landscaper pruned our mule palm

12 years ago

We hired a new landscaper to cut grass, they are wonderful people and do great work. When we returned home we found our beautiful majestic looking mule palm pruned to about four prongs we don't know if he thought it was a queen palm because those are the others (he pruned those too) in our yard. It (the mule) was a gift from my daughter and wife for fathers day. I have attached a picture. Should a mule be pruned this way as I have never seen it, about how long can I expect to get my mule to looking like it did and is there anything I can do now to help the tree? I had the tree for 2 years and had just put in palm tree stakes. I feel like they cut me too every time I look at it. Thank you. Can'tsleepduetomymule

Featured Answer

islandbreeze

12 years ago

That's a very nice gift! Mule palms aren't cheap and that's a big one.

Generally speaking, you're not supposed to prune any palm like that. You shouldn't cut any green fronds off palms unless they're getting in your way, but some palms are more tolerant of others due to speed of growth.

Your mule palm will be fine, but I don't advise pruning it like that regularly. It might take up to a year to regrow the new fronds, but mules are part-queen, which is a fast growing palm.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (11)

eriktampabay
12 years ago
If it is not Brown do not cut it down. It should fill back out by the end of the year.
Related Professionals
Cincinnati Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Sugar Land Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Lansing Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Utica Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · El Dorado Landscape Contractors · Huntington Landscape Contractors · Lawrence Landscape Contractors · Chattanooga Architects & Building Designers · Chillicothe Architects & Building Designers · Waterbury Architects & Building Designers · South Sioux City Architects & Building Designers · Sioux Falls Architects & Building Designers · Green Bay Architects & Building Designers · Kalispell Architects & Building Designers · Ogden Architects & Building Designers
tropicalzone7
12 years ago
I agree with erik, I would also never cut a palm's fronds unless they are brown! If you are cutting off green fronds, you are overpruning. Your palm will have no problem recovering though. Most mules seem to have a growth rate of about 1 frond a month in warm weather so at that rate you should have a full crown of fronds again by the end of the summer! Just make sure they don't prune it next time.

Good luck!
-Alex
oceanmotion
12 years ago
Have to share the growth rate of my mule palm in Daytona Beach, zone 9a, full sun, abundance of palm fertilizers. Exactly three years ago to the day I planted a field grown Butyagrus nabbonnandi. So far it's grown about 14 inches per year in HEIGHT (42+ inches total). However the purplish trunk has quadrupled in girth! The two photos document the massive growth in circumference in 36 months! I do saw off the blooms before they turn into messy, heavy fruit. I read that doing so channels that carbohydrate energy into the fronds and trunk instead of the inflorescence; is this true? Also read by only pruning brown fronds the palm will tend to be thicker, more lush and robust because palms feed by reabsorbing nutrients from the green limbs; is this correct?

This post was edited by oceanmotion on Tue, Apr 1, 14 at 18:57
oceanmotion
12 years ago
First planted in yard exactly three years ago (field grown).
oceanmotion
12 years ago
Almost as wide and tall as my Canary Island Date Palm now. Those are two yard sticks for scale in the photo.
oceanmotion
12 years ago
One more to compare the overall growth in three years.
chachacharlie
12 years ago
I hate over pruned palms! They do it here in Southern California to Queens and Pigmy dates and they look awful. I know they do it because of unskilled labor who is not instructed on how to do their job properly. I've seen Queens with two fronds left, a terrible sight. I wouldn't let anyone touch my palms unless I was present at the time, and that would be for a very tall palm I cant reach and prune myself.
alabamatreehugger 8b SW Alabama
12 years ago
Wow, I wish my Mule palms looked like that. Mine were growing good until the hard freeze (down to 12F one night), now they're completely brown. I'm not sure if they'll even come back. Definitely not as cold hardy as their Pindo parent.
cwrenodude
5 years ago
This is a universal problem,be it in California, Florida, Washington or British Columbia, There are almost zero landscapers or arborists that know or even care to learn how to prune a palm. In the Pacific NW, we are educating nurseries and landscapers here all the time... apparently a never ending task but always done with love of palms in mind. Even one overpruning episode can weaken a palm such that it will die in a stressful winter... Hang in there ! PNWPEPS
Mere Dykes
last month
This is my date palm, and that was definitely not what I expected.