damage caused from spikes

That's good Steve, at least they weren't that noticable.

I just got back from Florida and could not believe how bad the palm trees are spiked up down there. They look terrible and I do not know how they can live like that.

You're right Pete, one must ask, how many wounds does a tree have to sustain before the amount of damage becomes unacceptable? And the worst thing is nobody down there thinks this is wrong.

Chris
 
"I just got back from Florida and could not believe how bad the palm trees are spiked up down there. They look terrible and I do not know how they can live like that. Chris "

Chris, palms are monocots, no set vascular system so to speak.

"And the worst thing is nobody down there thinks this is wrong."

Some do and some don't care.


Steve, great work! Thanks for sharing that.
 
Heal...Healing...

/forum/images/graemlins/puke.gif

These terms don't belong with trees.

I'm glad I don't heal like that when I get cut, poked, smashed, etc.
 
personally if ur in tree care then spurs should not even enter the pictur. if u promote health then u can not justify it. Tree triming and pruning is cosmetic. which in turn some old dogs need to learn new tricks
 
No offense, but I get tired of the often repeated Shigo mantra about the word "heal" being inappropriate for trees. Even semantically, most dictionary definitions of heal are something like mend, restore to health or soundness,recover,make sound,etc. Not explicitly or specifically wrong. I understand his trying to get people to understand they respond to injury differently, but just because people use the word "heal" doesn't mean it's wrong.
 
the problem with gaffs in the tropics is; hackers don't understand cortex or lack of. they know it's o.k. to spike a phoenix spp. or a washingtonia with a "skirt" so these knuckleheads gaff-up: cocos, arecastrums, archontophoenix, and anything they can dig their hooks (probably from a flea market)into!
 
CAn you educate us non-tropical arbos about the differences between the palm species? Why do some species tolerate spiking and others not.

I have a basic understanding of palm physiology and how they're different from woodies.
 
hey tom, i'm not an expert on palms.(heck, i live in the midwest)but some species have an almost bark like cortex that when thick enough, protects the "bundles" unlike dicot bark, palm cortex has no cork cambiam,etc. date palms and very few other species are generally not wounded by gaffs. if i remember right, western chapter jamborees had speed spiking as an event (late eighties or early nineties)
 
[ QUOTE ]
the problem with gaffs in the tropics is; hackers don't understand cortex or lack of. they know it's o.k. to spike a phoenix spp. or a washingtonia with a "skirt" so these knuckleheads gaff-up: cocos, arecastrums, archontophoenix, and anything they can dig their hooks (probably from a flea market)into!

[/ QUOTE ]

Mike, could you please elaborate on this. I am very interested in what the physiological differences are between these palm species that changes their reaction to spike wounds. I know that some species have a thicker and harder cortex than others, but it seems like any heavy climber using long spikes would penetrate through the cortex of most palms I have worked on.

Why is it OK to spike a washingtonia but not a coconut?

Also just out of curiosity, where are you?

thanks
 
For what it's worth, spiking coconuts is considered socially acceptable here even within the arboricultural community. Noone has yet found an economically viable alternative to spiking them, and as people keep planting the darned things in crowded areas it appears that scarred coco trunks will be a common sight for decades to come.

It is rare to see most other palm species spiked here, partially because most folks don't pay as close attention to keeping other palm species cleaned up, since they don't pose the hazard that falling coconuts do. I've pruned a number of various palms using swiss tree climbers and rope climbing techniques, but I've spiked every single coconut that I've climbed.
 
[ QUOTE ]
/forum/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif[ QUOTE ]
i just hope the tree i cut the samples from will recover

[/ QUOTE ]/forum/images/graemlins/spinrhead.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

ha, i wondered when someone would pick up on that /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
/forum/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif[ QUOTE ]
i just hope the tree i cut the samples from will recover

[/ QUOTE ]/forum/images/graemlins/spinrhead.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

ha, i wondered when someone would pick up on that /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I noticed it too but I figured the spikes marks were from the part of the tree you 'topped out'. /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Great work and pics Steve.

Dan
 
Palms aside,

"sure somone could use the argument that "a" spike wound will heal, but mow many wounds does a tree have to sustain before the amount of damage becomes unacceptable? "

This is an excellent point. The amount of tree resources needed to codit each spike wound is considerable. These are resources the tree cannot use on other functions, so spiking may well initiate or at least contribute to a decline spiral.
 
[ QUOTE ]
most dictionary definitions of heal are something like mend, restore to health or soundness,recover,make sound,etc. Not explicitly or specifically wrong.

[/ QUOTE ]

Your definition is a good one.


By your definition, how does that apply to the damage in the pictures? Are the injuries restored to health or soundness, etc?

Webster's definition:

1 a : to make sound or whole <heal a wound> b : to restore to health
2 a : to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome : MEND <the troubles... had not been forgotten, but they had been healed -- William Power> b : to patch up (a breach or division) <heal a breach between friends>
3 : to restore to original purity or integrity <healed of sin>
intransitive senses : to return to a sound state
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
/forum/images/graemlins/hahaha.gif[ QUOTE ]
i just hope the tree i cut the samples from will recover

[/ QUOTE ]/forum/images/graemlins/spinrhead.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

ha, i wondered when someone would pick up on that /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I noticed it too but I figured the spikes marks were from the part of the tree you 'topped out'. /forum/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Great work and pics Steve.

Dan

[/ QUOTE ]

actually it was a take down.....the same tree that i posted pics of the roots in the ustulina thread
 
Hey Steve,
I was just kidding about the topping out.

I wonder if the whole tree may suffer an ever so slight reduction in vigor due to each spike gouge severing different parts of the tree's vascular system.


....or maybe the little spike gouges are like vaccinations and aid the tree in building immunity so it can withstand it's eventual topping out/forum/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

Great research you are doing there!

Dan
 
ha.....i did guess u were kidding.

i'll post the rest of the pics when i get the time...its quite interesting to see. you can even tell when the climber gaffs out on one of them
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New threads New posts

Kask Stihl NORTHEASTERN Arborists Wesspur TreeStuff.com Teufelberger Westminster X-Rigging Teufelberger
Back
Top Bottom