Crataegus

[ATH]

One of my helpers got a hawthorn thorn I his palm Tuesday. By the evening, it was so swollen he couldn't move his hand so went to urgent care. Doc gave him antibiotic injection, gave him 2 doses to take at home and set appointment with orthopedic first thing in the morning.

Orthopedic saw him and immediately scheduled surgery. They cut open his palm and his middle finger so they could flush the tendon sheath and have the rinsate come out of that incision on his finger. Said there was a LOT of puss in there.

Spent rest of the day Wed and Thursday on IV antibiotics - they sent him home Friday (today). Sounds like he is in a lot of pain too.

They said if he had waited much longer he probably would have lost a finger or more.

Who would plant such a thing?!? I just might double price on any future hawthorn pruning.! I'm guessing he'll decline helping on those jobs. Apparently it isn't all that unheard of to get a bad infection from them.

 

[Reach]

I have heard of infections from those miserable plants, I’ve had a mild infection or two from the thorns, but never had to go to a doctor for one! That’s crazy, poor guy! I hope he recovers well, and quickly, from all that.

 

[Rooted.Tree.Solutions]

One of my helpers got a hawthorn thorn I his palm Tuesday. By the evening, it was so swollen he couldn't move his hand so went to urgent care. Doc gave him antibiotic injection, gave him 2 doses to take at home and set appointment with orthopedic first thing in the morning.

Orthopedic saw him and immediately scheduled surgery. They cut open his palm and his middle finger so they could flush the tendon sheath and have the rinsate come out of that incision on his finger. Said there was a LOT of puss in there.

Spent rest of the day Wed and Thursday on IV antibiotics - they sent him home Friday (today). Sounds like he is in a lot of pain too.

They said if he had waited much longer he probably would have lost a finger or more.

Who would plant such a thing?!? I just might double price on any future hawthorn pruning.! I'm guessing he'll decline helping on those jobs. Apparently it isn't all that unheard of to get a bad infection from them.

Dang! I knew I hated working on Hawthorns, but now I hate it even more! I actually took a thorn to my palm this week on an Osage Orange tree. It’s sore but seems to be healing fine. Good to know situations like this are out there so I’ll be sure to take things seriously if anything ever happens to one of my crew members. Thanks for sharing.

 

[pete3d]

Many years ago when I was in the architectural millwork business, one of my employees, over time, became so sensitized to wood, that almost any species of splinter that perforated and stayed under his skin for an extended period would cause a severe reaction, for example, his whole hand would “blow up”.

I live on what some would call hawthorn ridge and as a result of dealing with the little devils have been stabbed and had the tips of the thorns broken off in most parts of me, too often to count. Although I’ve had the wounds fester a little I’ve never, touch wood, had the sort of reaction your employee demonstrated.
Please pass on my hopes for his rapid recovery.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

There are two thorn related items floating around in my head

One is that all thorns are dirty with whatever might be blowing around

The other is that some have toxic sap

Treat them like snake bites. Get in to see a Dr at the first sign of redness or pain

I had some variety of triple antibiotics that I’d slather on any wound. Monitor closely

 

[RyanCafferky]

I did a view clearance job on Monday and Tuesday where we reduced 5 or 6 black locust trees. One seemed to have been planted by the devil himself as it was covered in way more thorns than the others. The day after climbing that I had one knuckle that was really tender from a bad poke. I’ve certainly had some sore wounds over the years but thankfully never a bad infection like your employee had.

 

[GregManning]

Many years ago, I was working in a metal fab shop.
I walked past a sharp corner of expanded metal, & put a shallow cut on my thumb. Several days later it was obviously infected, so I went to the Dr.

He gave me some antibiotics, and said come back in the morning if it’s not better.
The next morning, the infected area had started to turn “black”.

The Dr. said “you need your thumb” & immediately sent me to a surgeon’s office.

The surgeon said “I can cut it here w/ local anesthetic, or send you to the hospital”.
I chose the 1st option. He injected the local directly into the infected area – it really hurt.

After a short wait, he started his “office surgery”. It hurt like H*** !
He said: “yes that is a potential problem; the infection changes the tissue pH & makes the anesthetic ineffective ! ! !”

 

[ATH]

Ouch!

 

[GregManning]

Many years ago, I was working in a metal fab shop.
I walked past a sharp corner of expanded metal, & put a shallow cut on my thumb. Several days later it was obviously infected, so I went to the Dr.

