Royal Palm SRT style

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I use the APTA from treestuff.com to set the line. When shooting I aim for the centre of the crown. When that's accomplished I know for sure the line is secure. I plan to get a drone in the near future to help with the trickier ones.
 
That Rope Runner looks slick for palm cleaning. My coworkers still use DRT for palms, but I'm preferring SRT now after getting my rope stuck in a tall kentia and having to reclimb via SRT anyhow. SRT doesn't get as wedged in between the leaves since the rope is stationary.
 
I sure hate to see that saw come out without a second tie in.
5ce8.jpg
 
+1 on the comments RE 2nd tie in. To be honest, I've never had a client ask us not to spike a cocos/bangalow/queen palm etc, and if they did I'd probably just not take the job. There might be a call for it in resort areas. Fair enough on a cocos, but sketchy on a bangalow and I know one guy who got injured doing the SRT thing up one. You dont see cocos in resort areas anyway. I'll generally use a 21' ladder so the spike marks are well above eye height and then spike up the back/least visible side of the tree.

I do use this SRT technique on phoenix, not out of any consideration for the tree but just purely because they're so awful to climb on spikes. The trunk is so crumbly you can't get a decent set most times, and once you reach the crown which can be enormous, theres no easy way to enter it. I SRT up, then get a flipline wrapped round a few fronds and start accessing, working up. People hit them hard and often will want them lifted by as many as 1 dozen fronds in height, full wrap. I've taken close on a tonne of fronds out of a single phoenix at times. I'll work up till I reach the desired height, then using the tail of my line plus my flipline (3 tie ins), work around the tree.

Since the heads are so large you need 3 tie ins. The SRT base tie becomes useless once you're more than a quarter around the head, so you'll be hanging off either a second line or a flipline, and advance in that way, taking out the previous line and advancing it past the current one giving you 2 working tie ins plus a backup (SRT). I'll work right round till I get to the other side where the base tie off is going back down, then head back and work around the other way. To be efficient you must do the full height raise in a single pass, and make neat cuts so you dont need to go back and tidy it again. People often want to prune them aggressively because they're a habitat for a nuisance bird here.

Was trying to find some pics but only have this one which is a small phoenix height wise, but gives some idea of how heavily people want to prune them. They get 3-4 times this height and nearly double the head size.

IMG_1673.JPG
IMG_1675.JPG

The other situation I use the same technique is for washingtonias. Again, not so much out of sympathy for the tree but to make the climb easier and reduce the suffocation risk should the canopy collapse.
 
+1 on the comments RE 2nd tie in. To be honest, I've never had a client ask us not to spike a cocos/bangalow/queen palm etc, and if they did I'd probably just not take the job. There might be a call for it in resort areas. Fair enough on a cocos, but sketchy on a bangalow and I know one guy who got injured doing the SRT thing up one. Yo
+1 on the comments RE 2nd tie in. To be honest, I've never had a client ask us not to spike a cocos/bangalow/queen palm etc, and if they did I'd probably just not take the job. There might be a call for it in resort areas. Fair enough on a cocos, but sketchy on a bangalow and I know one guy who got injured doing the SRT thing up one. You dont see cocos in resort areas anyway. I'll generally use a 21' ladder so the spike marks are well above eye height and then spike up the back/least visible side of the tree.

I do use this SRT technique on phoenix, not out of any consideration for the tree but just purely because they're so awful to climb on spikes. The trunk is so crumbly you can't get a decent set most times, and once you reach the crown which can be enormous, theres no easy way to enter it. I SRT up, then get a flipline wrapped round a few fronds and start accessing, working up. People hit them hard and often will want them lifted by as many as 1 dozen fronds in height, full wrap. I've taken close on a tonne of fronds out of a single phoenix at times. I'll work up till I reach the desired height, then using the tail of my line plus my flipline (3 tie ins), work around the tree.

Since the heads are so large you need 3 tie ins. The SRT base tie becomes useless once you're more than a quarter around the head, so you'll be hanging off either a second line or a flipline, and advance in that way, taking out the previous line and advancing it past the current one giving you 2 working tie ins plus a backup (SRT). I'll work right round till I get to the other side where the base tie off is going back down, then head back and work around the other way. To be efficient you must do the full height raise in a single pass, and make neat cuts so you dont need to go back and tidy it again. People often want to prune them aggressively because they're a habitat for a nuisance bird here.

