Removing Palms-Advice Needed

I have two Washingtonia Palms that need removal. In the past I have always passed on these jobs because info I have heard from others I worked with also on other sites. Always heard they suck to fool with, however there is quite a market very close to home. So I was wondering what others thoughts are on Palm removal. I have trimmed them before just never once even cut into a spar of one.

What I have heard:
-Palms are very acidic and you should take your saw apart to clean it when your finished with the Palm or ASAP.
-Palms will jam your saw up when cutting because of the fibers.
-If your stabbed with a spike from frond it can lead to a severe infection if not cleaned due to rodent droppings, roach droppings, etc..,

What I know:
-They have bats, mice, rats, snakes, roaches, squirrels, flying squirrels living in there at times. Oh yeh, bees and wasp as well.

Concerns:
-Saw getting jammed
-How to clean my saw at the end of the day
-Flying squirrels in one tree (was thinking I could hit it with the throw bag a few times to get them out before I climb it)
-Bees in same tree possibly probably do same as above
-Access (Planning SRT over the top with base tie

Thanks everyone for your help in advance! Posting pics in a minute

This is tree with flying squirrels

I have never worked a palm. But I'm guessing you'll want a different plan with bees other than just stirring them up with a throw bag 1st.

Good luck!

That last pic is second tree near house drop.

Haha, oh yeh wasp spray if they are wasp. If it is bees I believe I could call a local honey collector who may want it.

Well for a washie removal it would be best to get on top of those fronds to start taking them off, It doesn't look like there is a huge amount of dead ones so you could actualy spike up from below and carefully work your way under them and start removing them one by one. The big risk is the dead ones letting go all of a sudden and landing in your lap. IF you can see daylight through them there probably aren't that many. You could speedline those fronds, or just drop them one by one.

You have to be real sure when you shoot over the top and pull your rope for SRT that is has 'seated' well in between a good number of frond bases so that if you put a side load on it won't pull out with your weight.
Otherwise I spike up with a lanyard and an SRT choke, then when up by the crown put a second lanyard up and through a bunch of fronds and sit, taking some of the weight off my spikes and waist belt.

You can negative block on a palm stem just the same as a regular tree, only you WILL go for a ride on the wobble stick, good groundie or not. Palm 'wood' is heavy as it is FULL of water, take small bits till you get a feel for it.
The crown is the heaviest and most awkward, getting all the fronds off first helps a lot, but it will be top heavy, and HEAVY, and that's where all the thorns are! It is usually the heaviest 'lump' and will probably be twice the weight of any stem section, you may even have to shave it, or try and cut it in half...be prepared.

Cutting up in the head is where you'll get lots of fibres in the saw, just take it easy, and watch for the accumulation. Every now and then you may have to pull a handful of fibre out the bottom (make sure your chainbrake is on!) On a rare occasion fibres get up in the sprocket nose and you need to loosen the chain and spin it all around to get them out, doesn't take long, you can do it while up the palm. Give your saw a good goose, no load, now and then when you are working to help keep it clear and spin some oil around. Palm likes to suck up oil.

Bring some wedges because as you cut, palms like to settle and pinch your saw. Use the same sorts of cuts you do for regular felling, only beware of the potential for settling. Palm fibre hinges ok.

Wear long sleeves, thick gloves, face shield AND glasses, thorns and dust and decayed fibers are best kept out of your body! If you get cut, just be sensible and clean it well at the end of the day and put some antiseptic on it. Some people wear a dust mask, I've never felt the need to, and never had any ill effects after, even when a rat ran out of the top!

Clean your saw like normal, but use a compressor to get into all the little cracks and crevices, I also like to flush everything with WD40, helps dilute the sap if you can't get everywhere. MAke sure to take off the sprocket and clutch housing and get to the needle cage bearing, you'll probably find fibres wound around it.

Other than that...good luck and put a good price on it.

None of them have big iffy 10 year growth bags, those look to be 2 year bags to me.

And you say they're removals, someone's peeled them for you, yet you want to SRT up?

I like trimming just such wash fans with nothing but a carpet knife in each hand and a file on my saddle to keep them razor sharp with.

But if I was removing those I'd gaff up them with a 200 and a handsaw with no doubt.

But considering just such a palm tree removal got a 49 year old climber smushed and killed locally here just last week?

Maybe you'd be better off usin a bucket if you don't have a good familiarity with their characteristics, like bees feeding on their pollen in swarms that are in a passive gathering mode cuz it ain't their home. And by moving in a slow deliberate manner, you can safely remove the tree despite hundreds of bees gathering pollen from it.

But if you ain't familiar with em?

Buckets are the safer route IMO.

