removing old leaf bases?

[doubravsky]

Ok... so I know how to deal with the archontos... which seem to do a pretty good job of coming loose, as do the dypsis baronii, lutescens, and wodyetias.

How about the tough ones?

I see tons of queens around here with clean trunks and few leaf bases, while mine would hang on forever, and pulling them by hand doesn't seem to work. Same with the majesties, the chambeys, the dictyosperma, and the caryota gigas.

Do you just leave them? How do people clean them up?

[spockvr6]

I tend to prefer the tidy look, so on palms with persistent leaf bases (like Queens, Bottles, Spindles, etc) I use a good pair of cutters and carefully trim around the trunk a tiny bit about where the base attaches.

[Jeff Searle]

Pole saw.

[DoomsDave]

Some leafbases are tough to remove.  If they're really persistent, you can trim them to look good, like Phoenix.

With a crownshafter like Chambeys, I usually just wait till they come off, which may be a while, but I'm not in a hurry.

If for any reason they must come off, I use a serrated edge knife and CAREFULLY cut the fibers at the base, and avoid cutting the trunk or my fingers or other body parts . . . .

dave