Question About My 40+ Year Old Palm

[MandaMalice]

Hello all! I hope y'all can help me cause I'm not really sure what to do.

The other day a tree trimmer stopped by to give us a "free quote" and told us our palm tree was falling down. And that they could cut it down for us. But I have a few issues with their evaluation. And would really appreciated some feed back. Here is the background:

We think it's a "Royal Palm". And it's well over 30 years old. Our home was one of two "model homes" that were first put in the subdivision in the early 1960s. (Our home was built in 1962 or 1963) The whole neighborhood had a 60's Polynesian/Tiki theme. So of course there were lots of "Palm" trees in the landscaping. We have the last standing palm on the street. Our next door neighbor is the original owner of her home and told us how she lost the palms in front of her home in 1983 to Hurricane Alicia. She is a retired school teacher and told us how the coach had the football team come and help cut up and dig up the trees and haul them away. She said it was NOT an easy task! Since we moved in our neighbors across the street had a palm in their back yard cut down. It took about a WEEK to get that thing out of there!

When we first moved in the palm, and the whole front of the house, was covered in Creeping Fig. We pulled all of that off the front and off the palm about four feet from the ground up. After that the rest died it fell off slowly.

The palm has always leaned to one side and has never seemed unhealthy or unsteady. (Survived Hurricane Ike in 2008) And by the way the neighbors tell it, they don't seem to come down easy. So to have someone say that it needs to come down and they can do it, kinda sounds like they are just trying to make money off of us! But to be safe, I would like to get some opinions on it.

Here is the palm when it was still hidden under the "Creepy Fig" (You can't really see it)

When we started pulling it off

And these photos where taken on07/08/2013

So, is it falling? Should we have it taken down?

And thank you in advance for any help!

[aztropic]

Palm is NOT a royal palm.Looks like an ordinary mexican fan palm.These are very sturdy palms that can grow over 100 feet tall without lightning or hurricane conditions.Other than needing a trim,your palm looks fine and is not falling down anytime soon.

Aztropic

Mesa,Arizona

[palmluva]

This is a Washingtonia robusta palm. It looks like it's in very good condition. Your instincts were correct, they are trying to make money off you for no good reason. We have lots of these palms in San Jose, CA and they are very strong and get much taller than even yours. If you like it, keep it.

[palmislandRandy]

Your Washingtonia looks like a perfectly healthy palm. Being the last one on the street says something about your palms genetics.

[Hammer]

Agreed. Those trimmers were trying to rip you off.If you do end up having leaves trimmed be careful not to be too aggressive and trim up too high.

[Eric F]

Nothing wrong with that washie. If nothing else, I like 'em with a little more bush No need to trim.

[Moose]

Your Washingtonia looks like a perfectly healthy palm. Being the last one on the street says something about your palms genetics.

I agree with Randy. Where are you in Texas? If you like the palmy look, perhaps you could try a Bismarckia nobilis as an addition! Glad you came to this forum first before hiring the "Tree Trimmer" (Butcher). I agree with Hammer, their proposal was just to part you from your $$$. I would not even have any leaves trimmed, its done alright by itself this long.

[Jeff Searle]

I agree with all the others. My only concern would be that it's awfully close to the house and could cause lots of damage if you were to get a strong wind storm. But I'm not familiar with your area, so this might not be something to worry about. Other than that, it looks very healthy.

[HorsesnPalms]

Yep you have a gorgeous washy! He looks like he is ready to live through another 40 years!

[MandaMalice]

Thank you all so very much!!!

Yup. We are in Texas! (In between Houston and Galvestion) We lost our home to Ike in 2008 and found ourselves having to buy our first home. The moment my Husband saw this palm he said this was the place for us. So I really did not want it cut down, but after losing one roof (and everything under it) I wanted to make sure it was safe.

Most everyone on our street had their's cut down (There are a few still scattered through the neighborhood) and everyone keeps tell us to do the same, but we plan (HOPE) to landscape to compliment the tree and outward style of the house.

