How far back to trim your palm tree

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It's late March, and time to trim the palm trees. Actually, you can do it all summer, but it's just more comfortable to do it before it gets too hot. The only time you really aren't supposed to trim is during the winter, especially for miniature date palms, like I have here at The Tropical Paradise, as they can be sensitive to cold.

But it's not going to be cold again anytime soon around here, so it's time to trim. And I trim as closely as possible. There are different opinions on this, but my trees are very healthy and grow back very quickly. So much so, in fact, that I have to go back in a few weeks and re-trim the stubs, which continue growing. It's not absolutely necessary for the health of the tree, I just think it looks better.

By the way, if you see the leaves in the middle with a whiteish powder, don't be concerned. It's perfectly normal, and in fact it's the sign of a healthy tree.

OK, I have a few more trees left to trim, so it's back to work for me!

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