how NOT to prune Sabal palmetto

[Eric in Orlando]

I drove by this office building near my house this weekend and saw this scene of horror. Nice pruning job on the Sabal palmetto

[mjff]

What were they thinking? That looks awful and will take a long time to grow out and look good again.

[Kumar]

Obviously they were not thinking

[carver]

The beloved hurricane cut, horrible! I dont know how they can call themselves an arborist and do this. Wait a few years and see what the trunk looks like. I worked for a guy that swore phoenix looked better with what he called the "diamond cut". Few years later heads were fallin off, should have been his.

[Eric in Orlando]

The beloved hurricane cut, horrible! I dont know how they can call themselves an arborist and do this. Wait a few years and see what the trunk looks like. I worked for a guy that swore phoenix looked better with what he called the "diamond cut". Few years later heads were fallin off, should have been his.

A one time butchering probably won't cause any harm but if this becomes a regular procedure by these mouth breathing laborers for this landscape then it will be a problem.

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

ROFLMAO!....Really! Thats the worst pruning job I've ever seen. "A fool and their money are easily parted"...or maybe another cliche applies..."You get what you pay for"!

[TropicPalms7]

Wow!!! can you actually stop there and ask who decided to do that? who actually said "yes" to cut them like that hahaha thats ridiculous. I would love to see the landscaper who did it and find out his reasoning behind doing that!

[pindo]

Hello Eric

These Sabal grew there before?, or recent transplants?

Sabal sp. is pruned in this way when they are transplanted.

This cut seem a "Punk cut"

regards

[DoomsDave]

The beloved hurricane cut, horrible! I dont know how they can call themselves an arborist and do this. Wait a few years and see what the trunk looks like. I worked for a guy that swore phoenix looked better with what he called the "diamond cut". Few years later heads were fallin off, should have been his.

A one time butchering probably won't cause any harm but if this becomes a regular procedure by these mouth breathing laborers for this landscape then it will be a problem.

Mouth breathing?

[floridagrower]

Mouth Breathers

The sad thing is that I've seen worse. I see this all over the place.

[Trópico]

They were looking for coconuts. They should have tried Ft. Lauderdale.

[carver]

The beloved hurricane cut, horrible! I dont know how they can call themselves an arborist and do this. Wait a few years and see what the trunk looks like. I worked for a guy that swore phoenix looked better with what he called the "diamond cut". Few years later heads were fallin off, should have been his.

A one time butchering probably won't cause any harm but if this becomes a regular procedure by these mouth breathing laborers for this landscape then it will be a problem.

Mouth breathing?

That was the problem he apparently took care of the property with falling heads for a few years and last time I drove by the sylvestri clump two heads were missing and their were these skinny rings in the trunk where it looked like the palm had been constricted, I agree with the mouth breather part. Unfortunately if you have a chainsaw and half a brain you can call yourself an arborist in Fl.

[Jim in Los Altos]

Hello Eric

These Sabal grew there before?, or recent transplants?

Sabal sp. is pruned in this way when they are transplanted.

This cut seem a "Punk cut"

regards

That's the first thing I thought and, if so, it isn't the nightmare it seems. Anyone know if those Sabal are new or if they've been there a long time?

[TropicPalms7]

thats the first thing i thought also being new transplants especially cuz the mulch was new. but i figured since Eric lives there and drives past it he knew they have been growing there. thats obviously the "classic hurricane cut" when transplanting. but if they have been there for years and then cut like this thats just too crazy.

[Palmateer]

Great description. Over and over again, I see examples of that here.

Unfortunately if you have a chainsaw and half a brain you can call yourself an arborist in Fl.

[Trópico]

thats the first thing i thought also being new transplants especially cuz the mulch was new. but i figured since Eric lives there and drives past it he knew they have been growing there. thats obviously the "classic hurricane cut" when transplanting. but if they have been there for years and then cut like this thats just too crazy.

Unfortunately, no. The new transplants mostly have the clean, woody colored trunks while the ones in the picture have the blackish, weathered look. New transplants for commercial settings are easily recognized: straight, shorter, and with the upper half boots still in.

[Enzo]

Is a pruning really extreme

[Palmy]

Thats really bad... I want to see the reaction of the owner LOL. It looks like they just chopped off the tops of em

[buccaneers37]

That's how they would look in Tampa if they were within 20' of a power line once the city "arborists" got hold of 'em

[Dave-Vero]

They look absolutely as though they've been in front of that building for a long time. In my town, the city government quit butchering its palms (maybe to save money) while Walmart of all places is very good about leaving its palmettos nice and plush.

I didn't take a photo of a one-leafed Chamaerops next to the lifeguard station in La Jolla. A couple or three years later, a friend visited, checked the palm, and found it thriving with a full head of leaves.

[pindo]

this is the stupidity of the neighbor who planted the palm under the power line and the brutality of the electric company workers

who came first? ... the chicken or the egg?

regards

[Eric in Orlando]

They have been there a long time, they aren't recent transplants

[BlufftonSC]

Here the landscape crews seem to obsess over pruning the "living" daylights out of needle palms and serenoa repens. I've been watching a really nice needle palm in front of our local Barnes & Noble. Once they started chopping on it, they kept it to a max of three leaves, then eventually one. Now it's dead after 5 years of that. I'm still trying to figure out how a stump looks good in the lush landscaping around the store, and, yes, the needle palm was planted there as part of the landscaping. Totally baffles my mind.

[Moose]

Eric - it would be interesting to e-mail a link to this thread to the business.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

That is just nuts. Mouth breathing? More like they were not breathing at all and what little brains that had were deprived of oxygen. Maybe they didn't have any brain at all. I would definitely show the business, or whoever is in charge of the landscaping, this thread. Those things look awful. What a shame.

As for the tree planted under the power lines, well, if the lines were already there and the tree was planted, then perhaps using a short tree like a P. Roebelenii would have been more appropriate.

[pindo]

As for the tree planted under the power lines, well, if the lines were already there and the tree was planted, then perhaps using a short tree like a P. Roebelenii would have been more appropriate.

I agree with you But they could have transplanted that Roystonea

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

As for the tree planted under the power lines, well, if the lines were already there and the tree was planted, then perhaps using a short tree like a P. Roebelenii would have been more appropriate.

I agree with you But they could have transplanted that Roystonea

Yep, Take it out, move it, and replace it with a P. Roebelenii or some other some such small sized palm, or even just a regular old small dicot tree.