Jomo

Thanks Bermy for giving sooo much good feedback! We had Katrina in 2005 and Isaac in 2012 which is how there is not that many fronds. The home owner's teenage son and the owner did clean up the trunks and manage to pull some fronds down several years ago. The load doesn't look to heavy to me either Bermy. I am glad you told me how you would do it because it makes more sense than my plan! Lol I plan to put good money on it as well
Jomo thanks brother for your response as well! I could use a bucket for the one that has the critters since there is a driveway going up the side the house. The other tree I don't think would have access with a bucket but I can have the local utility company drop that line along with the phone line too. I still need to check and see if the neighbor has a drive then I might be able to access the one over the lines. (last picture) Thank you both for your responses Gonna take your advice as long as the customer is fine with the price.

Fiona has given really excellent and thorough advice. I don't think I could add much to that.

Also, what Jomo said about the bees just collecting pollen may also be true. I've never run into an actual honey bee hive in a palm before.

Just looked at the last pic access on one above power lines

That's good to know Leon. I was just going by what the customer said last summer about bees. I am thinking worst case scenario. I didn't see any bees present when I looked at it. I believe it's too cold right now. This has been the coldest winter on record here. Today we had sleet close by in another Parish/town. Anybody know when flying squirrels have babies?

rumination said:

Fiona has given really excellent and thorough advice. I don't think I could add much to that.

Also, what Jomo said about the bees just collecting pollen may also be true. I've never run into an actual honey bee hive in a palm before.

Click to expand...

It's somewhat common round here to find bumble bee hives in Date palms(canariensis), but never found a bee hive in a Washingtonian robusta to date.

Work safe MIT.

Jomo

I am definetely gonna whip out the Gopro for this one. I will update you guys tomorrow if I get it. I got 2 other jobs before this one. Thanks Jomo I will!

What you're going to notice most is the mess. Messy messy messy. And since you are removing, you'll be wearing climbers— and the gaffs will drive in deep. Try and not drive them into the tree, or you'll struggle to get them out.

Secondly, when you're cutting through- near halfway through, the fiber of the palm is compressed and will pinch your saw with the quickness. This will happen with nearly every cut. If you're sectioning pieces out, you'll want a shallow face cut- 1/3 thru --and two back cuts, managed above and below the face cut.

I also see you have no where to drop the sections. In a situation like this, I use a vertical speedline. Make sure your system is tight to avoid overshooting your drop zone.

As for critters, you forgot to mention palmetto bugs and bull ants. Make certain you're wearing a bandana over your face and have the tail of it over your neck -outside the shirt. Long sleeves, gloves too. Most importantly wear mesh googles or eye some other eye protection that won't fog. Other than this, no worries mate. Piece of cake.

I will advise you to invest in a good mask that you can use for palm pruning/removals or bucking up felled trunks. I use a Dust Bee Gone mask. Costly but comfortable and reusable. Won't fog your lenses either.

We unfortunately do a lot of palms and never fret much about cleaning after. Sometimes we do a palm and then the saw sits for a few days. Our saws are not corroding.

The dust bee gone is good.


love
nick

Fire! Good!

I wonder how the customer would respond if I said I was going to light it on fire first? Flaming flying squirrels would be pretty awesome to see if I must say? Don't worry I use to be a professional firefighter too

This is probably the most aptly named monocot species of all time, robusta, since burning 40 foot bags off them with a match don't kill em. Why, cuz they're full of water.

These things are sidewalk crackers and hurricane survivors. Only I ever saw go over was planted on top of rock in thin dirt, or recently root pruned too close to the base, a component of transplanting them.

First tree I ever pruned at the age of 14, with loppers, three bites per frond! Got me in shape to wield an electric chainsaw!

Jomo

Along the local bike trail here, kids will ignite the dead fronds at night. By morning they'll be a dozen or so still smoldering. Trunk gets slightly charred but not much more.

The one you posted would burn up reeeeeaaal gooooooood....

I was thinking the same Jomo. I have never seen one fall except for newly planted ones. And yes Szajer I know them babies will burn.

They fail occasionally. But it's very rare compared to other trees.


love
nick

We do several hundred palms every yr in SO-CAL and like Nick said I also forget to clean out the saws , sometime if we cant clean them out right away I take a coke can and spray the entire soda in the case and the next day it clean and shiny .. Later in SO-CAL

Thanks Nick for replying!
Hey So-CAL thanks for replying as well! Coke that makes sense since we all know they remove corrision from batteries. I see this is your first post so welcome to the Treehouse! My name is Mark.

Javier! Welcome to the treehouse!!!!


love
nick

Claw hammer and splitting wedge for felling.