of damage.

[LJG]

In most cases it is NOT the tree trimmer. They just do what they are told. Property management firms for example are notoriousIn most cases it is NOT the tree trimmer. They just do what they are told. Property management firms for example are notorious for doing this because it saves on the budget. One less year to have to have this done again. They will grow out of this in one year, so people live with it. The issue here is the dangers of getting Fusarium. Any cut that goes into live tissue opens it up for a death sentence. These trees are tall enough that the leaves will not touch any people walking so there was no need to do this. Especially considering they did not even 'pinepple' em. When CIDPs are this tall, only the dead fronds around the base should be cut. The tree should look like a big Q-Tip.

[sarasota alex]

And I'm sure very few sterilize their equipment when going from property to property

[sick1166]

Wow!!! Only in la... Oh wait I see the same idiots do it here in florida too! thats a shame but hey whats the point i tell the guys who cut my cocos and sabals every year just take the dead fronds and by the time i turn around the have a few butcherd up that look like that.then its funny when my neighbors say the trees cut to just a few shoots look so good but in south florida any one with a lawn mower ladder and some saws is a tree trimmer...

[Darold Petty]

My friend on Big Island of Hawaii says that this overtriming happens to coconuts around Hilo. Eventually the trunk diameter will be reduced severely and then the entire crown will break off during high winds.

[Palm Painter]

Typical Hacks!

[Davidl]

Wow that's terrible looking and might cause the palm problems later.People try to save money by cutting more so it takes longer to cut them again. Sometimes its just bad tree cutters that don't care or don't understand the damage they are doing.

[JayW]

I'd much rather see some dead fronds than this! In Florida, this is also fairly common. I saw some Sabal Palmettos yesterday and they had just been trimmed (these trees were not transplants, they have been there for many, many years) and they had cut off everything and left nothing but the new spears that were sticking about 2ft out. I'm still trying to figure out why.

Edited February 5, 2010 by JayW

[happ]

It's cheaper to butcher the palm & it isn't limited to individuals either. The local Coptic church cut out the best fronds of their CIDP each Palm Sunday [giving the trees a flat-top look]. I've complained to the priest since their palms line the street but he ignores me!

[Tyrone]

[Gileno Machado]

I guess these poor palms were mistankenly planted too close to the building, in first place. Either they were expecting them to lean away like coconuts or this horrendous look was adopted since the early stages and the palms actually grew up like crazy in order to escape from the torture they've been submitted since young...

I also noticed the worry about rodents climbing (the metalic strips attached to the trunks) so maybe a full crown is expected to be avoided, for touching the structure of the building and allowing animals to move, so this disgusting look is actually required by the home owners.

[DoomsDave]

LJG is right! LJG is right! (You were getting a bit repetitive repetitive there . . . )

Trimmers do as they're asked to do. Butchery Hills was infamous for doing that kind of thing for years.

[Dundo]

Horror..lol, owner is so avaricious.

[OldNed]

A Central Florida thread re this Palmicide:

http://216.197.101.144/2ndlight/fusetalk/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=8&threadid=100124&highlight_key=y&keyword1=merritt%20square

[Ampli]

Oh no, close this thread before Kris sees it, he will freak out!

.

C'mon Kris, don't cry!!!

They'll recover quickly, but I hope the gardner not!!! :rage:

[Trópico]

An overpruned palm is a weak palm. I have seen it first hand. I planted my Bismarkia palm a few years ago which I grew from seed. I could swear I purchased the seed when a neighbor bought and planted his. Today mine is TWICE the size of his and a single frond may be as large as his palm. He goes for the "nursery look", where he prunes the fronds that are more than 45° away from the spear. In recent weeks the winds have made it lean to one side.

Case #2, I have a Phoenix roebellenii which can be mistaken for a larger species and is seeding like crazy. I have another one inside the pool enclosure which I, on purpose, prune like everyone else does to keep it compact and give it sort of a "bonsai" look. The difference is astonishing.

[sarasota alex]

I wanted to add some ugly pictures from Sarasota to this thread.

Overpruned queens:

Young sabal with just one leaf left:

[sarasota alex]

These CIDPs growing at the Sarasota/Bradenton were butchered about a year-and-a-half ago. They recovered some but the one closest to the camera doesn't look too healthy. I've only lived here for a little over two years, but it I feel from looking at these palms that that's happened before.

Airport palmettos. Trimmed I think in the early fall (maybe not). Still didn't grow back that much. They get that cut a couple of times a year.

[Matthew Whalen]

It's sickening to see them trimmed like that... The Asplund "Tree Experts" trimmed some palms down the street from me:

[sarasota alex]

ouch

[Zeeth]

Young sabal with just one leaf left:

I see that all the time... Or, where they cut all the leaves off, so it has a slowly growing green stump for 4 months.

[Carlo Morici]

Caught this on a recent drive.

Bad, bad, bad. A good windstorm + rain + fungi can kill half of them in a while.

It is all about wind mechanics. A paradox: Cutting ALL leaves off would be a much better choice. This is what they do in La Gomera when the guarapo sap is extracted from wild Phoenix canariensis.

Carlo

[happ]

Caught this on a recent drive.

Bad, bad, bad. A good windstorm + rain + fungi can kill half of them in a while.

It is all about wind mechanics. A paradox: Cutting ALL leaves off would be a much better choice. This is what they do in La Gomera when the guarapo sap is extracted from wild Phoenix canariensis.

Carlo

Do the canary palms recover?

[Rafael]

Sadly and unfortunately, here in Portugal, it is very common to see those kind of crazy pruning, in private or public spaces!

When i see this i wish i could speak to the owner and show him how wrong is that!

But i also think that this is clear, and everybody is able to see this...

[floridasun]

Trimmers do as they're asked to do. Butchery Hills was infamous for doing that kind of thing for years.

i think its both the trimmers and the owners, i dont think we can blame just one. i for one HAVE seen trimmers do this wthout anyone telling them to Edited March 6, 2010 by floridasun

[Rafael]

Speaking about pruning, take a look at this picture, taken from an hotel yard, these days...

[Carlo Morici]

A paradox: Cutting ALL leaves off would be a much better choice. This is what they do in La Gomera when the guarapo sap is extracted from wild Phoenix canariensis.

Do the canary palms recover?

Yes, They soon come back with a stout, healthy sprout. They show a full, rounded crown after 2 years, and they. Each palm is used about every 5 years.

Carlo

[Tess]

Caught this on a recent drive.

If the owner is potentially to blame for this hack-job, perhaps they should follow that sign to the library and read-up on prunning...those rat bands are quite fetching....