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How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

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Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#2
Monocots are pretty cool. Growing up in the Midwest, I was surrounded by corn, another monocot which is really just a tall grass. I used to imagine that a giant walking through a cornfield, tassels tickling his toes, wouldn't be all that different from me walking around the back yard on grass that had gone to seed.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#3
As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me...

1) Large palms are tough. As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart.

2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out of steel.

3) Palms produce a lot of debris. All summer long.

4) Fully developed Queen palm seed stalks are heavy. Maybe 50 lbs?

5) The Sears Tower is actually a 3x3 grid of individual towers, connected in a way that allows for lateral motion. This mimics a palm's trunk structure. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Tower#Planning_and_co...

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#4
post #3

As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me... 1) Large palms are tough . As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart. 2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out…

Have a couple of palms near the back yard fence and yeah would not want that debris to hit me on the head. From 10m high could be a KO!

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#5
post #3

As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me... 1) Large palms are tough . As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart. 2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out…

To save you the lookup: 50 lbs = ~22.5 kg

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#6
post #3

As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me... 1) Large palms are tough . As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart. 2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out…

2. dried fallen palm leaves are extremely dangerous, they are sharp as a knife. I was getting rid of some and it just touched my arm, I now have a 4" scar where it looks like I was trying to self harm.

3. I don't think so, my bamboo or cotton wood trees make so much more debris. At least with palms they are large debris and can easily be tossed.

One thing people don't realize is how much of a pain it is to cut leaves down. I have a chainsaw on a stick that works wonders vs those terrible curved saw things.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#8
post #3

As someone who recently moved to a part of the US with native palms, a few discoveries that surprised me... 1) Large palms are tough . As in, serious-work-to-pole-saw-through tough. They may looks wispy in the wind, but all of those components (leaves, fruit pods, fruit stalks, leaf shealths) are beyond the strength of an average human to simply pull (tension) apart. 2) Once dried, palm parts are effectively made out…

Have a couple of palms near the back yard fence and yeah would not want that debris to hit me on the head. From 10m high could be a KO!

I don't get it why cities plant palms along streets: they offer little or no shade and they drop enormous leaves that can hurt people or damage cars.

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#9

Monocots are pretty cool. Growing up in the Midwest, I was surrounded by corn, another monocot which is really just a tall grass. I used to imagine that a giant walking through a cornfield, tassels tickling his toes, wouldn't be all that different from me walking around the back yard on grass that had gone to seed.

That's a cool imagining :) Nice image :)

Re: How do palm trees survive hurricanes? (2017)

#10
Because they bend. During a storm they'll just go with the wind. One of the sickest, saddest sounds during a storm is when a pine or oak snaps. Oaks especially will creak and moan during a storm. Right before the wet snap of it breaking it will sometimes moan/creak loud as if it knows it's fate.
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