(My Mother gave us a yucca she got before I was born and its many "babies" to add to the yard)

As for trimming, we haven't even worried about it since we got that awful creeping fig off of it. We were gonna pay someone to trim it and pull the rest of the vines off, but it all fell off before we could. My Husband is a Houston Fire Fighter and I tease him to just bring the ladder truck home and do it his self!

Any suggesting for things that would go great along with it would be wonderful! Just as long as they are pet (and kid) friendly. We volunteer as Animal Fosters and while our kids have grown out of the putting everything in their mouth faze, dogs never really seem to

Once again, thank you all so much for the feed back!!

[Hammer]

I'm curious why your neighbors are encouraging you to chop it? Hurricanes?

[MandaMalice]

I'm curious why your neighbors are encouraging you to chop it? Hurricanes?

It's mainly been my family.

We live on the gulf coast and my family had a landscaping business in the 80's. They HATED dealing with them in the Galveston area. (My Father fell 20 feet from one while working for another company. Faulty belt and equipment) My Mother is worried it will fall on the house and my Father said it will cause bugs.

But since we pulled the creeping fig off, we haven't had one problem! We are lucky cause Galveston Island lost almost ALL of it's plant life after Ike. What the storm didn't kill, the salt water did.

[Kostas]

From what i heard from friends in Galveston,the Washingtonia's survived Ike without falling and without serious saltwater issues,so you got a winner there! No need to trim as the dead leafs fall on their own. If you trim,they will stop falling on their own and you wont have the beautiful smooth trunk you have right not without effort.

[redbeard917]

As far as plants to go with it, you could probably grow just about anything you see on the Tejas Tropicals site. If you wanted something less tall and more shrubby, a silver Serenoa repens, Arenga engleri, or Rhapis palm might look nice. I think Chamaedorea microspadix are easy to grow and attractive palms. Same for Chamaerops humilis, which has a few different forms and colors. Do you want to stay with the Polynesian theme?

[redbeard917]

It looks much better without the creeping fig, by the way.

[KennyRE317]

that's one healthy washie. a slight lean isn't anything to worry about

[WestCoastGal]

Your palm looks beautiful and healthy and soo much better without the fig blanketing it. The trunk as you mentioned does have a lean, and away from the house as I see it.

I remembered seeing a study done in Florida of wind resistance of trees and palms in hurricanes based on what came down and what survived. I was able to find the study again. It's from the University of Florida: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FR/FR17300.pdf I noticed that the Washington Robusta doesn't do that well in their study. With your palm leaning outward from the house I don't know what I would do if I were in your case (thinking I guess if it were to come down it might go away from the house instead of on top of it so I might be inclined to keep it anyway).

As you landscape and want to include other palms around your house I thought the list might also be helpful from that perspective, keep in mind your zone as well. Also check out the links at the end of the study. A nice grouping of taller palms in your backyard might help contribute to a tropical feel and the report says that groupings of palms did better under high wind conditions. For lower height palms I'd encourage you to consider something in the butia family. We have two now and really love them both. Also really fond of our latest sabal addition. Sabal minors or Sabal etonias (scrub palmetto, lower water needs) make nice mature understory palms. Make sure you do slow deep watering to get your palm roots to go downward instead of laterally.

Looks like you have a nice sized lot and in my mind you can't go wrong using palms for a tropical feel. Generally low maintenace and non-invasive roots. You won't have to worry about your sewer lines being invaded and needing repair down the road or side walks or driveways being cracked and lifted up as with a number of trees. My parents who have been in their house for amost 60 years now were just commenting that they wish they had made a better tree selection when they built their house because they did end up with root issues in their pipes and a cracked driveway. We have a fairly small lot as far as landscping space around it goes and palms were just the natural choice for us, and we just love the look too.

Nice to see you on the forum and if you do landscape with more palms it would be nice to hear how it's going.

[Xenon]

I don't think your palm is over 30 years old...it must have survived the freezes of the 80s (Galveston hit 14*F in December of 1989). Nice palm though Between Houston and Galveston should be a pretty solid zone 9b without accounting for the big freezes every few decades. By the way, there are real royal palms at Moody Gardens, they will need some protection from freezes if you aren't on the island though.

