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Posted by Not@home on March 5, 2009, 2:45 pm
My son lives in San Diego and asked my advice on removing the stump of a
palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a
suitcase, including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a
strong knife (my big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase). Three TSA
inspectors had heart attacks, apparently thinking they had caught a
terrorist, but finally everything got to San Diego. I've broken out a
few hardwood and softwood stumps with those tools, but had very little
success with this palm tree. Most of the stump is reedy and very tough,
and even dulled my knife. On the farm, dynamite was handy, but I wasn't
sure they would allow it in San Diego. I even thought of burning it
where it had dried, but I quit smoking and didn't have any matches, and
they have so much trouble with wildfires out there I didn't want to risk
causing more heart attacks. Not to malign the people of California, but
all their back yards are fenced, with no gate big enough to bring in
even a small bobcat, and I was too lazy to take down the damn fence for
that, so the stump is still there. I didn't want to try a chain saw in
the confines of the pit around the stump, for safety reasons. This
stump looks too tough to decompose.
So what would be the best way to remove it, assuming I ever go back
there again?
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Posted by Sanity on March 5, 2009, 2:48 pm
> My son lives in San Diego and asked my advice on removing the stump of a
> palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a suitcase,
> including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a strong knife (my
> big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase). Three TSA inspectors had heart
> attacks, apparently thinking they had caught a terrorist, but finally
> everything got to San Diego. I've broken out a few hardwood and softwood
> stumps with those tools, but had very little success with this palm tree.
> Most of the stump is reedy and very tough, and even dulled my knife. On
> the farm, dynamite was handy, but I wasn't sure they would allow it in San
> Diego. I even thought of burning it where it had dried, but I quit
> smoking and didn't have any matches, and they have so much trouble with
> wildfires out there I didn't want to risk causing more heart attacks. Not
> to malign the people of California, but all their back yards are fenced,
> with no gate big enough to bring in even a small bobcat, and I was too
> lazy to take down the damn fence for that, so the stump is still there. I
> didn't want to try a chain saw in the confines of the pit around the
> stump, for safety reasons. This stump looks too tough to decompose.
> So what would be the best way to remove it, assuming I ever go back there
> again?
If it's anything like a King Palm from Florida, the base is a round ball.
Depending on the height of the tree the base widens I had 40 footers when
I lived there and the ball was 5 feet in diameter. The way they pulled them
out was digging a trench around the circumfirence of the ball then using
heavy equipment to lift the ball.
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Posted by norminn@earthlink.net on March 5, 2009, 3:18 pm
Not@home wrote:
> My son lives in San Diego and asked my advice on removing the stump of a
> palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a
> suitcase, including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a
> strong knife (my big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase). Three TSA
> inspectors had heart attacks, apparently thinking they had caught a
> terrorist, but finally everything got to San Diego. I've broken out a
> few hardwood and softwood stumps with those tools, but had very little
> success with this palm tree. Most of the stump is reedy and very tough,
> and even dulled my knife. On the farm, dynamite was handy, but I wasn't
> sure they would allow it in San Diego. I even thought of burning it
> where it had dried, but I quit smoking and didn't have any matches, and
> they have so much trouble with wildfires out there I didn't want to risk
> causing more heart attacks. Not to malign the people of California, but
> all their back yards are fenced, with no gate big enough to bring in
> even a small bobcat, and I was too lazy to take down the damn fence for
> that, so the stump is still there. I didn't want to try a chain saw in
> the confines of the pit around the stump, for safety reasons. This
> stump looks too tough to decompose.
>
> So what would be the best way to remove it, assuming I ever go back
> there again?
The best way may not be legal :o) We had a palm stump in our condo yard
that showed me how tough they are .. they are like a tightly wound ball
of twine. No saw or knife would do signifcant damage, so we decided
burning was "it". Now, a ball of string soaks up (and holds forever?) a
lot of water. Well, oil and water don't mix but alcohol and water do.
