[Retiring]

I didn't know there was such a variety of palms. I looked at several pictures and I think the Royal Palm is my favorite.

Are there many Royal Palms in TV?

[Cedwards38]

I'm a big fan of the Sylvester Palm. Not as tall as the Queen, but more full and far less messy. I love the way they look.
All the palms need fertilizer. The best is LESCO 8-2-12. Comes in granules and easy to apply. Just take a bucket full and toss it on the ground around your tree every other month or so. It really works.
Call these people, Fertilizer Direct at 352-205-7810 and they will deliver a large bag right to your garage for $50.

[villagetinker]

We just put in 2 Sylvester and 2 Canary palms.

[big guy]

Originally Posted by rexxfan

As a n00b from the north, pretty much the only trees I know how to deal with are maple trees and now I am confronted with palms. In particular palms that seem fond of having branches turn brown and fall over at random. Is this something that I could deal with myself (if I had a ladder and a saw, which I don't yet) or do I need a tree service of some sort? If the latter, any recommendations? My so-called all-in-one service company (with whom I have no major issues so far) does everything except trees. Here's a pic of the latest two branches to give up the ghost:

https://goo.gl/photos/AHms3Wa7GZK1ZBT88

Also, as to forum etiquette, would there have been a better section to post this to? Thank you kindly for any advice you can share.
--
bc

The queen palm is relatively cheap, not for zone 9a but you can enjoy it until it dies. Generally, it gets too cold here for Queens and for Bismarks. Palms are actually grasses and need fronds cut relatively often. Do not cut the fronds if there is any green in it. Let it go until it is all brown. The green leaves make "food" for the palm. Fertilize only with Lesco 8/2/12 + 4 or BGI Palm Gain 8/2/12 +4 in March, June and September. The bags will tell you how much. It's better to err on the side of not enough that to apply too much. I still prune mine and I am a 72 year old woman. I use a 17' extension pole pruner. Before I prune a palm, I spray 70% isopropol alcohol on the saw part. If someone else is doing the work for me, I spray their saw. My guy has accepted it. Good luck. And you can stop at the government annex on the corner of Morse and 466 on Mondays to get info from the Master Gardeners about pruning palms.

[Topspinmo]

Depends on how you are with general maintenance and yard clean up? That looks like small or medium queen. Not that hard to maintain. If you keep on top of it. Would cut the seed pods out as soon as they bloom open. Cut the brown Fonds off leaving short stem, eventually they will fall over or fall off.

In about 5 or 10 years the tree will get too tall for you maybe too old to maintain it. That's when I would have someone pruned or taken out. Reguardless the Fonds and seed pods are very heavy. You don't want one falling on you!

[butterfly sue]

We planted Washingtonian palms. Told they are hardier than Queen palms and slow growers. After almost 9 yrs we tore them out. With houses here having irrigation the palm trees end up getting too much water and grow faster because of it. Ours were 25' and costly to remove. Why did we remove them? Couldn't be trimmed anymore w/o a cherry picker $$$, tallest trees in neighborhood (lightning concerns), took awhile but now had messy seed pods, and was a very windy day when branch fell off and tore neighbors side window screen. We then worried about branch falling and scratching our car up or the neighbors if they are parked in driveway. Rat was on roof of house one time when trimmers out and they scared it so it fell off the roof onto one of the landscapers feet who let out a yell. Rat climbed up palm to roof I guess.

So I encourage you to do some homework and figure out what tree(s) you really want planted in your yards. Look in the older sections of TV and see how tall other trees are etc. if anything take your time before acting as there is no rush

One last thing do not plant trees too close together. I have been noticing that lately. Give them room

[Shimpy]

Originally Posted by Retiring

I didn't know there was such a variety of palms. I looked at several pictures and I think the Royal Palm is my favorite.

Are there many Royal Palms in TV?

Nope, nor are there any coconut palms. We are too far north here and you'd have to go to south Florida to see them. Most people, when they think of Florida, think of the post cards that show the coconut palms on the beach. There is a big difference in climate between north central Florida and south of Okeechobee. The warm Golf Stream comes within a few miles of the coast in south Florida then turns back out to sea and this effects the climate greatly.

[Retiring]

Originally Posted by Shimpy

Nope, nor are there any coconut palms. We are too far north here and you'd have to go to south Florida to see them. Most people, when they think of Florida, think of the post cards that show the coconut palms on the beach. There is a big difference in climate between north central Florida and south of Okeechobee. The warm Golf Stream comes within a few miles of the coast in south Florida then turns back out to sea and this effects the climate greatly.

Thank you Les.

[virgind]

Best thing to do is get rid of your palm trees they really aren't native up here and most are rat havens. And black ants. We had coconut palms in the Keys and they suck. You will find that people from south Florida do not have any palms in their yard.