[MandaMalice]

Again, thank you all so much!

Yes we are sticking to the Polynesian theme, so I'm making a list of y'all suggests for my Husband and I to go over!!!

And we do know that it is at least 30 years old (Give or take) cause we were told it did survived Alicia in 1983.

We lived in Texas City in 1989 when it snowed. My Mother worked on the Island (Galveston for y'all non-Texas folks) and said it was surreal to drive down Broadway and see all the palm trees covered in snow!

We never thought to check on the Island to get a clue about what type of palm it was! *Face Palm* We were going off of what types where for sale in our area. Thinking that it would most likely be one of those. The closest we could compare was a "Royal". But I bet if we had gone to a nursery in Galveston we could have got a much better comparison.

As for trimming, I doubt we will have anyone do it after all this. The only people I would trust would be Islanders or my Father (And he is waaaaaaaaay to old to "bear climb" up it!) I don't trust anyone this far inland. So we will just let them fall off

And THANK YOU for pointing out the that roots are non-invasive!! That makes me sooo happy with our theme now. We have had issues with all these crape myrtles getting into our pipes.

[MandaMalice]

With your palm leaning outward from the house I don't know what I would do if I were in your case (thinking I guess if it were to come down it might go away from the house instead of on top of it so I might be inclined to keep it anyway).

This is just what we are thinking! It's in front of our garage and leans toward our drive way, so (Hopefully) if anything falls, it would land on the garage or drive way

[Hammer]

I'm curious why your neighbors are encouraging you to chop it? Hurricanes?

It's mainly been my family.

We live on the gulf coast and my family had a landscaping business in the 80's. They HATED dealing with them in the Galveston area. (My Father fell 20 feet from one while working for another company. Faulty belt and equipment) My Mother is worried it will fall on the house and my Father said it will cause bugs.

But since we pulled the creeping fig off, we haven't had one problem! We are lucky cause Galveston Island lost almost ALL of it's plant life after Ike. What the storm didn't kill, the salt water did.

After reading your plans, it sounds like you are on the right track. Interesting that your palm is "self cleaning". In my neck of the woods the old, dead leaves hang around for years and create a rather ugly, ratty petticoat. But it seems you have dodged that bullet. Good for you!

Before, during and after photos are quite popular here on PT. We'd all love to get a good photo tour of your place and then watch it as it transforms over time. Good luck!

[MandaMalice]

I'm curious why your neighbors are encouraging you to chop it? Hurricanes?

It's mainly been my family.

We live on the gulf coast and my family had a landscaping business in the 80's. They HATED dealing with them in the Galveston area. (My Father fell 20 feet from one while working for another company. Faulty belt and equipment) My Mother is worried it will fall on the house and my Father said it will cause bugs.

But since we pulled the creeping fig off, we haven't had one problem! We are lucky cause Galveston Island lost almost ALL of it's plant life after Ike. What the storm didn't kill, the salt water did.

After reading your plans, it sounds like you are on the right track. Interesting that your palm is "self cleaning". In my neck of the woods the old, dead leaves hang around for years and create a rather ugly, ratty petticoat. But it seems you have dodged that bullet. Good for you!

Before, during and after photos are quite popular here on PT. We'd all love to get a good photo tour of your place and then watch it as it transforms over time. Good luck!

Most of the old dead leaves were STUCK in the creeping fig! It was just awful. But since we pulled it off, we really haven't thought about it much. I would hate to have to get someone to clean it up after the last "trimmer" but like I said, my Husband is a Fire Fighter, so I'll just tell him to get the ladder truck over here so we can do it ourselves!

[MandaMalice]

Found some more "Before" photos:

And here is the rest of the photos of us pulling it down:

https://plus.google.com/photos/118359889657823748827/albums/5574476810193667665?banner=pwa

[PalmatierMeg]

Whoa! That creeping fig is nasty stuff. I couldn't tell there was a palm under all that foliage. I'm surprised it wasn't smothered to death. We've had a Washy 20 years and haven't trimmed it since it grew tall. The fronds dry up and fall off in brisk winds. They weigh almost nothing.