Visiting Maureen Murphy and her company: horticultural consultants international on Kauai
On January 11th, I had the opportunity to attend Evan Desmarias and Albert Rincon at their work. The job was to cultivate some coconut palms. Thereby dead, dying, broken and old leaves and also flowers and fruits are getting removed to prevent damages caused by their fall.
For the climb Evan uses the LoneWolf, which was originally developed as a high seat for hunting but is also suitable for a fast climb on the smooth stems when pruning a palm. In addition, the platform provides a safe stand at work and is, contrary to tree spikes, largely injury-free. This was a completely new experience for me.
Here is a guide for pruning coconut palms.
HANG LOOSE
In contrast to trees, palms are monocotyledons so they have no cambium. The injuries caused by climbing spikes can not be covered and remain permanently visible.
Coconut palm before pruning, clearly visible the drooping old and dead leaves and the large fruits.
Christopher Busch