Italian Cypress Trees

Discussion in 'Gymnosperms (incl. Conifers)' started by Bob M, Dec 18, 2008.

  1. Bob M

    Bob M Member

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    Location:
    Thousand Oaks, Ventura Cty, CA
    The Home Owners Assocation that we live in, will not allow us to plant Italian Cypress trees. They claim that they are a fire hazard. Does anyone know if the Cypress is anyway more likely to burn than any other tree? We have many Oak, Berch & Palm Trees in the area.
    Thank you,
    Bob
     
    Bob M, Dec 18, 2008
    #1
  2. Ron B

    Ron B Paragon of Plants 10 Years

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    Many kinds of conifers reproduce after fire and may be prone to becoming torches under the right conditions.
     
    Ron B, Dec 18, 2008
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  3. Mister Blum

    Mister Blum Member

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    monterey, california
    Cypress has very high sap content and burns very hot as a firewood. I grow and plant Monterey Cypresses here in Monterey. The Italian Cypress would act like a torch putting embers up into the atmosphere to be possibly blown onto someones roof.

    I'm a former CDF Firefighter.
     
    Mister Blum, Dec 20, 2008
    #3
  4. alex66

    alex66 Rising Contributor Maple Society 10 Years

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    palm tree fired easy too ..have a good % of "oil "in leaves ,branch
    in kitchen use palm oil...
     
    alex66, Dec 20, 2008
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  5. M. D. Vaden

    M. D. Vaden Active Member 10 Years

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    This topic is amusing sometimes.


    It was barely two weeks ago that I added to YOUTUBE, my video of a mythbusting experiment. The video shows a basic test burning of foliage:

    SEE:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IsTa0dgGtc

    With myth and fact coming from both volunteer firefighters and homeowners, there seemed only one way to know for sure - test the foliage for starters.

    Entire plants will be different. And the Italian Cypress you mentioned does store dead foliage inside, which would probably be flammable no matter what the living tissue was like.

    The majority of needle bearing evergreens that store dense dead foliage are likely to be flammable. I don't plant them next to buildings, but do plant them away from buildings.
     
    M. D. Vaden, Dec 28, 2008
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  6. Mister Blum

    Mister Blum Member

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    Mister Blum, Dec 28, 2008
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