CV Lightning

Was there even a power surge at the north end of Berkshire and Camden last week? Master Gardener’s opinion is this West Drive palm was struck by lightning. Even tho condos and pines are higher! (+Remove palm it will not recover)

Dead Tree Removal

I got 4 estimates from licensed and insured tree services for complete removal of 5 dead orange trees. One estimate was less than ½ of the highest, lesson - call around.
Best price Jim’s Tree Service 561 603 4727, see Pennysaver. They did a superb job and cleanup. They have a radio controlled heavy equipment stump grinder, it is neat to see it trundle around by itself, the worker can stand in the shade with the controls.

Jim’s Tree Service (above) and David Mummert LLC 561-255-8025 both said they could reduce prices more if they serviced several associations’ trees at one time.
Note: I went to PBC PZ&B Landscaping no permit is required to remove dead/hazardous trees.

PENCIL TOP

'Pencil top' palm at Dover CV, see waistline on trunk, caused by previous excessive trimming. Now that is a dangerous palm in a hurricane, the whole head of the palm may snap off and become airborne.
The first major rule to pruning palms is to avoid pruning them at all. Palms are designed to shed their fronds on their own. Just because a palm frond is turning colors or maybe even browning does not mean that it is done contributing to the tree. The browning of fronds is a process called Trans location of Nutrients meaning that the palm is recycling the nutrients of the frond back into the heart of the palm itself. If you remove the fronds during this process then you weaken the palms defenses against molds and fungi.
If it is necessary to prune the Palm then a general rule is applied to palms that you should not cut fronds above a parallel line to the ground or the 9:00 to 3:00 o'clock rule. Cutting more than that is called a Hurricane Cut or a Candle Cut and is very damaging to the tree. If a hurricane cut is repeated over and over it will create a condition know as a "pencil top" which is the narrowing of the trunk just below the fronds. The name hurricane cut comes from the fact that during hurricane winds, the head of the palm may snap off where the thinning occurred and become airborne.
So there you have it plain and simple, keep the tropical look, just don't prune your Palms and they will be happy and healthy, and you will save money.
Thx to A Garden in Fort Pierce Blog

BUTCHERING PALM TREES PROHIBITED

The Photo. above is extracted from the PBC - ULDC (Unified Land Development Code), Article 7. Left click on it to supersize the Photo.

ref: http://www.pbcgov.com/PZB/uldc/articles/Article7.pdf

The text provides code on the proper method of trimming our Palms. The Palms in CV are being illegally butchered.

Thanks to Elaine for the tip and reference.

Dave Israel

Landscaping

I was not going to grumble this week but really! We are paying for landscaping. The plants around the clubhouse entrance are foliage plants selected for their variety of leaf shapes and shades of green. The walking irises were hacked and butchered. No more graceful leaves and seedpods – horrid, why? Dead leaves could be removed by hand although there were hardly any before the hacking.
Most of the coconuts were removed a couple of weeks ago, ostensibly to prevent them falling on your heads. However, some of the highest nuts were left, those that could actually hurt you or your windshield, eh! we don’t have a ladder for those. Photo Dover yesterday.
Haverhill entrance will look much better soon, then we can have an after pic.