I have an article on this site about palm care – and it has three simple tips in it. One of the tips is to avoid pruning entirely.  If you feel you must prune, prune at the correct time of year – which is NOT in spring.  If you must – the correct time to prune palms in the Southwest is in September and October.

Turns out I followers in Southeast Australia, with a climate much like the Southwest. For my Down Under friends let me rephrase that last statement. “Prune palms in autumn.”

Palms are Genetically Prehistoric

Palms are unique and genetically somewhat prehistoric. This means they need very special care to thrive. Sadly they don’t often get that care but I could rant about that for pages. Or, as a Southern friend says, “Pitch a fit and fall in it.”  Since I am not given to dramatics I shall go all science nerdy and give you the science instead.

Palms are not the same as other trees. They don’t have true wood. If you cut one open you will not find growth rings. Instead you will find a massive amount of fiber – much like coconut husk. In amongst those fibers there are many little round structures. Those round structures are a cross section look at the very unique roots of palms. Think very long and woody drinking straws. The roots grow from each individual frond down to the soil. Once they hit soil, they grow water absorbing structures.

 

Palm Fronds Build The Trunk

A palm builds itself frond by frond. A palm frond is not simply the green leafy part. The entire frond includes the brown part that turns into the outermost and uppermost section of the trunk of the palm.

This is the critical part – if you cut off the green part, the brown part stops growing.

That brown part is supposed to be growing strong new trunk – but by cutting the green you ultimately weaken the palm trunk.

Reason # 1 for Not Pruning Palms

Palms aren’t “trees.” Palms are upright, tall, semi-woody long-lived, perennial plants. A palm is like a giant onion that lives a long time and gets woody as time passes. For a palm to get properly woody, and strongly so, it needs every leaf (technically “frond”) to turn brown right down to the
trunk before being removed.

A palm frond and its attached leaf base is much longer and larger than you expect. The frond includes the outer leaf, the stalk that attaches it to the plant, and the hidden base of the stalk, deep within the trunk. Like an iceberg, you see only about 10 percent of the structure, the rest is hidden. The base of the leaf wraps entirely around the top of the palm, and can extend for several feet down the trunk. The trunk is essentially made of many leaf layers, just like an onion.

The base of the frond is what ultimately turns into trunk its cells become fiberous and very nearly woody. To do this, the cells must be alive. That means the leaf must be alive and sending food to the base of the leaf – the part that is turning into fibers that become the trunk of the palm itself. Palms need green fronds to make healthy trunks.

Reason # 2 for not pruning.

Palms, being arid-adapted trees, are very thrifty organisms. Under normal conditions, a palm will take all the hard-won chemicals, minerals, proteins, and even chloroplasts out of an old leaf and ship them to new growing ones. By cutting off a green leaf, you are robbing the palm of all those resources, forcing it to start over from scratch for the new leaves. This causes unnecessary stress on the palm, making it weaker and much MORE likely to drop fronds.

Reason # 3 for not pruning.

We live in the desert, where the summer sun is blazing hot. Just as humans need some shade to keep from dehydrating in the blazing rays, so do plants. And they can make their own shade! Those nice brown leaves bend downward and keep the trunk shaded and cool.

Palm Pruning Tip 1.

Since people have it in their heads that dead fronds are unsightly, do what they do at the University of Arizona Arboretum (the entire U of A Campus is an Arboretum). Remove only the fronds that are long dead. Trim the tree so the top tuft of green and brown leaves forms a tidy oval or egg shape.

Ideally do this pruning in fall, when shade is less needed by the palm, and they are starting their winter dormant phase. The U of A has determined that palms pruned in this manner will not drop old brown fronds.  (So “leaf” it alone!)

Avoid These

Please note that the fronds left on the palm are what form the egg shape – the egg is not formed out of trunk. The trunk should be straight. Do not sculpt or “straighten” the trunk with a saw. This is also called “skinning.”

Do not “skin” the palm. Leave old frond stubs on the trunk, they help protect it from insects. Put the power tools away. Do not use a saw to shape the trunks of palms. Let the palms shape themselves. They will do it correctly.

Skinning and “shaping” the trunk of a palm is not like a haircut. Hair grows back. The trunk of the palm is made out of fronds, and they are up at the top of the tree, growing trunk there.

By the way. Never use climbing spurs on palms, they can severely damage the trunk and lead to insect infestation, and possible tree death. Use a ladder or lift. Climbing spurs are for dead utility poles, not living plants. Don’t hire a landscape company that uses climbing spurs.

As mentioned at the beginning, more care tips in this earlier palm article. And in my book on Month by Month care.

Thanks for reading,

Jacqueline

More Palm Care Tips – pages of them!

The Month By Month Guide offers tips for all of your landscape (yes even lawns and roses) in every month of the year.  I have a few copies left and am offering them to you – my loyal readers. When you buy from me you get a signed copy!

From the review:

“A great reference book is key to successful gardening in the region where you live. Arizona, Nevada & New Mexico Month-by-Month Gardening takes the guesswork out of gardening for anyone residing in the Southwest. With this book, you’ll know what to do each month to enjoy a thriving garden all year, from January to December. Chronologically organized, this guide is full of critical gardening when-to and how-to advice, along with illustrated step-by-step instructions.

The book’s author is Jacqueline Soule, a Tucson-based gardening expert. She knows this arid region inside and out, and she’s written several articles and books packed with her gardening advice. Arizona, Nevada & New Mexico Month-by-Month Gardening showcases Soule’s expertise in one easy-to-read guide.”

Profits from the sale of this book go to the Horticulture Therapy non-profit Tierra del Sol Institute.   Recent price increase, due to the US Postal Service price increase in July 2024.  It is now $30.

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