Arborists at Work

Having seventy acres of land and tropical growth and not being consumed by its vigorous growth requires upkeep. the monks can do a lot of the maintenance, but for the biggest projects it is safer to bring in professionals with the right equipment. For about eight days JP Tree Services came to trim and clear. First they worked at the Pillaiyar Kulam, trimming back large limbs high up that were growing into the high electric lines—a potential danger. They also removed a banyan tree from the parking lot.

Then they moved on to buck up a fallen weed tree (a big one), take out a Rudraksha that was too close to the road, and then trimmed dead fronds from our giant Talipot Palms. Thanks to Jessie and his hard-working team of tree experts. Siva's Sacred Playgrounds never looked better!

The Rudraksha tree is their first task. They will save the straight trunk and branches for future wood working projects. It\

s an easy wood to cut and work with, very \"creamy.\"'

When the 80-pound fronds (the largest in the plant kingdom) are trimmed, they use a mini-excavator to push them into the chipper.

Guiding the path the tree will fall toward.

It\

s heavy work. '

His face says it all!

Those logs will be stored to be milled later.

The chipper can handle up to 18\" in diameter. Powerful.

Their cherry-picker allows them to work high with great control.

Giant palms create giant amounts of dead fronds.

He can lift 4-5 of the heavy fronds at once. Which is good, because they have an incredible serrated edge that can injure.

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They also cleared this other palm, Corypha utan

[twenty20 img1="894497" img2="894498" offset="0.5" before="They also cleared this other palm, Corypha utan"]