Palms are everywhere in North San Diego County — tall Mexican fan palms along older streets in Vista and Oceanside, queen palms in newer tracts, and palms around nearly every apartment complex and HOA. They are also one of the most neglected trees we see, because they keep growing whether anyone trims them or not.
A palm doesn't drop its old fronds cleanly. They die, fold down and stack against the trunk, forming the skirt you see on untrimmed palms. That skirt gets heavy, it houses rats and insects, and it is extremely flammable — a dry palm skirt can carry fire from the ground to the crown in seconds, and burning fronds blow onto roofs.
Good palm trimming removes the dead and dying fronds, the seed pods and flower stalks, and the skirt. It does not strip the palm down to a few fronds at the top — over-trimming, sometimes called a "hurricane cut," stresses the palm and weakens the new growth. We leave the healthy green fronds in place.
Skinning is the step after that: cutting the old frond bases off the trunk so it's clean and smooth. It's partly cosmetic, but it also removes more of the dry material and the places pests like to hide.
How often? Most fan palms and queen palms want trimming once a year; fast-growing palms around buildings sometimes twice. For apartment complexes and HOAs, scheduling palms on an annual program is the simplest way to stay ahead of fire marshal notices and insurance inspections.
Tall palms are climbing work. We trim them with trained climbers on ropes and harness, not spikes on a palm that's staying — spiking wounds the trunk. Call Cortez Tree Care at (619) 781-6353 for palm trimming anywhere from Fallbrook to La Jolla.