These palm tree trimming techniques will keep your plant life succulent , goodish , and postcard - perfect .
Kameleon007 / Getty Images
Palm treesare iconic symbols of the good life . The mere view of these swaying tropic plants make you want to hum “ Margaritaville ” and integrate up a rum drink . To keep your medal postcard - perfect , you need to learn the right palm Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree trimming proficiency .
Credit:Kameleon007 / Getty Images
Unlike mosttrees and shrub , pruningfronds from a palm wo n’t encourage outgrowth . medal Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree trim is mostly done for esthetic design . One of the openhanded mistakes people make with decoration Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree is over - rationalize them . The following summit from an expert will avail you avoid ruining your trees .
Tia Silvasy is an Orlando - free-base propagation agent with the University of Florida .
Only dispatch fronds that hang below the imaginary horizontal line at 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock positions , Silvasy says . This is a clock case extension , for those of you who are n’t accustomed to analog timepieces . It stand for do n’t cut back any fronds that would be within the nine and three on a clock . “ A aright pruned palm tree is full and has a rounded top that ’s shaped like a semi - circle , ” Silvasy says . “ Do n’t snub your medallion to face like it has a mohawk haircut . ”
2. Do Not Prune Healthy Fronds
Leave healthy green frond alone . Palms need their leaves to make solid food via photosynthesis . palm tree contain more nutrients in their leaves than other plants , Silvasy tell , and they have a alone power to reuse nutrients . “ Palms can wet-nurse food out of their lower leave to prey new folio at the top of the tree , ” she aver . cut off too many folio will strip the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree of alimentation and break it , make it vulnerable to wind , dirt ball , andplant disease .
3. Leave Enough Leaves
Some citizenry believe trimming a peck of frond from a thenar will avail it stand up to high winds . improper , Silvasy says . “ More fronds on a thenar help it stand up up to wind , ” she pronounce . “ The University of Florida has done wind study simulating how medal abide up to 100 mph farting , and we ’ve feel more leaves protect the decoration . They make the tree stronger and better able to deflect in the wind . ” medal that areregularly over - prunedcan develop narrow , weakened trunks that are more likely to rupture in gamey wind .
4. Remove Dead Fruit and Flower Stalks
Pruning fruit and flower stalks free up energy for more frond production . And fronds are the grounds most of us grow palms . Some the great unwashed snip off those stubble while they ’re still alive and full of fruit because they can make a mess when yield return on sidewalk and yards .
5. Only Prune Dead, Dying, or Heavily Damaged Fronds
Cut off frondsdamaged in a freezeor broken in a violent storm . How damaged is heavily damaged ? “ A worldwide formula of thumb is 50 % or more of the palm foliage should be brown before you rationalize it , ” Silvasy says . Prune frond that have pop off naturally , too . If a lot of your decoration fronds are yellowing , do n’t prune them . fertilise the tree . You may be dealing with a nourishing problem , Silvasy enjoin .
6. Not All Palms Need to be Pruned
Some variety show of these tropical plant are self - cleaning , which mean they ’ll drop their dead frond with no supporter from you . Self - cleaning thenar let in royal medal , foxtail palms , areca thenar , and Christmas palms . Palms that defy onto their fronds after the frond pall let in sabal palms , queen palms , and cabbage palms .
7. Use a Pole Saw for Palm Tree Trimming
A perch insure permit you trim frond without commence on a run . Use loppers or a handsaw for shorter laurel wreath . Trim fronds close to the trunk . Do n’t tear off fronds and do n’t cut into the body because it can make wounds that guide to disease .
If you are crop multiple palms , disinfect your rod saw or prunerswith rub intoxicant or bleach between Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree trims to prevent the spread of fungal diseases and blighter . you may spread flora diseases from one tree to another with your prick .
8. It’s OK to Leave Dead Fronds on Palms
Some the great unwashed leave behind the old , deadened fronds on palm tree trees . Those deadened fronds produce what ’s call a palm whiskers or palm chick , and they give the tree a wild , natural look . “ It ’s up to you if you need to rationalize those utter leaves or not . It ’s an esthetic option , ” Silvasy says . “ Leaving dead fronds on a palm will not harm the tree . ” Palm beards can help wildlife because those thickets of dead fronds are a popularnesting site for shuttlecock .
9. There’s No Wrong Time to Prune a Palm
Palms are pruned in the first place for esthetic reasons so you’re able to trim them any time . Prune dead fronds whenever they seem on the tree . If you know in a hurricane - prone country , crop dead leaves before hurricane time of year sothose dead leavesdon’t become missiles in a storm .
