Hurricane Prep Pruning in Fort Myers, FL

Hurricane prep pruning is the work done in spring, before the June 1 start of hurricane season, to cut the odds of a tree or palm damaging your home when a storm comes. It is not a single cut. It is a walk-through of every tree that could reach the house, pool cage, car or a neighbor, followed by the pruning, removals or bracing that make sense for each. Around Fort Myers, where Hurricane Ian brought 150 mph winds ashore at Cayo Costa in 2022, many homeowners have seen which trees held and which did not.

Start with the species

UF/IFAS studies of trees after Florida hurricanes sort South Florida species by wind resistance. Live oak, gumbo limbo and sabal palm are in the highest group. Mahogany, sea grape, royal palm and coconut palm are medium-high. Black olive, laurel oak, strangler fig and slash pine are medium-low. Weeping fig, Norfolk Island pine, Australian pine and queen palm are in the lowest. UF cautions that no tree is windproof and that soil, age, structure and health matter as much as species. In practice, prep for a live oak is usually pruning, while a queen palm or Norfolk Island pine leaning toward the house is often better removed.

What gets done on hardwoods

The goal is a sturdier tree, not a smaller one. We remove dead and broken branches, shorten or remove limbs with weak, cracked or included-bark attachments, reduce long limbs that reach over the roof, and thin the crown modestly so wind can pass through. We do not top or lion-tail trees. Stripping out interior branches and leaving foliage only at the tips, called lion-tailing, puts more load at the ends of limbs and can make breakage more likely.

What gets done on palms

UF/IFAS says the hurricane cut, stripping palms down to a few upright fronds, is not science-based and left palms more likely to lose their crowns in storms. Real prep for palms is removing dead fronds, loose boots, coconuts and seed clusters that could fly into windows or screens, and leaving every green frond. We also look at the trunk base for Ganoderma conks, since UF notes infected palms are likely to fall in strong winds.

Roots, soil and lean

Fort Myers gets about two-thirds of its 57 inches of yearly rain from June through September, so storms often arrive when the sandy soil is already saturated. Trees with cut or damaged roots, from a driveway, pool or utility trench, and trees with a lean toward the house deserve a closer look. Some are better removed in spring than pulled over in September.