Home and Real Estate
Landscaping Timely Tips: Palm Tree Pruning
By Larry Williams
Most palm trees shed their fronds naturally, but other palms drop the fronds after some time. When it is necessary to prune the palm trees, never remove fronds that do not hang below a line parallel to the ground. Pruning palms can reduce their vigor, transmit diseases, reduce their health nutritionally, affect cold hardiness, and lower their tolerance to handle windstorms. So what pruning should be done on a palm tree? Remove only badly damaged or dead fronds, also remove flowers.
Palm Tree Pruning (Trimming -- Care and Maintenance of Palms)
Pruning palm trees, or as it is sometimes called, trimming palms, is an important part of the care of your palm trees. It is as atypical as palm trees themselves. Palms are monocots, which mean palm trees do not have a continued outward growth in their trunks like a typical tree where new wood is being created. A palm's trunk may appear to grow like a tree, but in reality it is an expansion of the tissue first formed.
"Palms produce a leaf at a time, and once a full crown of leaves is achieved in a mature individual (for some palms this is just 4-5 leaves, while in other species, this can be over 120 leaves), every new leaf formed is followed by an old leaf dying. This number, unique to each palm, is the ideal number of leaves for that palm to have to grow optimally. Any less leaves than that number and the palm will grow sub-optimally, or slower. Sub-optimal numbers of fronds can weaken a palm, too, and make it more vulnerable to wind damage, parasites and fatal infections. For some reason, there is a myth going about that pruning palms will speed up their growth rate. This is actually the opposite of what happens and I have no idea why this myth persists.
In an ideal world, we would ONLY prune the dead or broken leaves off each palm. Green palm leaves, or fronds, are the palm’s sole source of food (from photosynthesis). Fertilizer is NOT food, but a source of micronutrients the palm uses, along with water and sunlight to make its food. When green leaves are removed, the palm cannot make the ideal amount of food it needs to survive. Fortunately, most palms are quite tolerant of this ‘abuse' and can deal with sub-optimal amounts of green leaves -- up to a point. So there should be good reasons to prune palms ‘prematurely' as well as pruning in general."
Palm Tree Care -- Pruning a Palm Tree -- What does this mean to me? (Caution.)
Be very wary of palm tree trunks and avoid anything that you think can damage the trunks. If you damage your palm’s trunk while pruning, there is a good chance the damage will not heal.
Most species of palms (variety of palm trees) that have trunks rarely branch; extra care should be taken in this situation because if you damage the growing part of palms, you are damaging the trunks of the palm trees.
With palms you need to care for the rootball of the trunk, unlike a typical tree, palms do not have roots growing deep beneath the tree, thus it is called a rootball. Rootballs branch but little and do not increase in size with the growth of the aboveground parts. Palms derive a bulk of their nutrients from the top soil and the top of the nearby ground, which means proper fertilization care is required.
Pruning palms is a natural part of the total care package for palm trees. Even though this article is on the importance of pruning your palms, always remember that palm trees are still low maintenance trees. Trees are purchased for their beauty and tropical flavor and thus the importance of having your palms look as spectacular as possible!
Pruning Your Palm Trees -- Part of Palm Tree Care
- If palm fronds are yellow, brown or broken, prune them off.
- Remove loose petioles or boots by hand. If they don't pull off, leave them on.
- Care of palm trees include removing palm flower and fruit stalks. The formation of fruit and seed takes strength away from palm trees unnecessarily. When mature, fruits may provide food for pests such as rodents and birds. Palms, such as date palm trees, produce infertile (where there are no male trees nearby) or fertile fruit that will later drop, make a mess, or stain concrete surfaces. The seeds of some palms, such as fan palm trees (Washingtonia robusta/filifera), will germinate in undesired areas of the landscape.
- Proper care includes that some clumping palms may need to be thinned out or new growth pruned off if the palm trees are getting too big for the space in which the palms are growing.
- When palm trees are field dug and transplanted bare root, half of the fronds on most species can be removed. This care reduces the transpiration rate and facilitates handling and shipping by taking up less room on the truck. Some experts believe that after planting palm trees, the fronds of field dug palms should be untied when new root growth is noted
- Palm tree care includes removing fruits and seeds. Some palms produce seeds that germinate in the landscape or fruit that makes a mess and smells bad when it drops. Most palm trees do not produce either fronds or fruit large enough to cause damage when falling. Removing flowers or developing fruit can free up starch those benefits developing fronds, roots, and storage reserves.
Keep Palm Tree Pruning to a Minimum
Good palm tree care can mean avoiding removing most of the leaves (fronds) yearly or more frequently because it may weaken the palm and slow its growth. Mature fronds provide food for developing fronds, flowers, fruit, roots and storage reserves in the palm's trunk.
When palm tree green fronds are pruned, the nutrients they would have produced are lost to the rest of the palm tree. Some nutrients move from older leaves of palms to newer leaves as they die. With potassium (and to lesser extent other nutrients) deficiency, removal of older green or chlorotic leaves exacerbates deficiency. Nutrient deficiencies also cause narrowing of the palm trees trunks and decline in the size of the fronds.
