Need Palm Trees Trimmed & Seed Pods Removed
 

Looking for recommendations to have Sylvester and Bismark palm trees trimmed and Seed pods removed?

I have been using Vidal Landscape & Design....... they do a very good job, clean up well when done and are about as reasonably priced as any of the many I have tried in our 16 years in TV.
David Vidal, 352-396-8499 or Kathy (spouse), 352-396-8459. Good luck.....

Do what we did, trim 3 feet below ground. Awful messy tree, needs constant maintenance and the bugs love them, ugh!

We have four Sylvester's, two of which are large. I have never removed the seed pods. Im not sure why you want them removed. In fact, I've harvested some of the seeds, and are growing them in small containers.

I have queen palms. First sign of rot I have them taken out. I've been told once you plant Palm and it matures you can never plant something in that spot do to the root bulb takes decades to disappear? In these small lots you can't take the root bulb out below the ground. I would just make sure who even you get is insured and bonded. IMO not job for local handyman or yard clean up guy?

Try buying a pole saw and doing it yourself!

Palm trees belong in other peoples yards, they are nice to look at and I don’t have to care for them.


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The first time I saw big seed pods on queen palms, I could not believe it. Huge, heavy, pointy things that looked like they could take somebody out if they were standing under the tree at the wrong time. Our queen palms had grown really tall and those pods gave me the willies.

Between those :cus: seed pods and the yellowing fronds to constantly be removed, I was DONE after 2 years of dealing with queen palms.

Queen palms really don’t belong in our part of Florida — too far north. But people like them because of their Florida look.

In the beginning, I was quite taken with our queen palms. I thought they were so pretty against the blue sky. I even schlepped big bags of fertilizer to them according to schedule.

I caught on though — after seeing huge seed pods that seemed to appear out of nowhere and after hearing that palm rats like to live in queen palms. I never saw one but I wondered if they could see me. (shudder) The palm fronds had started to touch the roof, too.

GONE!

(Turns out, they actually gave a surprising amount of shade, but I do not miss those queen palms one bit.)

Some of us like our Palms and have them trimmed and maintained regularly. We use Reese Cason who is a contractor listed on this site and are very happy with him. Up north we had oaks and maples and had to rake up a hundred bags of leaves every fall.

The going rate for large queen palms is about $20 per tree...
need to be cleaned out twice per year....

We have 8 of them....a mistake I would never repeat....and do recommend alternative palms that may be a few bucks more but less expensive in the long run.

I would tell our palm trimming guy to take one out each time he does a trim.....but I am out voted by my other half!!!!

Which tree are you referring to that is awful messy. We have a Sylvester tree on our property and it not messy at all.

Im wondering the same thing. We have 4 Sylvesters, a Pindo and a Mule palm, none of which are messy.

A Greener Source, Abel Perez, 352-396-8579. Affiliated with Jireh Landscaping. We have 16 Palms of different varieties and sizes. Abel maintains (fertilizes, trims etc) them and has for the last 3+ years. To date, no tree has died or been replaced.

When should we have seed pods removed-Sylvesters?

I was not the poster who said this however, I can speak from experience.
Queen palms are the messy one. We have sylvestri and a multi trunked dwarf date palm with no problem except for very minor trimming.

The queens, now 15 years ago planted are all (9) 25 plus feet in height. They put out huge seed pods that left to open will produce huge amounts of palm berries that eventually drop to the ground covering everything. They also put out a huge yellow flower type appendage that when done blooming makes a huge mess on the ground.

It takes cleaning out at least twice per year at $15 to $20 per palm (because of the height).

Queens are cheap. The look nice and tropical. They grow very fast. And are very messy. When past a certain height they can no longer be serviced by the home owner.

There are too many other better palm choices.

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I had an estimate from a company (mentioned as a great company on this forum) to trim shrubs and maintain my palm trees. I was told they will not remove the seed pods from my tall queen palms until they open up. The pods are too heavy and they will not put their workers at risk of injury to remove the seed pods. They will, however, remove the seed pods after they open up.

I have always had the seed pods removed by my previous shrub and tree maintenance company before the pods opened up. Unfortunately, my original company is no longer trimming my property. That's another story.

I don't know what to do. I honestly do not want the seed pods to open up and make a mess in front of my home. I don't really mind if seed pods in my palms open up in the back and side of my home. The mess won't be a noticeable.

How many of you actually allow your palm tree seed pods to open up?

Does your company remove the seed pods before they open up? Are they licensed and insured?

Hi coffeebean,

Although I have written before about how I got over my enchantment with queen palms and had them removed because of the constant maintenance -- and wondering about palm rats, I did not mention the ultimate deciding factor. It was exactly what that company told you about protecting their workers from the risk of injury -- only I made the decision myself after that seed pod scene played out in front of me for the very first time.

That was when I saw a worker get way, way up into those trees (with a small chainsaw, no less) and then saw the weight and height of what he brought down. I was horrified. That seed pod was a biggun and the weight was an even bigger surprise to me. They did a fine job, but I bet my face was ashen.

I had known nothing about seed pods. But I do know a few things about risk vs. benefit. The risk was not worth it to me. Others feel differently, I know.

Those trees have been gone for a while now.

Smart move. And very thoughtful of you to boot.

Are queen palms one of the trees that must have ARC approval to be removed? I know there are trees that if the trunk is greater than 4", the homeowner must get ARC approval to remove it.

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I did.

Approval was not a problem. I think I went to an office upstairs in Sumter Landing somewhere and got the paperwork, took it back in, and it was approved. I think I had to draw a little sketch of the location but I don’t remember for sure. I do not know if anybody from ARC ever came out and looked. It really was no big deal at all.

I got the impression that taking down queen palms was not something ARC would give you a hassle over. But I wanted to make sure.

I did let my neighbors know but that is just because I thought it was the polite thing to do, especially since we live so close to each other.

You will be giving up shade — a surprising amount — but for me it was worth it.

We too have inherited many palms which need to be trimmed on a regular basis. Would you tell us who you have trimming your palms? Thank you.

Sylvester Palms (a.k.a. wild date, toddy palm) like all date palms have seperate male and female trees. The male trees provide the pollen that bees, etc., take to the female trees to fertilize the flowers that produce the dates. These fruits fall off these female trees and can make a big mess. The palm seedlings that grow from these dates are also hard to pull up. I have two male Sylvesters and one female. i remove the fruit from the female tree to avoid the mess. It is a big job and the dates are quite heavy and fill up 5 large garden refuse bags.

Since your tree is not messy it is probably a male tree. If you had a female you woukd know it for sure! Some other palm varieties also have male and female trees, whereas others can pollinate their own flowers.