Overpruning your palm trees drains them of vital energy

Over-pruning stresses the palm and ages the younger fronds prematurely by causing them to be nutrient reservoirs that the older green fronds were. This probably reduces the time that they would live and most likely the pruning cycle is not extended.

There may be some give and take. And some palm species may tolerate the old hurricane cut or "carrot-top" approach better than others, but recent observations and plant physiology dictate that one should not prune palms in an 11 o'clock to 1 o'clock position, which is known as a hurricane cut.

University of Florida researcher, Dr. Tim Broschat and others contend that green fronds should not be removed from palms (unless they are poking through your pool screen cage!). Some potential concerns are as follow:

* Overtrimming, by removing healthy green leaves, takes away the energy manufacturing potential of the palm. This can result in "pencil pointing," a sudden reduction in trunk "thickening" at the height in the crown where diameter increase should be taking place. This constricted weak point creates a potential hazard, as the head or canopy is now susceptible to wind.

* Overpruning may contribute to reduced winter hardiness.

* Continual excess pruning of cabbage palms may increase flowering, which can stress the plant.

* Removing fronds of trees that are suffering potassium and magnesium deficiencies removes a reservoir of nutrients and, with potassium deficiency, may quickly lead to premature palm death.

* The removal of too many fronds from the supporting base or "boot" structurally decreases the built-in stabilizing or shock-absorbing capacity of the crown and makes the remaining fronds and the bud more susceptible to wind damage.

Doug Caldwell is a certified arborist and the commercial horticulture extension agent and landscape entomologist with the University of Florida Collier County Extension Service. E-mail dlcaldwell@mail.ifas.ufl.edu ; Call 353-4244. Web site: collier.ifas.ufl.edu