Ron

I have up righted a few shallow rooted trees, which completely went over and had half of its roots sticking vertically up in the air, and had to use a tractor to pull them up right. When I have, everything more or less just flops back into place. These were not palms though, so I was able to cut them back severely, to help them regroup. You might think about cutting a lot of the lower fronds off to lessen wind resistance.

Palms are often transplanted, I would just make sure the palm was back up right and keep secure until it can re-root and the soil can compact and dry out.

It was good you covered the roots, you don't want them exposed to future frosts. Except for up righting the palms and placing some extra dirt, I don't know how you can do much more. Unless you dug the entire tree up and replanted it a little deeper into the soil.

Is your soil heavy, or does it not drain very well? If not, you might think of a way to drain off water better, or if it is under the surface, drill shallow dry wells to drain your sub soil better.

I wonder if pouring a concrete donut around the palm, but away from the trunk aways, would not help, if it continues to lean with each windy storm.

Usually palms are better rooted and more sure footed then to get blown over by only a 55 mph wind.

David

The above followup was added by David, Waterford CA, zone9 on December 29, 2003 at 8:58 pm PST.

David- Thanks for the response. I have a landscaping buddy coming tomorrow. I'll get some more feedback tomorrow. The thing was leaning and was not a pleasant sight. I think it is salvageable. It is now a big tree...was only about a four footer four yrs ago--now close to 15 ft. The soil is pretty good..maybe it wasn't planted deeply enough. All my other palms were completely unaffected by the wind.

The above followup was added by ron on December 30, 2003 at 10:38 pm PST.

Ron

A last thought about your leaning Queen Palm, have you had a gopher in the area in the last year or so, they could of done some damage, and it just took the right amount of wind and wet soft soil?

It is amazing how fast they can grow. I am always taken back by Jeff's trees, or now just the one.

I started some from seed, from Jeff's tree, and many of them suffered being in small pots, as I have not had the money to upgrade them as fast as I had hoped.

The ones which did the best, I had planted in 9 inch long pieces of 4 inch diameter white pvc pipe. I planted those early this past summer and they quadrupled in size. They are still really small compared to even the smallest ones you can buy at the nurseries, but I don't think it is going to take them long to get some size on them

David

The above followup was added by David, Waterford CA, zone9 on December 31, 2003 at 12:07 am PST.