When to trim palm trees in Brevard — and how much is too much

How often

Once a year for most palms. Queen palms that fruit all summer sometimes want a second pass to take the seed clusters off before they stain the driveway; Washingtonias with a heavy skirt may go two years. A palm that "needs" trimming every couple of months is being over-trimmed — the yellowing you keep cutting off is a nutrient problem, not a pruning problem, and cutting it makes the deficiency worse.

How much

Only fronds that hang below horizontal — think of the canopy as a clock face and take nothing above nine and three — plus the seed pods, flower stalks and, on sabals, the loose boots. The University of Florida's guidance is blunt: a palm has one growing point, feeds it from every green frond it has, and moves nutrients out of older fronds as they yellow, so cutting yellow-but-alive fronds starves the tree. Taking the canopy up to a "pineapple" of five fronds — the hurricane cut — weakens the trunk over time, invites nutrient deficiency and disease, and does nothing for wind resistance, because palm fronds fold in a storm by design. Full-canopied sabals came through Milton fine.

What the color means

• Brown, dry, hanging fronds at the bottom: dead. Trim.
• Yellow older fronds with green new growth, especially yellow-orange spotting on queens: potassium deficiency, near-universal in Palm Bay's sand. Feed with a palm fertilizer high in potassium and magnesium; don't trim the yellow fronds, the palm is reclaiming what's in them.
• Yellow band on the edges of older fronds with a green center: magnesium deficiency. Same fix.
• Brown tips on the windward side near the coast: salt burn. Cosmetic.
• Bronze to reddish-brown color starting at the lowest fronds and moving up, fruit dropping early, the newest spear leaf browning: lethal bronzing. See below.
• A conk (shelf fungus) at the base of the trunk: Ganoderma butt rot. Fatal, no cure, and the palm can fall; remove it.

Lethal bronzing

Lethal bronzing is a bacterial disease (a phytoplasma) carried from palm to palm by a planthopper, and it has been spreading through Brevard County for years, hitting queen palms, sabals, Canary Island date palms, sylvester dates and others. The pattern: the lowest fronds turn a distinctive bronze, then the color moves up the canopy, the fruit drops before it's ripe, the spear leaf dies, and the palm is dead within a few months of the first symptoms. There is no cure once a palm shows symptoms. A symptomatic palm is a reservoir the planthoppers feed on and carry the disease from, so the responsible move is to remove it promptly — and if you have palms you'd hate to lose nearby, preventive antibiotic (oxytetracycline) injections every three to four months can protect them. A lab test through the University of Florida confirms the diagnosis; the arborist can usually tell on the visit.

How we trim

From the ground with a pole saw on shorter palms, from the bucket on tall ones, never with climbing spikes on a palm that's staying — every spike hole is permanent and lets in disease. Dead fronds, pods, stalks and loose boots off; green canopy left; everything hauled; the bed raked. And a look at the lower fronds on every palm, because catching bronzing on one palm is how you keep the other five.

Common questions

Related: Palm trimming · Palm removal · Hurricane prep guide · FAQ