Seriously? This was an advertisement I saw.

[Chester B]

It should’ve have been labelled “How to ruin a palm tree”. Seriously, the after is supposed to be better somehow?????  And I’m supposed to be happy to pay you for this service??? 

[meridannight]

Gross. It should be illegal to mutilate palms like that. But at least he provided information on what kind of a job he's doing. Makes it easy to steer clear of him.

Actually, it's not a bad idea to ask for before-and-after photos from anyone hired for such a job. If you just let them loose on the trees without asking questions you'll never know what you're gonna get.

[rizla023]

I think most are ignorant to palm tree health. This method of pruning is ubiquitous, sadly. 

[ZPalms]

Why have palm trees if you don't want them to look like a palm tree, I understand removing the inflorescences so they don't seed everywhere but come onnnnnnnnn

[Banana Belt]

Such excessive cutting beyond just pruning is not smart business.  If the tree service proprietor wants more business, as the add suggests, then would it not be smarter to cut only the dead parts and leave everything with some green so that the property owner calls them back sooner?  Something like giving a 12 haicuts a year instead of just 2.

It looks like there were 4 palms in the before and 3 in the after with 1 being removed, so perhaps it was the owner who wanted this done that way.

Edited February 12, 2024 by Banana Belt

[awkonradi]

Doesn't even look like the same palms, before and after.

[Ivanos1982]

I'm gonna get hate for this but I like the look of them nice and trimmed. Specially when they remove the trunk dead leaves and it looks really skinny. Some robustas have curved trunks and they are more apparent when they do this. The leaves grow again in about a month unless they have wind storms which break a few of them. I struggled to find someone to trim my palms when I lived in El Paso, TX. NOBODY wanted to trim the trunks. Yet I've seen them do it in Arizona and California all the time.

[JLM]

12 hours ago, Ivanos1982 said:

I'm gonna get hate for this but I like the look of them nice and trimmed. Specially when they remove the trunk dead leaves and it looks really skinny. Some robustas have curved trunks and they are more apparent when they do this. The leaves grow again in about a month unless they have wind storms which break a few of them. I struggled to find someone to trim my palms when I lived in El Paso, TX. NOBODY wanted to trim the trunks. Yet I've seen them do it in Arizona and California all the time.

Trimming dead fronds & such off as well as removing dead boots from the trunk is perfectly fine. However, hurricane cutting them can be detrimental to the health of palms and can lead to steady decline over a period of several years if the palm is continuously trimmed aggressively. Disease outbreaks can also be started when pruning heavily like this if they do not clean their equipment between each palm. 

[Patrick]

"If its green, don't cut it."

[SeanK]

So long as they don't get trimmed like Crape myrtles. 

[meridannight]

On 2/12/2024 at 2:05 PM, Banana Belt said:

It looks like there were 4 palms in the before and 3 in the after with 1 being removed, so perhaps it was the owner who wanted this done that way.

I think the 4th is outside the frame (on the right) on the 'after' photo. 

[Little Tex]

On 2/12/2024 at 10:41 AM, awkonradi said:

Doesn't even look like the same palms, before and after.

I don't think so either, unless they performed a miracle and caused the hedge to grow over the fence while the palm was being mutilated, but I will say that people usually opt for having more of the plant trimmed to get the most money out of it,  a few extra fronds initially is going to be be a lot cheaper than having the crew come out with their spikes, lifts, ladders, etc and trim it again next year.  For non palm people I can see that being logical, of course being given that person is indifferent to the telephone poles with crew cuts hanging out in the yard in the first place

[Las Palmas Norte]

I think communicating face to face with the "Professional Tree Service" agent, with specifics as to exactly how you'd like the palms trimmed would be prudent. The pics in the advertisement may be exactly what the home owner wanted, and what non-palm enthusiasts would expect to be normal practice.

[Las Palmas Norte]

On 2/12/2024 at 8:46 AM, Ivanos1982 said:

... I struggled to find someone to trim my palms when I lived in El Paso, TX. NOBODY wanted to trim the trunks. ...

Have you seen the palm tree tornado?

 

 

 

[Xerarch]

16 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

I think communicating face to face with the "Professional Tree Service" agent, with specifics as to exactly how you'd like the palms trimmed would be prudent. The pics in the advertisement may be exactly what the home owner wanted, and what non-palm enthusiasts would expect to be normal practice.

Yeah, if you're in the business of making a living by providing a customer a service that they want, you better be sure to provide that customer with an outcome they'll be glad to pay for.  I like to leave all the fully green fronds, heck on my personal palms I leave them until they are totally dead, then remove them.  While I think it's a good practice to educate customers on healthy pruning, I'm sure many a customer just wants their trees trimmed just like these ones are.  Another thing is, these washingtonias will grow right out of that in no time anyway and be none the worse off.  It is more damaging to do that to a sabal or any slower growing palm.

[Xerarch]

11 minutes ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Have you seen the palm tree tornado?

 

 

 

That's awesome, I've had an idea to do something just like that, my ideas are always late to the party, lol.

[Banana Belt]

13 hours ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

palm tree tornado

I would be worried that the saw blades might cut into the green living tissue of the palm.  When trimming a palm by hand it is easy to accidentally cut too deep leaving a wound.  Even small shallow wounds on a palm will take long time to heal and form a large scar bigger than the wound itself.