Another care point, the pruning now causes the palm tree to obtain its potassium from younger leaves in the canopy. These previously green and healthy leaves will then become chlorotic and unsightly. Regular removal of potassium deficient leaves can eventually kill the palm. Research has shown that mature fronds are those found below the current year's blooms. When pruning, take care to leave at least two rows of mature fronds, preferably more.
Never prune off more of the palm's leaves in one year than are produced during that time. Each species of palms has a set number of green live fronds with the same number of developing fronds inside the bud area of the palm tree. As a new frond emerges, the oldest frond dies. The age that a frond may attain will be determined by many factors, including size of mature palm trees, number of fronds produced, etc.
To prune palm trees, the key care factor is that only the palm knows when a frond needs to be pruned off, and that is when it is dying (yellow or brown). As each new leaf opens, it will take the place of a dying leaf. The palm knows the exact amount of fronds needed for a healthy palm tree. When palms reach their ultimate height, the fronds will decrease in size and the palm trees will decline and die.
Damage from Pruning a palm tree is more likely the cause of death than old age.
Palms must store sufficient reserves of starch in their trunks that can be mobilized to restore fronds in the event the palms experience some type of stress such as fire, frost, or pruning. Palm trees must have as many green fronds as possible to produce a continuous supply of food to grow, stay healthy, and build storage reserves. Fronds may take three to five years to mature.
Proper care includes never pruning for cosmetic purposes (to a certain degree). Some people will prune Canary Island date palms (Phoenix canariensis) to look like a giant pineapple or will skin fan palms (Washingtonia robusta/filifera) to look like more tropical palms. Desert palm trees are not tropical, so it is best to accept that and not try to change the palms into something they are not.
Palm tree leaves are designed in a cantilever effect to facilitate survival in high winds. During pruning care, when too many fronds are removed, the palm can be more easily damaged. Immature fronds that have been robbed of the support and protection of mature fronds are more susceptible to wind damage, desiccation and structural failure.
Maintaining care for palm tree pruning can be very dangerous to your palm trees but there are benefits as well. Just be careful and if you are unsure of a pruning action, study up on it before you make your next move. (Information Source: Sun Palm Trees)
Larry Williams
Business: (951) 693-4783; Cell: (951) 903-8434
E-Mail: laborist@verizon.net
Cut Back on Utility Bills and Get Paid to Do It
By Shay Meyers
There has never been a better time until now to invest in a new heating and air conditioning system. The California Energy Commission has gotten involved and added up to $1,000 on a 16 SEER 13 EER air conditioner with a matching evaporative coil. Homeowners can also receive up to $300 from the California Energy Commission with a 95% A.F.U.E. efficient variable-speed furnace. Homeowners in the Southern California Edison area can receive up to $1,250 on a new heating and air conditioning system with a qualified contractor. The gas company also has kicked in $200 for a 92% A.F.U.E. or higher furnace. The manufacturers of certain brands also have rebates on qualifying equipment up to $1,000. In addition, the federal government is encouraging home owners to be more energy efficient with a $1,500 tax credit. That's up to $5,250 towards a new system. This is not including the fact that with a new system you can save as much as 50% on your utility bills versus a 20-year-old system.
Let's dive into this and see how it works. A "SEER" is the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio. The EER is the Energy Efficiency Ratio. They are a rating from the American Refrigeration Institute that states the energy efficiency of a particular air conditioner. The higher SEER rating will provide a superior energy performance of your equipment. This will result in a higher savings on your energy bill.
You may have heard of a "variable speed motor." A "variable speed motor" adjusts the control of airflow for supreme comfort and uses 2/3 less electricity than a standard single speed blower.
The gas company wants your furnace to be more efficient. Today and in the past, most furnaces have an 80% or less efficiency rating. A new furnace can get up to 96% efficiency. This can lower your gas usage and save you money. The $200 gas company rebate is for a 92% furnace or higher. If you go with a 95% or higher "variable speed" furnace, you can receive the $200 from the gas company as well as $300 from the California Energy Commission. Not only will it make your monthly bill go down, it will also make you and your family more comfortable.
Our federal government got on board and is giving up to 30% of the cost for a new qualifying system. This will give you up to a $1,500 tax credit. It's a full $1,500 tax credit; not a write off. See your tax advisor and take advantage of this opportunity. On top of all of all these credits and rebates, the manufacturers have their own incentives available. A homeowner can receive up to $1,000 per system on energy efficient units. Usually a system like this will include top-of-the-line filtration, air purification, variable speed and the highest SEER ratings available.
Don't miss this opportunity to get paid to save money on your utility bills. Take advantage of the opportunities that are waiting for you. The federal government is basing their incentives on a "first come, first served" basis so take action now and MAKE SURE you don't miss out! No one knows how long these incentives will last.