Can the ball of a Canary Palm fall to the ground?

Author: Eddie Rodriguez, ISA CERTIFIED ARBORIST #WC-3916 

Over a two-year period, I worked extensive with Canary Palms with the City of Beverly Hills.  It all started when a resident called in one day and said that somebody had thrown a bomb in her front yard and blew up her Canary Palm. She said that it sounded like thump, thump thump, thump thump thump thump! Boom!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ground shook.

I arrived at the house and found a small piece of the ball or pineapple had fallen from the Canary Palm. I was charged with the task to figure out a solution to the problem, as it was not only dangerous but was costing the city a lot of money in claims.   On the average, one Canary Palm ball was dropping each day. 

When we look at Canaries, we notice the one thing that distinctly makes them unique to other palms – and that is their ball or the pineapple. What started happening was these balls were starting to fall.  Now, imagine a ball 80-100 feet up - much higher than the ones here in Las Vegas, falling to the ground – sometimes piece-by-piece, then eventually, the whole thing.

It makes sense that they have the potential to do this, because where the boot of the canary is attached to the palm at the petiole, the structure is very thin. To give you an idea on how large the boot is on some of these palms, it’s about the size of a size of a man shoe (size 12) and weighs 5-8 pounds each! Now imagine how many of these boots make up one ball.  The point of attachment is approximately 1 ½ inches.  Besides the weak structure of the Canary Palm ball, there are a number of other reasons that make them susceptible to falling to the ground.

  

Wind is always a problem for anything that is high.   Rain causes the boots to swell up and become heavy.  Pests bore into the petioles and weaken the boots even more, and then there is also deterioration from age.

But, the biggest problem was the tremendous pressure and weight pushing down on the pineapple with all the other forces that I just mentioned.   To fix this problem, we need to relieve some of the forces causing the pineapple to fail. By reducing the weight, the height, and the width of the pineapple we can tremendously reduce the chances of failure. Please also note that shaping of the pineapple should be done by a professional experienced in crown-shaping and reconstruction. I do not recommend homeowners to this work on their own even if they think that it looks easy. In Southern Nevada, call us at First Choice Tree Service.

First Choice Tree Service in Las Vegas succeeds in hotel-top tree removal

Getting a palm tree off the top of a casino/resort in Las Vegas sounds like no easy feat, but sometimes it has to be done.  This is exactly what First Choice Tree Service of Las Vegas did at Red Rock Casino & Hotel earlier this month.  Since the resort opened in 2006, a trio of palm trees graced the deck of the penthouse level suite of the Las Vegas resort.  When one of them, an 18-ft tall palm, perished, it required removal.

The difficulties were only huge due to the height - approximately 300-400 feet to the ground below - as well as the distance to the edge of the building.  The palm was situated in a vaulted planter just 5 feet from the edge.  Often during tree removals, adjoining trees surrounding the one to be removed act as additional sources of support.  The crew was not able to leverage the support of a nearby tree in this case.

“This job was not too different from any job we do day-to-day at residential and commercial properties,” says Gene Cimorelli, executive vice president/general manager of First Choice Tree Service.  “All our jobs are hazardous; but this one just took place a little higher than most." 

And, while there are many ways to remove trees from tops of buildings, like a helicopter or a crane, the property opted for neither and went with the option to cut the palm tree into small sections and bring them down through the property's interior passageways.

An experienced removal crew of three men and a safety director was on site to assess the work and ensure safety procedures were followed.  "While we are sensitive to the hotel guests and to the everyday operations of a busy property, such as this casino resort, ultimately, our goal was to remove the palm tree safely," says Leon Pera, First Choice Tree's safety director. Replacement of the palm may possibly take place next spring.