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NO 'DO IS A GOOD 'DO

Photo by Craig Chandler

These sabal palms in a median have been over-pruned, removing fronds that help feed the plant and protect the bud.

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By CRAIG CHANDLER

Special to the Tribune

Published: March 5, 2009

Updated: 03/06/2009 01:44 pm

People usually prune ornamental plants to improve their appearance (which can be quite subjective). In the case of ornamental palms, pruning often has the opposite effect.

Severely pruning palms - removing all but a few young leaves - makes the tree look silly, like a pineapple on a stick. Some people think this hurricane cut, as it's known, will protect the palm from high winds.

It's a wasted sacrifice, though.

"Palms need no protection from high winds," says John Begeman of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at the University of Arizona. "Their flexible leaves and low wind resistance make them nearly storm-proof. Instead of protecting the palm from high winds, the practice actually weakens the canopy."

Each layer of fronds, or leaves, supports and strengthens the layer above. And they all work together to protect the bud.

"The more leaves removed, the less strength and protection there is," Begeman says.

And he has more good reasons for laying off the loppers.

Palms depend more on their leaves than other plants to provide food for growth because they don't store food efficiently. With relatively few leaves, compared to other trees, removing even one green frond can significantly reduce a palm's ability to feed itself.

Some palms, such as the Washingtonia, carry no more than 30 fronds at a time. When pruners cut 20 or so of those leaves for their hurricane 'do, they also cut the palm's ability to manufacture food by two-thirds. Imagine going on a diet of two-thirds less calories a day!

Palms move nutrients from the older fronds to the new growth. When all of these older fronds are removed, so is the source of much of the nutrients. As a result, nutrient deficiencies can develop, which often take years to correct.

Ideally, only dead, completely brown fronds should be removed when pruning a palm, University of Florida palm expert Tim Broschat says. And under no circumstances should fronds above the horizontal - 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions - be removed.

In many cases, palms require no pruning. So don't waste your time or money. Your palms will thank you by continuing to create the picturesque tropical landscape that Florida's famous for.

Craig Chandler is a professor of horticultural sciences at the University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in southern Hillsborough County.

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