palm tree???

[SteveMc]

I've recently bought a house that has a palm tree in the yard. Unfortunately I know nothing about taking care of such a creature. My research tells me that this is a washingtonia fan palm. It is about 20 ft tall and to me it looks a little shabby. Should I clear away the scruffy, harry fibers from the trunk? I see new fans emerging at the top. When is it appropriate to cut off the old growth?

 

[Cornubia06]

not sure about the timing over there but here in france palm maintenence is generally done in the warmer months. reason being is that palms are monocots and the fronds protect the palm heart from cold weather/frost. remove lower drooping fronds to just above the horizontal, count how many whirls you remove and remove the same number of last years stobs. over here the style of which the stobs are left vary from area to area. is ok to lose the hairy stuff lower down and also lose last years flower spikes if any. definately a job for a pro..

 

[Cornubia06]

heres a couple pics of some i did last summer to give ya'un idea

 

[vharrison2]

SteveMc welcome to the site. Washingtonias can either be left completely alone allowing the dead fronds to create a skirt, or trimmed the way Cornubia06 illustrated. It is a matter of preference. I would agree with Cornubia06 on the timing of trims, doing it in the warmer months because of where you are; Mississippi. Where I live, we trim them all year long, but it is warm all year long.

Nice job on the trimming Cornubia06.