Post #162740 by freddiefreelance on Wed, Jun 1, 2005 7:13 AM

If you look at the old trees in the pictures above the bark is still on them, but not on the new ones. Trees transfer water & nutrients through the xylem, the tissue just below the bark, and they'll die if it's cut all the way around. If there isn't a strip of bark running up ther back of the trees where we can't see it they should die, and where the bark's been removed the tree will be susceptable to bug & fungal infections.

But on the other hand, palm trees aren't trees at all but giant grass stalks. The xylem of grass isn't under it's bark but runs through it's center, so if the palm tree doesn't succumb to disease or infestation it might survive being debarked. Are there any horticulturalists or arborists on TC who might know the answer to this?