kakegc
12-02-2008, 05:38 PM
Stabbed myself pretty badly in the right thumb joint with a date palm spike about 15 months ago. The Doc dug around in my thumb with a scalpel for about half hour looking for the end bit that had broken off inside my thumb, but alas............. he couldn't locate it! A bit about half the size of a match stick popped out about 8 weeks later, but I could still feel a hard lump in there. Well the jolly thing is finally pushing its way out of the other side of my thumb! This was the 2nd bad one I've had with date palm spikes, Karen pulled the other bugger out of my fingers with pliers (OUCH!)
Does anyone else prune these mongrels? If so, It think I've found a safer way to prune them with the pole-saw! Go around & chop off all the fronds that are coming off, but only chop off the bits that are soft with no spikes, leaving a spiky stubby bit behind. Pick the soft bits up & put them on the ute/trailer & then go back & chop the spiky bits off. BUT make sure you ALWAYS cut them from the top downwards so they fall straight down, rather than slide down the bloody pole as they would if you cut from the bottom up (do this with all branches you chop on other trees too, including the soft fronds you chop off the date palm) Only cut a few, then turn the pole-saw off & pick em up by a spike & put them in a safe place on the ute. Then repeat till they're all done! It's probably common sense but it sure made pruning date palms much more enjoyable for me! Even so, I NEVER relax around these mongrels!) ;)
Does anyone else prune these mongrels? If so, It think I've found a safer way to prune them with the pole-saw! Go around & chop off all the fronds that are coming off, but only chop off the bits that are soft with no spikes, leaving a spiky stubby bit behind. Pick the soft bits up & put them on the ute/trailer & then go back & chop the spiky bits off. BUT make sure you ALWAYS cut them from the top downwards so they fall straight down, rather than slide down the bloody pole as they would if you cut from the bottom up (do this with all branches you chop on other trees too, including the soft fronds you chop off the date palm) Only cut a few, then turn the pole-saw off & pick em up by a spike & put them in a safe place on the ute. Then repeat till they're all done! It's probably common sense but it sure made pruning date palms much more enjoyable for me! Even so, I NEVER relax around these mongrels!) ;)