November 2024 NO NEED TO PRUNE PALMS by Ginger Easton Smith - Aransas/San Patricio Master Gardeners

Set the pruning saw down and step away from the palm. Unless there is a safety issue, such as

not being able to see well at an intersection, or the risk of fronds or fruit falling on someone,

there is no reason to prune any green off a palm tree.

Removing green, or even partially green, fronds takes needed nutrients from the palm tree.

Compared to a ‘real’ tree, palms do not have very many leaves and they need every green, or

partially green, frond to photosynthesize and make food for the plant. Palms are much more

closely related to grass than to trees and have many structural differences.

Palms come with one of two general shapes of the leaves, palmate and pinnate, more commonly

described as fan-shaped or feather-shaped. Examples of palms with leaves shaped like a fan are

sabal, cabbage and, the descriptively-named Mexican fan and Mediterranean palms. The natural

shape of a fan palm tree is a trunk with an entire ball, or circle, of leaves. Queen and date palms

(including dwarf date palms) are some of the palms that have leaves shaped like a feather and

have more of a branched overall look to the plant.

There is a misconception that taking off a dry, brown frond will also take nutrients from the

plant, but this is not true. Any nutrients remaining in a dead frond cannot be moved to another

leaf or any other part of the plant. Taking off a dry frond does not cause any damage at all to the

palm tree, but also does not help the palm and is not necessary. It really depends on your

preference and situation.

If you are absolutely compelled to cut a green frond, at least never cut so many that the ‘head’ of

a fan palm (the group of leaves) is smaller than a half circle. We call this, ‘not cutting above the

horizontal.’ Do not remove fronds that are growing horizontally or pointing upward.

Palms, except for the Texas sabal and the dwarf sabal (or dwarf palmetto), the only two palms

native to Texas, tend to be nutrient deficient in the Coastal Bend. Just drive around and check out

the non-sabal palm trees and you will notice that most are slightly yellow, or at least a pale

green.
While palms certainly need nitrogen (N), they are most likely to be deficient in potassium (K)

and magnesium (Mg). Potassium moves from older leaves into younger leaves on all plants, so

potassium deficiencies show up first on the older leaves. If the young leaves do not have enough

potassium, they will take it from the older leaves (another reason it is important to keep those

even partiall-green, older fronds).

The first symptom of K deficiency on palms is small, barely noticeable light orange spots, which

are easy to see only if you hold the leaf up to the light and look through it. When the spots start

joining together, the leaf starts looking a sickly, pale color. If the deficiency continues, and more

potassium moves to the newer leaves to meet their needs, the spots turn from orange to brown,

and the leaf tips start to brown and dry.

Even though the calendar says it is fall, you can still apply palm fertilizer for the next few weeks,

then wait until spring and apply in March, June, and September. Water very thoroughly before

fertilizing and then lightly after fertilizing. Look for a slow-release fertilizer formulated

especially for palms with a 3:1:3 ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, plus magnesium

(Mg). It should also have minor nutrients such as copper and iron. At least once a year, be sure to

apply a micronutrient mix and/or a good amount of compost.

Compost is beneficial for all plants and soils. Do not apply nitrogen by itself, such as is common

in lawn fertilizers since it will make any potassium deficiency worse. Once a palm has turned

yellow from a lack of nutrients, it can take some time and several fertilizer applications to green

it up but keep at it and be patient.

Occasional (every two to three weeks) deep watering, very minimal pruning, and if they are not

native, regular feeding, will result in happy, healthy palm trees.