Palm Tree Trimming in Fort Myers, FL

Palm tree trimming is the most requested tree job in a city nicknamed for its palms, and the one most often done wrong. Fort Myers earned the name City of Palms from the royal palms planted along what is now McGregor Boulevard through Thomas Edison's efforts, and palms still line streets and fill yards across Lee County. A palm grows from a single bud at the top and depends on its green fronds for food. Cut them off and the palm has fewer resources, a thinner trunk section forms, and the canopy is weaker the next time a storm comes through.

What UF/IFAS recommends

UF/IFAS Gardening Solutions puts it plainly: the first rule is never to remove live, green, healthy fronds. Remove fronds that are fully dead or brown. Leave yellowing fronds, because they often point to a nutrient deficiency, and cutting them off hides the clue and takes away nutrients the palm is still pulling from them. The absolute limit is the 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock line of the canopy; a full, round head with green fronds reaching down toward horizontal is the goal. Climbing spikes should never be used on a palm you want to keep, because each puncture is a permanent wound. Flower and fruit stalks can be removed without harm, and UF notes that waiting until blooms drop helps pollinators.

The hurricane cut

Many homeowners are told to strip their palms before storm season so they catch less wind. UF/IFAS says this is not science-based and that hurricane-cut palms were actually more likely to lose their crowns in storms. Storm prep for palms means removing dead fronds, loose seed stalks and coconuts that could become projectiles, and leaving the rest.

Palms that need little or no trimming

Royal palms drop their own fronds, which are big and heavy, so the work is often removing hanging dead fronds before they fall on a car or the lanai roof. Cabbage palms hold their old leaf bases, called boots, which can be left in place. Queen palms tend to hold dead fronds and fruit, and they rank in the lowest wind-resistance group in UF research. Date palms, including Canary Island and Medjool, have sharp spines and need careful handling. Coconut palms drop nuts that can injure people and damage roofs, so coconut and flower removal is a common request.

Watching for disease

While we are in the canopy we look for signs of trouble. UF/IFAS has confirmed lethal bronzing in Lee County; early symptoms include fruit falling early, dead flower stalks and the oldest fronds changing color. At the base, shelf-like conks mean Ganoderma butt rot. Lethal bronzing is not spread by pruning tools, according to UF, but Ganoderma can travel on infected material, so diseased fronds and conks are kept out of mulch.