When and How to Prune a Palm Tree
Palm fronds are falling as the city performs it's seasonal pruning. Shane Wilson thanked the city for waiting till the "pups" (bat babies) were gone. If you are not aware of it, these dead palm fronds are vital habitat for our bats that are now appearing on the "threatened" list. Just search "bats and palm trees" and you will find some very informative sites. One of them is the Texas Parks and Wildlife Site discussing the Yellow Bat which is common to Cameron County. Mosquito spraying and pruning were sited as reasons for their decline.
If we are going to prune our palm trees then it is essential that we all learn when bat season is and at least wait until it has ended. According to Shane there are bats that live year-round in some of these palm trees. If we want to protect our bat population then we will need to create sites (your own backyard could be a start) where we leave the palm trees unpruned. I really don't have that much knowledge on the subject of bats so that is why i'm posting this blog. It would be good to have the nesting dates and to mark these on the city's calender of when not to prune.
The second issue is how to prune. It is certainly not uniform on this island. Some trees are shaved, some look like pineapples. I'm sure there is vocabulary describing the different pruning techniques and once again I claim ignorance. But from observation, I think the "shave" technique leaves the tree very vulnerable to termites and weather. The "pineapple" technique that leaves a protective shield on the trunk seems healthier for the tree.
Palm fronds are falling as the city performs it's seasonal pruning. Shane Wilson thanked the city for waiting till the "pups" (bat babies) were gone. If you are not aware of it, these dead palm fronds are vital habitat for our bats that are now appearing on the "threatened" list. Just search "bats and palm trees" and you will find some very informative sites. One of them is the Texas Parks and Wildlife Site discussing the Yellow Bat which is common to Cameron County. Mosquito spraying and pruning were sited as reasons for their decline.
If we are going to prune our palm trees then it is essential that we all learn when bat season is and at least wait until it has ended. According to Shane there are bats that live year-round in some of these palm trees. If we want to protect our bat population then we will need to create sites (your own backyard could be a start) where we leave the palm trees unpruned. I really don't have that much knowledge on the subject of bats so that is why i'm posting this blog. It would be good to have the nesting dates and to mark these on the city's calender of when not to prune.
The second issue is how to prune. It is certainly not uniform on this island. Some trees are shaved, some look like pineapples. I'm sure there is vocabulary describing the different pruning techniques and once again I claim ignorance. But from observation, I think the "shave" technique leaves the tree very vulnerable to termites and weather. The "pineapple" technique that leaves a protective shield on the trunk seems healthier for the tree.
1 Comments:
I'm glad somebody is talking about it, as the town moves toward privatizing some of its landscaping services. Palm trees is the first contract being considered. The contractor would cut dead palm fronds on trees growing within the town's right-of-way.
I've snooped around the Internet and while no botanist, the idea that the wintertime is bad to trim palms because it can cause stress if it (ever) freezes.
The second bad thing is to trim too close to the crown, which actually stunts its growth and causes the three to grow narrow at that point. So "crowning" a palm tree is a serious no-no anytime of the year.
The third bad thing is to shave the old branches from the tree, which is akin to debarking. People like to make their Sabal Palm look like a Florida coconut tree but for the Sabal, those rough edges are actually part of the tree.
There are myths about trimming the Sabal Palm before a hurricane, since there is a large amount of wind resistance and weight up there, and the fronds can become projectiles. This is true ... for palms that had been previously trimmed. On the palms that never have been trimmed, I never saw them throw down a branch.
Thanks for bringing up the issue. My preference is to limit "de-bearding" to March through April, as there are few Mexican Golden Bats here then and the threat of freeze is basically over. Then, palms should be maintained prior to hurricanes on an as-needed basis.
Note that the Golden Bat loves the old palms that have a very large beard, and just a few dead fronds next to a road aren't very inviting to them.
Then we can talk about how to get BFI (now Allied) to collect the palm fronds (no Oleander plants please) and turn it into mulch for us. /Sam
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