How ugly the palm trees are when they are full of dry leaves, it gives a sense of abandonment, of non-maintenance, however when they are clean and green they are the queens of the gardens, the streets, the beaches and of all the places where they are.
The palm trees have a regulation system by which they generate new leaves in the upper part of their cup as the old leaves dry in the lower part of the glass.
In cold climates, these dry leaves covering the trunk of the palm tree are a good protection for the cold, but except in these exceptions, it is important to prune the palm trees to ensure that they remain beautiful, healthy and clean. In addition, with pruning we will avoid the risk of falling dry leaves at high altitude.
Here at Perth Tree Services we’ll be happy to assist you and help you have a beautiful garden.
When to prune a palm tree?
The optimum cutting time will be during the vegetative period, in spring, summer and autumn, never in winter.
In hot climates, it can be done at any time of the year. Keep in mind that we mainly talk about removing dry leaves. You should always avoid temperatures above 20ºC that can favour the attack of red weevil
Depending on the species and size of the palm we will prune them more or less frequently, to know we will only have to be attentive to the state and colour of the leaves and thus we will know when to cut them. If they are green and healthy it means they have chlorophyll and perform the photosynthetic function perfectly: they collect nutrients from the earth and convert them into carbohydrates. So, we will have to cut them when they start to yellow, it is not advisable to wait until the leaves are completely dry. Also, if any, we must remove the diseased leaves attacked by fungi, so we will prevent the spores from spreading to healthy leaves.
The fruit clusters are usually decorative so they will be cut or not according to taste, although it should be taken into account what:
– They consume energy from the plant, so if we cut them, the palm tree will grow a little more that year since all its energy (water and nutrients) will be concentrated in the leaves.
– Some species, such as “Syagrus Romanzoffiana” or vulgarly known as “Plum Coconut”, throws them to the ground, so in addition to posing a danger, it is annoying and dirty.
How to prune a palm tree?
If the palm trees are of low and medium height, we can prune ourselves with the appropriate tools so as not to damage them.
And remember that we should not eliminate the green leaves, since we will break the balance of the palm by weakening it, delaying its development and causing it to lose nutrients.
The pruning tools used for these palm trees are:
– Marcola or palm knife:
It is common among palm trees (palm trimmers). Only with this tool you can do all the pruning work: clean the trunk, cut leaves by the petiole, cut fruits and to make the finish of the balona.
– Corvellot:
It is a tool similar to marcola.
For palm trees with high logs, the most sensible thing is to turn to professionals specialised in pruning palm trees. Good safety equipment is needed to climb the trunk, as well as good cutting tools. \
In addition to the tools already mentioned for smaller palm trees, here also, we may need if the specimen is large these others:
– Axe:
It is also used by many pruners to cut leaves and “pencas” (petiole base); then, the tuning of the ball must be done with the marcola or with the corvellot.
– Chainsaw:
There is a small hand and serves to cut the leaves into large specimens.
– Handsaw:
For the same as the chainsaw, to cut leaves by the petiole, very little is used today.
Before climbing the trunk of a palm tree, make sure it is stable enough. When going up, it should be hitting to check that there are no holes or rotten areas.
On the other hand, the ascent by the palm tree must be done so that the trunk is not damaged, since serious damage could be caused to the palm tree. There are different systems to climb the trunk of the palm tree, stirrups, “bicycle” or lifting platform.
Pruning is done by trimming the dried leaves flush with the trunk, starting from the lowest part of the crown and spiralling up.
After pruning the palm tree
Once the leaves have been cut, we will remove all the remains of the pruning and then we will fertilise the soil around the trunk with a specific product so that the palm tree grows stronger.
From here we advise you that if you like gardening, do not hesitate to prune small specimens following these recommendations, but if in your garden you have copies of considerable height, it is not worth it to buy all the tools and safety equipment, It is an expensive equipment and if you do not have experience you run the risk of falling, cutting and / or pricking yourself, realise that unless you are mounted on a platform, you are in an uncomfortable and insecure posture and with sharp tools.
Some inconvenients
The inconveniences in pruning palm trees are on our part when it comes to work. Palm trees have rapid growth and can reach great heights. At the moment we have to perform pruning, we need stairs or even climbing ropes. This makes it difficult for a normal user, like most of you, to have a garden with palm trees, to be able to successfully prune in tall palm trees, with the danger involved. In most cases, experts who do the work are hired, with a cost that has several palm trees can be high.
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