Was trying to find some pics but only have this one which is a small phoenix height wise, but gives some idea of how heavily people want to prune them. They get 3-4 times this height and nearly double the head size.

View attachment 423979
View attachment 423980

The other situation I use the same technique is for washingtonias. Again, not so much out of sympathy for the tree but to make the climb easier and reduce the suffocation risk should the canopy collapse.

u dont see cocos in resort areas anyway. I'll generally use a 21' ladder so the spike marks are well above eye height and then spike up the back/least visible side of the tree.

I do use this SRT technique on phoenix, not out of any consideration for the tree but just purely because they're so awful to climb on spikes. The trunk is so crumbly you can't get a decent set most times, and once you reach the crown which can be enormous, theres no easy way to enter it. I SRT up, then get a flipline wrapped round a few fronds and start accessing, working up. People hit them hard and often will want them lifted by as many as 1 dozen fronds in height, full wrap. I've taken close on a tonne of fronds out of a single phoenix at times. I'll work up till I reach the desired height, then using the tail of my line plus my flipline (3 tie ins), work around the tree.

Since the heads are so large you need 3 tie ins. The SRT base tie becomes useless once you're more than a quarter around the head, so you'll be hanging off either a second line or a flipline, and advance in that way, taking out the previous line and advancing it past the current one giving you 2 working tie ins plus a backup (SRT). I'll work right round till I get to the other side where the base tie off is going back down, then head back and work around the other way. To be efficient you must do the full height raise in a single pass, and make neat cuts so you dont need to go back and tidy it again. People often want to prune them aggressively because they're a habitat for a nuisance bird here.

Was trying to find some pics but only have this one which is a small phoenix height wise, but gives some idea of how heavily people want to prune them. They get 3-4 times this height and nearly double the head size.

View attachment 423979
View attachment 423980

The other situation I use the same technique is for washingtonias. Again, not so much out of sympathy for the tree but to make the climb easier and reduce the suffocation risk should the canopy collapse.
I sure hate to see that saw come out without a second tie in.
5ce8.jpg
Are you just someone's echo?
 
+1 on the comments RE 2nd tie in. To be honest, I've never had a client ask us not to spike a cocos/bangalow/queen palm etc, and if they did I'd probably just not take the job. There might be a call for it in resort areas. Fair enough on a cocos, but sketchy on a bangalow and I know one guy who got injured doing the SRT thing up one. You dont see cocos in resort areas anyway. I'll generally use a 21' ladder so the spike marks are well above eye height and then spike up the back/least visible side of the tree.

I do use this SRT technique on phoenix, not out of any consideration for the tree but just purely because they're so awful to climb on spikes. The trunk is so crumbly you can't get a decent set most times, and once you reach the crown which can be enormous, theres no easy way to enter it. I SRT up, then get a flipline wrapped round a few fronds and start accessing, working up. People hit them hard and often will want them lifted by as many as 1 dozen fronds in height, full wrap. I've taken close on a tonne of fronds out of a single phoenix at times. I'll work up till I reach the desired height, then using the tail of my line plus my flipline (3 tie ins), work around the tree.

Since the heads are so large you need 3 tie ins. The SRT base tie becomes useless once you're more than a quarter around the head, so you'll be hanging off either a second line or a flipline, and advance in that way, taking out the previous line and advancing it past the current one giving you 2 working tie ins plus a backup (SRT). I'll work right round till I get to the other side where the base tie off is going back down, then head back and work around the other way. To be efficient you must do the full height raise in a single pass, and make neat cuts so you dont need to go back and tidy it again. People often want to prune them aggressively because they're a habitat for a nuisance bird here.

Was trying to find some pics but only have this one which is a small phoenix height wise, but gives some idea of how heavily people want to prune them. They get 3-4 times this height and nearly double the head size.

View attachment 423979
View attachment 423980

The other situation I use the same technique is for washingtonias. Again, not so much out of sympathy for the tree but to make the climb easier and reduce the suffocation risk should the canopy collapse.
Awesome job
 
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