How and Why To Cut Down a King Palm Tree

The King Palm or Archonto-Phoenix Palmae is native to the Australian Rain Forests and are called Bungalow Palms or Picabeen Palms in that country. They can grow up to 50 feet tall with a 10 to 15 foot branch spread. Mature King Palms are difficult to transplant successfully and should be planted away from structures to keep from damaging exterior walls, chimneys or roof lines. The King Palms are a great place for rats to nest. These varmints can gain access to attics via roof vents by climbing up the trunks and following the long branches out to the roof ridges.

Hire a licensed tree trimmer if a King Palm is located in close proximity to your home or cannot be trimmed with a Fiskars tree trimmer while standing safely on the ground

Depending on how tall the King Palm is it may be a safety hazard to attempt to climb and cut down a King Palm without the proper safety equipment or cutting tools. Local tree trimmers generally wear cleated boots to climb the palm trunks. They will typically wear safety goggles and helmets when cutting down palms. King palms have a very small center root or water source and, when cut with a chainsaw, they cut easily, smoothly and very quickly, like a knife being drawn through a stick of butter.

Removal of palm branches is the first step

Once all of the branches have been safely cut and lowered to the ground by the tree trimming team, the tree trimmer continues to secure himself to the tree with a harness and will start at the top of the trunk cutting the tree to the ground in approximately 2 foot sections. Each section will be lowered by ropes to the crew on the ground. After a section is cut down and lowered the trimmer will readjust his harness and slowly and methodically lower himself, cut the next 2 foot section, lowering that section before continuing to work his way to the ground.

Mechanical Bark Shredders are used to shred the palm branches before taking to a landfill

Palm branches and trunks are not considered a useful mulch product since they decompose so rapidly so they need to be deposited in our landfills. It is preferred to shred the branches with their leaves still attached at the site of removal from the tree. This speeds up the organic deterioration once the shredded palms reach the landfill. To prevent injury to the workers while running the shredder or mulching machinery, the trimming crew will continue to wear their helmets and goggles to protect themselves from flying debris during the shredding process. They will also wear heavy leather gloves and most likely ear plugs. The gloves protect their hands from injury from the long stickers on the palm branches and the ear plugs assist in deafening the noise of the shredder. The trunk pieces will deteriorate quickly when open to the air in the landfill.

Most often a tree trimmer will shear the King Palm level with the ground as a final cut. The remaining root and trunk in the ground typically deteriorate quickly within a season without the need to have the trunk ground out.