Palm Tree Pruning and Care Quick Tips

Palm Trees are perfect for adding a tropical touch around your home and in your garden, but if you’re not keeping up with regular Palm Tree Pruning and other care items your tropical touch may turn in to a tropical nightmare.

We love our Palm Trees in San Diego, they’re up and down the coast, they line the streets, practically everywhere you look you can spot a palm tree. Have you ever noticed that sometimes palm tree’s appear to have a large amount of dangling dead palm fronds? Well, that is a palm tree that’s not being cared for appropriately. So let’s talk about the steps that you can take to keep your palm tree’s looking beautiful.

Palm Tree Soil Requirements:

While many species of Palm Tree are native to San Diego, there are also many species which are not, like the very prevalent Mexican fan palm. Each species of Palm Tree will require you to care for it differently, and they’ll have different soil requirements, however, for the most part, you can stick to these guidelines when planting your next palm tree.

In San Diego we are blessed with a warm climate, so you probably don’t need to worry about frost or planting while it is too cold, however, you should avoid planting a palm tree during our dry months, from July – October, instead, aim to plant palm trees during late winter and spring.

To plant your new palm tree, dig a hole around the base that is twice the diameter of the root ball, take extra care while handling the roots, these are essentially the heart of the tree and damage while planting can lead to catastrophe. You’ll want loose, nutrient-rich soil, try to avoid areas with decomposed granite as soil is much more beneficial for the roots of the tree.

Bracing Your Palm Tree:

Bracing generally works better than staking when planting a palm tree, the smooth exterior of the palm tree can lead to your cables sliding down the tree, becoming ineffective.

To Start, take three or four braces of 2×4 lumber, space them equally around the base of the tree, make them long enough that their bottom ends far enough from the palm to allow for supporting the tree if it begins to lean. To fasten the stakes, use burlap to wrap the stakes around the tree, securely tie the braces in place. Now the important part, never nail directly into a tree. Instead, use pieces of 2×4 to connect the upright 2×4’s by nailing them into the upright 2×4’s.

Leave these braces in place for up to 1 year, or until the palm tree has established strong enough roots to remain upright on it’s own.

Pruning Palm Trees:

Removing dead fronds (leaves) and old fruit from the trees will allow your trees to live healthier. Make sure you handle all tree pruning with care, and make sure you only prune your trees in the right conditions.

Once the old fronds have turned completely brown, it’s safe to start your palm tree pruning project, but make sure you wait until there is no green left in the frond. Use a hand pruner for smaller fronds, ensure the cutting edge is sharp and clean, tree’s can get diseases that are contagious and pass these diseases between each other, a common way to pass a disease is with an infected cutting tool, click the link for more information on tree diseases.

When pruning a palm tree, cut the dead frond as close to the trunk as possible. The remaining frond base eventually falls off, but it can take many years. Do not try to strip your tree’s, if you do this before it’s ready you can scar the base of the tree which leads to disease or possibly death.

If you have a large palm tree pruning job that’s going to require more than just a hand shear, we suggest you give us a call at (760) 440-9138. For more information on pruning palm trees take a look at our palm tree trimming information.

Keep Your Palm Trees Pest Free:

Those dead fronds growing on your tree, they’re not just ugly, they’re not just weighing down your tree, they’re a breeding ground for rodents and pests.

Mice, Rats, Spiders, you name it, if you’ve got a palm tree that’s well overdue for palm tree pruning then you should be concerned about the pests and rodents living inside. Mice and rats love to eat the rotting fruit, and while they’re in your tree eating they’ll begin to make their nests. According to Official Pest Pros, dead palm tree fronds are generally a hot spot for mice and rats, if left unkept, your tree’s will become infested quickly.