Not long ago a neighbor nearby accidentally killed their Washy by cutting too deep when trimming away dead leaves.   This because they wanted their palm to have a smooth trunk to look like my Jubaea.  The trimming was done in late summer with many wounds, and following wet winter season caused fungus to get into the palm through the wounds.

On another note, I have often wondered why palms such as Washies when growing in northern climes will hold on to their dead leaves, while the same palms growing in warmer more southern latitudes will drop off the leafs clean to the trunk.  Why is this?  Even Queens and Jubaea will do this.

[Little Tex]

29 minutes ago, Banana Belt said:

I would be worried that the saw blades might cut into the green living tissue of the palm.  When trimming a palm by hand it is easy to accidentally cut too deep leaving a wound.  Even small shallow wounds on a palm will take long time to heal and form a large scar bigger than the wound itself.

Not long ago a neighbor nearby accidentally killed their Washy by cutting too deep when trimming away dead leaves.   This because they wanted their palm to have a smooth trunk to look like my Jubaea.  The trimming was done in late summer with many wounds, and following wet winter season caused fungus to get into the palm through the wounds.

On another note, I have often wondered why palms such as Washies when growing in northern climes will hold on to their dead leaves, while the same palms growing in warmer more southern latitudes will drop off the leafs clean to the trunk.  Why is this?  Even Queens and Jubaea will do this.

maybe its the genetics, hybrids seem to tend to keep their boots moreso than pure-ish specimens, 

[Palmfarmer]

On 2/12/2024 at 10:46 AM, Ivanos1982 said:

I'm gonna get hate for this but I like the look of them nice and trimmed. Specially when they remove the trunk dead leaves and it looks really skinny. Some robustas have curved trunks and they are more apparent when they do this. The leaves grow again in about a month unless they have wind storms which break a few of them. I struggled to find someone to trim my palms when I lived in El Paso, TX. NOBODY wanted to trim the trunks. Yet I've seen them do it in Arizona and California all the time.

I agree I think Robustas that are “over trimmed” slightly looks great. Not as much as In the photo though. I like a 1:30 cut.

I see people say it is such bad for palms, but is it really? 
I would think for Robustas In a warm climate it would not matter too much for the health. However slow growing species in colder climates it would be very bad I imagine. 

[Banana Belt]

3 hours ago, Little Tex said:

hybrids seem to tend to keep their boots moreso than pure-ish specimens

That seems to be true from all the pictures I have seen.  There are very few Hybrids in my area so I have not personally viewed such forms.  I have seen Jubaea further north growing in Zone 8 and 9 and they seem to have smaller trunks and hold on to their leaf fronds and boots up and down the trunk.  The two Jubaea I have readily drop leaves cleanly from the trunk as soon as they start turning yellow and brown.  Queens in my area sometimes hold onto the boots for some time before dropping off and none of them have substantial thick trunks as those growing in California. 

From my observation, palms that grow swelling trunks such as Jubaea and Queens to lesser extent, when growing in preferred climates grow fatter trunks than if growing in marginal climates.  From this it appears that the expanding trunk is what causes the fibers of the boot attached to the trunk to break away and thus cleanly falling off.   Many palms growing in marginal climates don't seem to grow readily expanding trunks as they age and hence fibers of the leaf attached to the trunk experience little tension-al stress.

Anyway, just a theory.

Edited February 14, 2024 by Banana Belt

[ZPalms]

Maybe humidity, heat, and rainfall make the fronds come off more readily than they would in a more northern climate? I also agree that maybe a swelling trunk, ripping the fibers probably makes it easier, especially if the palm is growing vigorously.

[Chris Chance]

Seriously every single tree trimmer hurricane cuts palms around here.  I'll see them trim queen palms to just a few fronds. I think it has gotten to the point around here people think palms are supposed to be trimmed like that. Trimmers actually charge to haul so the more the cut off the more they charge. Wasn't long ago I got into an argument with a trimmer telling me it's good for the palm. Obviously he's not an arborist. 

[Palmfarmer]

This reminded me of something I saw the other day: 

These have been cut like that for over 5 years at least. 

Edited February 23, 2024 by Palmfarmer

[Ivanos1982]

11 hours ago, Palmfarmer said:

This reminded me of something I saw the other day: 

These have been cut like that for over 5 years at least. 

I do the same thing to my sagos lol they grow an entire crown of leaves in one sitting so it's just a temporary winter look

[Bigfish]

We quit pruning the Washingtonia palms years ago.  Actually, my folks had someone come and trim them similar to that first picture every year, but I finally convinced Dad that he was just throwing away money.  Ours are hybrids, and as you can see, hold onto dead leaves for many years and make a skirt.  I love the skirts, lol.  
 

Too much pruning like that will lead to pencil-necking, but if it’s only done once a year it’s probably not going to hurt anything.  They grow so fast you can’t tell in a few months anyway.

[Palmfarmer]

23 hours ago, Ivanos1982 said:

I do the same thing to my sagos lol they grow an entire crown of leaves in one sitting so it's just a temporary winter look

lol

the problem here is that these are stunted phoenix canariensis palms. Surprised they are still alive. These are cut like that every time they grow just a tiny bit.