Prune Mexican Fan Palm – Fully Brown Fronds Only

Cut only fully brown fronds on Mexican fan palm, and never hurricane-cut the crown. Wear gloves on the toothed leaf stalks.

Cut only fully brown fronds, and never hurricane-cut the crown

Mexican fan palm has one growing point, hidden in the heart of the crown. Green fans feed that bud and also shield it in wind. A hurricane cut that leaves a tuft of new leaves makes the palm weaker in a storm, not stronger, and it can start a thin spot in the trunk. [1] Yellowing oldest fans are often a potassium shortage, not a reason to prune. Leave them until they are fully brown, and feed from the grow page. California fan palm follows the same brown-only rule. [2]

1. Stand back and look for fans that are fully gray-brown, with no green left in the blade.
2. Put on gloves and eye cover. The leaf stalks carry sharp teeth.
3. Cut the brown fan close to the trunk, without gouging the bark.
4. Leave yellow and green fans, even if they look tired. Cutting them pushes the shortage up into the next ring.
5. Wipe the blade before you move to another palm, so you do not carry a wilt fungus on a dirty saw.
6. Never belt climbing spikes into the trunk. Those wounds let a trunk rot in.

Take the skirt if fire or rodents force it, not on a calendar

Young Mexican fan palm keeps dead fans as a skirt around the trunk. After the tree is about 30 feet tall, those old bases often drop on their own, and the palm is then self-cleaning. California fan palm keeps a thicker petticoat for many years. That thatch does not hurt the tree. It can be a fire hazard, and it can house rats, so some towns require it off. [3] [4] Owls and bats also use a skirt. Cut it because of fire, a walkway, or a local rule, not because a crew is on a calendar.

1. Decide why the skirt has to come off: fire risk, a walk, rodents, or a town rule.
2. If you leave it, leave it. Do not lion-tail the trunk into a few green fans at the top.
3. If you take it, cut only dead fans and loose bases. Do not pull green bases that still cling.
4. Work in cooler months if you can, so a newly bare trunk is not scorched the next afternoon.
5. On a tall tree, hire a climber who will not spike the trunk. A dropped fan from 50 feet is a real hazard.

Leave green and yellow fans, skip a hurricane cut, and take the skirt only when fire or a walk forces the issue.