What would you do with this tree?

[BrettS]

I have a palm tree that is right next to my house that is causing a shading issue. It looks like as the sun is getting lower in the sky as it gets closer to winter it’s affecting more and more panels. Here’s what it looks like right now:

If you look at my per panel production numbers for the last month you can see it’s definitely having an impact on my production (The tree is in the bottom corner)

On a somewhat related note, I have been told that it’s not in an ideal location as far as being so close to the house. I guess their is a concern that the roots could affect the house’s foundation as it grows.

I would hate to remove the tree, but I also hate seeing the impact to my production.

What do you think? Keep the tree and deal with the loss of production or remove it?

 

[MJ_CA_2019]

Personally I'd take it down and find another location on my property to plan a new tree.

 

[getakey]

In CA, you have to jump through hoops to get a tree removed

 

[brkaus]

Do you have micro-inverters or optimizers? Never mind: it would only report per panel if you did. So you must.

pluck the leaves? (A good trim may reduce the shading)

 

[k-mal_808]

It's definitely close enough to the house that I would be concerned about the roots causing foundation issues. That + the shading is reason enough imo for it to go bye bye. Do you have other palms on the property? I agree with what MJ said, remove it and plant a new palm in a different location that is further from the house and does not impact the panels production. I had the same problem with a group of palms and had to take them down. Foundation, not shading. This was pre-solar. I planted some banana and papaya in their place.

 

[JohnRatsey]

A tree that close could also do some damage if it gets blown over. I would remove it and replant something at a safer distance which also won't upset the solar production once it has grown.

 

[bmah]

In CA, you have to jump through hoops to get a tree removed

Depends on what kind of tree. Never heard of hoop jumping for a palm tree!

Anyways, OP isn't in California. I agree with the others upthread who said get rid of it.

Bruce.

 

[holeydonut]

You lucky SOB's get to say "remove the tree" or "replant the tree" as if doing so doesn't come at the cost of giving up your first born or left arm.

 

[CrazyRabbit]

chain saw... production and possible damage to foundation.

at minimum you need to trim off the lower branches, looks like you have not been maintaining the palm tree the way it should be....

 

[mnsweeps]

I would just rent this for a few hours

 

[Redhill_qik]

Personally, I hate palm trees, but they became a defacto must have in California even though they aren't native. The wood isn't good for anything, they can harbor colonies of rats, and are a maintenance issue.

I especially hate ones that grow to insane heights, which your's looks like, as they shed their palm branches in high winds creating safety issues. Palm tree roots don't typically go that far, so your foundation is likely safe, but I would get rid of it if you can for better production, reducing annual maintenance and eliminating a safety risk as it grows taller.

 

[BGbreeder]

+1 on removing it, or at least relocating it. It does look in good health, but it also needs trimming, in my opinion. Too many things like to nest in the old fronds. Palm trees have no roots to speak of, so the risk is really dropping fronds or the tree falling on the house.

You have lots of nice panels, and I wouldn't take any bets on how well they would do with the impact from a frond dropping on them.

Personally, I wouldn't want one on my property in a hurricane area. It will only get taller, and more likely to do damage.

All the best,

BG

 

[zƬesla]

We have several pine trees that cause fall-winter shading on our panels. Can't bring myself to cut them but may feel differently once I see how we do annually. It does hurt to look at the daily/weekly #s right now though.

Glad to take the palm tree though. Would give a beachy feel and contrast nicely with the snow for the short amount of time it would survive.

 

[charlesj]

Two options.
Do nothing and live with the consequences of storm damage from those falling on house, later on foundation issues perhaps.
Or, move it far enough that shadow misses house?

 

[SMAlset]

Palm owner and lover here and palm roots aren’t likely going to be a problem. They pretty much are more of a big ball close to the trunk. And they are not like the typical hardened tree roots that break apart concrete and underground plumbing. Palms are related to the grass family. Palms are used in fact for areas that have limited bed space and can be planted close to walkways and such.

The issue as I see it with your palm, is that a queen?, is more the shading and debris from seeds and any frond issues or diseases like F. wilt weakening the trunk at some point. The fronds, spathes and even the ripening inflorescence are amazingly weighty. Don’t know what you are doing about maintenance. The fronds that are hanging downward can be removed at this point and that might help with some of the shading issue. I’m guessing the palm helps shade the window near it.

If your palm is a queen they are pretty prolific with seeds, so I’d guess I’d be more concerned about any palm debris hitting and damaging the panels. We try to have our inflorescence removed before it goes to seed due to the weight as the seed mature (we have 3 mule palms near our house but no queens). Our mules are planted further from our two story house than your palm looks to be and we might at some point have to trim back the canopy on the house side.

If the palm is a queen palm they are pretty much generic and everywhere and not worth someone digging out, so of little value to any palm grower. They tend to grow fast as well. If trimming helps and you want to keep it to see how that goes, maybe put off but otherwise have it taken out and replant one further from the house. Queens can get up to 40 feet or more so consider any future placement as far as casting shadows as well as canopy width. Other varieties might be a better fit near the house. Florida does have guides as to which palms do well in hurricanes so you might look into that as well. A number of palms do well in high winds though so unless diseased or hit by lightning I wouldn’t worry too much on them falling over when established and their canopies pruned routinely.

 

[SMAlset]

BTW some palms are self cleaning and will drop their fronds and boots. Our mules (which are a cross between a butia and queen) do not and they need to be pruned off, so the risk of the frond or even the spathes falling off the tree and crashing below is probably negligent. The skill of who is doing the pruning will play into anything that might fall on the roof. Our worse issue with our mules is the falling seeds if we don’t remove them early; and then for us it’s just seed debris on patio surface being as the trunk is far enough away from the house and the seeds will fall with in a few feet of the trunk. If you've lived at your home for a while you likely know what to expect from yours.

 

[SMAlset]

@BrettS another question for you is will the production loss on a panel or two for part of the afternoon make a huge difference in your house usage? Suppose that depends on heat and A/C usage at that time of year and whether you are feeding back into the grid and at what price and over how many hours.

 

[SMAlset]

We have several pine trees that cause fall-winter shading on our panels. Can't bring myself to cut them but may feel differently once I see how we do annually. It does hurt to look at the daily/weekly #s right now though.

Glad to take the palm tree though. Would give a beachy feel and contrast nicely with the snow for the short amount of time it would survive.

As for pine trees, I wouldn’t want pine sap falling on my panels and hardening on them. Picture the difficulty getting that off your car when you park under one. The pines out in my area can also produce copious amounts of pine needle litter at certain times of the year, and sometimes you’ll see the wind blow piles of it on the roads. Not gutter friendly even with gutter covers. One other caution, some of those pine cones can be quite heavy missiles... there’s a Los Gatos, CA Supercharger thread where one Tesla owner had one crack his car’s glass roof and he wasn’t the only car owner affected by the Superchargers being placed alongside a row of pines.

 

[jboy210]

In CA, you have to jump through hoops to get a tree removed

Depends were in California. In some cities, like mine, it takes a lot. In a city, 10 miles away in the same county they just say "there the chain saw, have fun". But, aren't some palm trees expensive enough that people go to the desert and steal desert palms?

 

[getakey]

Wonder if you could put Rain-X on the panels to help keep them clean