Kapok tree removed due to weather impacts
ANNA MARIA – A massive kapok tree transported and transplanted at a residential property in the 700 block of North Shore Drive in April 2024 was recently removed and replaced due the weather conditions it was exposed to during the storms and hurricanes that followed later that year.
The transplanted kapok tree was removed in early June and replaced with a bombax (“red kapok”) tree in early July.
Sarasota-based Michael A. Gilkey Inc. owner Michael Gilkey served as the landscape architect and landscape contractor for the initial Ross Built residential construction project and the recent tree replacement project.
When contacted last week, Gilkey discussed the string of natural events that led to the majestic tree’s demise.
“I am absolutely heartbroken,” he said. “The tree was so beautiful and it took a lot of effort to get it there. I take a lot of pride in the trust of my clients to bring them healthy material. We’ve planted trees that size and bigger and this is the first one I’ve lost; and it hurts.
“This tree had been prepped for 18 months for the move to get the storage of nutrients and sugars needed for this type of relocation. We installed the tree in April because we wanted to do it before the tree flushed. As it comes out of dormancy from the winter months in mid-April or so, it starts to put out new foliage. The timing of the installation was based around protecting the nutrient buildup in this tree.”
The weather impacts that followed were too much for the transplanted tree to survive.
“We had a weird storm in the middle of the summer. There was a lot of flooding and a good bit of wind. The tree had already flushed and it lost half its foliage in that mid-summer storm. Then we had the first hurricane of the year, Hurricane Debby, which wasn’t a direct hit to us, but we still had winds at 60-70 miles an hour. The tree had flushed back out and it lost its foliage again. When this happens, it’s depleting the nutrients and sugars because the foliage is not taking in the sunlight; and there are not enough roots in the ground to help it recoup that energy,” Gilkey explained.
“And then with Helene, we had several feet of saltwater inundation and there was so much water moving that the 12-foot buttress roots we attached to the tree were pushed and moved. The wind stripped the tree again and the saltwater burnt the roots. This tree is a fairly saltwater-tolerant tree, but after you go through multiple events of losing foliage, its resistance is lower each time.
“When Milton hit, it was the nail in the coffin. We lost power to the well. There was no water turned on in Anna Maria and we had no way to wash the salt off the tree; and it was very hot during the two weeks after Milton,” Gilkey said. “At that point, it was just too far gone. It’s hard to turn a tree that’s in decline, even a healthy tree with a robust root system. There was nothing we could do. It was ‘Mother Nature’ and the whole sequence was unfortunate.”
Gilkey said the removed kapok tree was 60-80 years old and the new bombax tree is approximately 15 years old.
“We replaced it with another variety of the same tree. The tree we planted is a massive tree on any other site, but as a replacement to the tree we had it looks miniscule. The new tree’s probably 35 feet tall and 15-18 feet wide. It’s a large tree but you can’t replace the stature of that tree we had there.”