He gave me some antibiotics, and said come back in the morning if it’s not better.
The next morning, the infected area had started to turn “black”.

The Dr. said “you need your thumb” & immediately sent me to a surgeon’s office.

The surgeon said “I can cut it here w/ local anesthetic, or send you to the hospital”.
I chose the 1st option. He injected the local directly into the infected area – it really hurt.

After a short wait, he started his “office surgery”. It hurt like H*** !
He said: “yes that is a potential problem; the infection changes the tissue pH & makes the anesthetic ineffective ! ! !”

Prior to starting the surgery cutting, the surgeon did ask: "do you want to stand, or lay down ?"
I picked to lay down - - - good choice !

He made several incisions. He wanted to make sure the infection was just not due to an "in-grown thumb nail".

 

[Neill]

Yikes! Thanks for the heads up, I’ll think about this next time I shrug off these seemingly minor injuries

 

[evo]

There’s a thing called plant thorn arthritis.

Many years ago a friend and employer got poked in the hand by a plum thorn. Probably around lunch time, his whole hand swelled dramatically, much faster than a infection could have caused. Seriously looked like Mickey Mouse by the end of the day. Took two weeks to recover, not sure what the doctors did, but they didn’t cut him, just meds which didn’t seem to do much

 

[TreeCo]

I was dragging a small hawthorn a few years ago and the small branch I had a hold of broke and my hand struck another limb driving a thorn into the back of a finger on my left hand. The thorn had broken off and was sticking out about half an inch. I pulled it out. By that evening my finger and hand had swollen up pretty good and stayed that way for about 5 days. The swelling decreased over time and luckily I seem to have no long term damage.

Reading this thread has made me realize that I should have sought medical attention.

I've probably got a hundred hawthorns on the property and have learned to be very careful around them. I still feel that they are beautiful small trees.

It would be interesting to know what toxin causes the problem.

 

[ATH]

.

It would be interesting to know what toxin causes the problem.

In the bordem of sitting around for 3 days, he texted me this (didn't include source):

Bacterial Infections
Plant pathogens on the thorn have also caused infections in those with hawthorn puncture wounds. In one case, a child developed septic arthritis due to the bacteria Curtobacterium after being punctured by a coxspur hawthorn thorn. Another child was infected with the bacteria Pantoea agglomerans and Enterobacter cloacae after injury from a thorn that lodged under her skin.... from an article.. says even a tiny scratch on eye will leave you blind because bacteria on these thorns is so aggressive..

 

[flushcut]

Hawthorns should be eradicated from the face of the planet. Just an evil tree and I have several that I manage. Just plain evil. Thorns thru boots and feet, tires, hands, and fingers. If there is hell it’s pruning out a hawthorn and cleaning it up.

 

[Stumpsprouts]

Hawthorns should be eradicated from the face of the planet. Just an evil tree and I have several that I manage. Just plain evil. Thorns thru boots and feet, tires, hands, and fingers. If there is hell it’s pruning out a hawthorn and cleaning it up.

Their berries are a powerful medicine for heart issues.

I’ve never worked on a hawthorn, that being said.

My friend acquired a lot of land that had a grove of at least an acre of hawthorn. I advised him to rent a forestry mulcher to take them out and that was one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.

 

[evo]

Their berries are a powerful medicine for heart issues.

I’ve never worked on a hawthorn, that being said.

My friend acquired a lot of land that had a grove of at least an acre of hawthorn. I advised him to rent a forestry mulcher to take them out and that was one of the best ideas I’ve ever had.

I have a soft spot for hawthorn.. pun?
My daughters placenta is buried under a bareroot hawthorn, we got the tree with that purpose in mind. Kept the organ in my the freezer, and the tree in a pot and two years later we bought our home and planted both. It’s a native hawthorn with is freakishly rare since they hybridize so readily.
Apparently back in the day they were planted under the window of daughters to ward off undesirable suiters and I can certainly see why.
And F the person who every messes with my daughters tree.

 

[Cereal_Killer]

I like to think I’m a pretty desensitized dude but I made it to post 9 and I can not read any more of thread!

I once had about 1cm of honey locust thorn break off in my arm and become embedded a couple days. Finally it came out in an explosion of puss a few days later. Other than a week of pain after there were no illeffects.