Pruning Palm Trees In The Desert

Palm trees are an important feature in our desert environment. They add a hint of paradise, are easy to maintain and provide for a beautiful, resort-style backdrop to our landscape. Too often people don't know the proper way to prune palm trees. The best rule to remember is LESS IS MORE! When it doubt, leave it alone.

Palms are some of the simplest garden plants to maintain. Most species of palm never even need to be pruned. There are thousands of palm trees in existence but we typically only see about a dozen out here in the desert. California fan palms, Mexican fan palms, pygmy date palms, date palms, Mediterranean fan palms and queen palms are the most popular. From a growth standpoint these palms don't need pruned at all! Folks prune them to keep rodents out, clear brush in fire-prone areas and to make them look nice.

Palm trees produce one leaf at a time. The leaf comes up through the middle of the trunk and the collection of leaves form a crown. Some palms have only 5 or 6 leaves in their crown, while others have over a hundred. When a new leaf forms, an old one starts to die. This is the life cycle of the palm tree. It is a common misnomer that pruning a palm tree will make it grow faster. In fact, the opposite is true. The less you prune the healthier your palm will be.

When the palm's leaves are green they can get the food they need to grow. Photosynthesis occurs in the green leaves so the more leaves there are that are available for this process, the healthier the palm will be.

Now that you know how the palm tree grows, you can understand what needs to be done when pruning.

- When pruning palms such as the very popular Phoenix palms and fan palms, never trim above the horizontal. (Notice the photo to the left.) Think of the palm as a clock. The trunk is at the 6:00. Never trim between the 9:00 and the 3:00. This will severely weaken your palm and in the long run could shorten its overall life span. When you trim above the horizontal the palm tree goes into panic mode and takes reserves from its trunk tissue to keep the plant alive. When it does this it compromises the strength of the trunk, making the palm susceptible to wind damage, pests and disease.

- Prune to remove dead leaves that can act as a home for pests. Insects and rodents enjoy the crusty, dark home dead fronds provide. If there is no green left at all in the frond (it is completely brittle and grey) you can remove it. If the frond is green but a little brown on the edges, leave it there! It is still very much alive and feeding the plant.

- In California, Arizona and other fire-prone regions the very dead fronds can act as fuel for fires. Fires can start by lightning strikes or from other natural reasons. Keeping the straw-like fronds cleared will prevent your palms from catching fire if danger exists nearby.

- In the event that your palm has grown into a walkway or area where it is dangerous to humans or pets, you may want to remove even a few green fronds. (See the article on planting for your landscape size, if palms are planted properly in areas that allow adequate space this shouldn't be an issue. However, many of us have acquired a property where these palms were already planted!) Trim the fronds that could fall on someone or cut them - many fronds have very sharp spikes. Also trim anything that could grow into the house, power lines or other structures.

- Palms that shed massive amounts of seed can have their inflorescences removed. By hacking off the fruit of the palm it allows the plant to refocus its strength and growth on the plant itself, rather than the fruit. Queen palms shed like this, so to avoid tracking gummy fruit all through the house, yard and sidewalks you can chop it off once it grows.

When it doubt, leave it alone. Put down the trimmers, pick up an iced tea and enjoy the beauty of these amazing plants instead!