To cut or not to cut?

[Palmdude]

Hello everyone

I was wondering what the common practice with inflorescences is. Do you guys cut them off when easily reached so that energy is not wasted on producing seed that you have no intention of using or is it better to just leave them alone?

[Kostas]

Well,i like things the natural way so i let them be and enjoy the looks of them and the seeds. Plus,by not cutting through live tissue,you don't risk introducing disease too

[Palmdude]

Thanks Kostas, I was thinking the same thing about cutting live tissue. I also like the way they look but they can become messy looking when the seeds ripen up.

I was just sort of wondering what most people do. I left my garden for a month in August here in FL, we got very little rain and no irrigation. My palms and the garden in General suffered a bit and its not as lush and green as it usually is this time of year. It got me wondering if I might have done them a favor if I cut the inflos before I left so they could have used the energy on the leaves. It's not something I would normally think of doing but I was just wondering if it would have made a difference or not. I expect not

[Kim]

Yes.

In my tiny California garden, I remove seeds of pygmy dates because they are so profuse, not especially showy, and quickly dry up. They are much easier to cut when green.

In Hawaii, everything is left to grow naturally. It's a much larger garden, and if I had to run around cutting inflorescences, I wouldn't get anything else done. Besides, as one example, the flowers and seeds of the Areca vestiaria are a significant feature of their beauty.

[Darold Petty]

I always cut off the spadix, while it is still encased within the spathes on my adult Rhopalostylis palms. I apply a heavy dusting of powdered sulfur over the area of cut tissue immediately. This is a cheap, non-toxic, and highly effective method to reduce the risk of infection. I have done this to at least 100 spadices over many years.

[Mandrew968]

Palmdude, I say, if you don't want the seed, then cut it off--it will speed the palm up by preventing further sugar expenditures, diverted to reproductive system and not growing. The only issue is making sure not to damage the trunk when pulling, ripping or cutting the flower spikes.

[MattyB]

I did not want the seeds from my Dypsis onilahensis so I was cutting the flowers off as soon as the spadix fully emerged from behind the crownshaft. Of course there's still a flower stem behind the crownshaft, and that stem turns brown and begins to rot. Here in CA that often means pink rot. After I discovered this, I now leave the flowers to do their thing.

[doranakandawatta]

would you cut this?

I love the inflorescence and infructescence most of the palms have.

[Mandrew968]

Yes, and then germinate in a community pot--looks like pinangoides?

[Jim in Los Altos]

I leave all of my blooming palms alone. I love the look but pay the price with either lots of rotting dropped fruit or thousands of volunteer seedling "weeds" to attend to. Right now, I have enough Archontophoenix, Chamaedorea, Syagrus, Phoenix, Trachycarpus, and Brahea fruits and seedlings to fill a couple of large garbage bags. My oldest Howea has fruited as has a Cayota urens but no fruit drop yet on those. Luckily, all of the Washingtonia here are males. I'm looking forward to flowers and fruits on my less common palms in a few years.

[redant]

I should show you the picture of the size of the pile of flowers stalks and seeds I have in front of my house right now. 12 ft long 6 ft high. 2 helpers all day long removing seeds and flowers. If i let them be i have fruit flies everywhere, seedlings everywhere and RATS everywhere so off they go.

[LJG]

Really depends on the palm. I have a super healthy Decaryii that if I don't cut the flowers I would have 4-5 massive seed generating waste machines on the palm. Creates a floor of rotting seed. There are 1000s of seeds on each of the 4-5 infructescence the palm holds. I do not cut any flowers until after pollination however as I like to give bees pesticide free meals.