Just soak it, wait a while, light it...we got rid of enough of our stump
that we were able to cover the remains with soil. I would not suggest
that anyone do this if burning isn't allowed or if conditions are not
perfect. It makes the day more interesting if you pour more alcohol on
the stump while it is still smoldering; be sure to toss the can far
enough that it can't burn anything else in the yard, the house or your
helper :o) Fire extinguisher and water hose important to this project :o)
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Posted by metspitzer on March 5, 2009, 4:06 pm
On Thu, 05 Mar 2009 15:18:01 -0500, "norminn@earthlink.net"
>Not@home wrote:
>> My son lives in San Diego and asked my advice on removing the stump of a
>> palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a
>> suitcase, including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a
>> strong knife (my big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase). Three TSA
>> inspectors had heart attacks, apparently thinking they had caught a
>> terrorist, but finally everything got to San Diego. I've broken out a
>> few hardwood and softwood stumps with those tools, but had very little
>> success with this palm tree. Most of the stump is reedy and very tough,
>> and even dulled my knife. On the farm, dynamite was handy, but I wasn't
>> sure they would allow it in San Diego. I even thought of burning it
>> where it had dried, but I quit smoking and didn't have any matches, and
>> they have so much trouble with wildfires out there I didn't want to risk
>> causing more heart attacks. Not to malign the people of California, but
>> all their back yards are fenced, with no gate big enough to bring in
>> even a small bobcat, and I was too lazy to take down the damn fence for
>> that, so the stump is still there. I didn't want to try a chain saw in
>> the confines of the pit around the stump, for safety reasons. This
>> stump looks too tough to decompose.
>>
>> So what would be the best way to remove it, assuming I ever go back
>> there again?
>The best way may not be legal :o) We had a palm stump in our condo yard
>that showed me how tough they are .. they are like a tightly wound ball
>of twine. No saw or knife would do signifcant damage, so we decided
>burning was "it". Now, a ball of string soaks up (and holds forever?) a
>lot of water. Well, oil and water don't mix but alcohol and water do.
>Just soak it, wait a while, light it...we got rid of enough of our stump
>that we were able to cover the remains with soil. I would not suggest
>that anyone do this if burning isn't allowed or if conditions are not
>perfect. It makes the day more interesting if you pour more alcohol on
>the stump while it is still smoldering; be sure to toss the can far
>enough that it can't burn anything else in the yard, the house or your
>helper :o) Fire extinguisher and water hose important to this project :o)
Get some video. :)
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Posted by metspitzer on March 5, 2009, 4:04 pm
>My son lives in San Diego and asked my advice on removing the stump of a
>palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a
>suitcase, including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a
>strong knife (my big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase).
Yeah, I am sure he thought he had one of those Vikings from the
Capital One TV commercials.
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> palm tree. So on our last visit, I piled some of my tools in a suitcase,
> including a hatchet, steel wedges, a small sledge, and a strong knife (my
> big ax wouldn't fit in the suitcase). Three TSA inspectors had heart
> attacks, apparently thinking they had caught a terrorist, but finally
> everything got to San Diego. I've broken out a few hardwood and softwood
> stumps with those tools, but had very little success with this palm tree.
> Most of the stump is reedy and very tough, and even dulled my knife. On
> the farm, dynamite was handy, but I wasn't sure they would allow it in San
> Diego. I even thought of burning it where it had dried, but I quit
> smoking and didn't have any matches, and they have so much trouble with
> wildfires out there I didn't want to risk causing more heart attacks. Not
> to malign the people of California, but all their back yards are fenced,
> with no gate big enough to bring in even a small bobcat, and I was too
> lazy to take down the damn fence for that, so the stump is still there. I
> didn't want to try a chain saw in the confines of the pit around the
> stump, for safety reasons. This stump looks too tough to decompose.
> So what would be the best way to remove it, assuming I ever go back there
> again?