Palm tree care in Pomona, CA comes down to a few rules: remove only dead and dying fronds plus flower and fruit stalks, leave every healthy green frond, trim about once a season, and never climb a palm you want to keep with spikes. Over-trimming green fronds starves a palm and weakens it over time. A clean, full crown is healthier and safer than a narrow "pineapple" cut.
Which palms grow in Pomona
- Mexican fan palm, very tall and slim, often 60 feet or more.
- California fan palm, thicker and shorter, with a heavy skirt of dead fronds.
- Canary Island date palm, huge crown and sharp spines.
- Queen palm, common in newer yards, with messy fruit.
- Pygmy date palm, small, near entries and pools.
How much to cut
The palm's green fronds make its food. Older fronds also store nutrients the palm reclaims as they yellow. Cutting them early takes those resources away. A good guide: leave all fronds at or above the horizontal line, from about the 9 o'clock to the 3 o'clock position. Remove only fronds that are brown or mostly yellow, and the flower and fruit stalks.
Why over-trimming hurts
- Starvation. Fewer green fronds mean less energy for the palm.
- Pencil trunks. Repeated hard trimming can narrow the trunk over time.
- Weak crowns. A palm with only a few fronds left is more vulnerable to wind and disease.
- Wounds. Cutting frond bases too close or skinning the trunk too hard damages the palm. Climbing spikes leave permanent holes.
The UC IPM program and palm researchers recommend removing only dead and dying fronds.
Rats and fire
A fan palm left untrimmed grows a skirt of dead fronds down the trunk. That skirt is a favorite nesting spot for roof rats, and it burns easily. In Santa Ana winds, embers can land in dead fronds and ignite them. Cleaning off the skirt helps with pests and with defensible space.
How often to trim
Most fan palms need trimming once a season, often in late spring or summer when flower stalks appear. Queen and date palms may need more frequent attention because of fruit. Trimming more often than needed does not help the palm.
Diseases and pests
- Fusarium wilt in Canary Island date palms. Fronds die on one side first. It spreads on tools, so saws should be cleaned between palms.
- Pink rot and bud rot in stressed palms.
- Palm weevils, which attack the crown.
If the center of the crown starts to die, call for a closer look. See our tree health assessment.
Palms near power lines
Tall fan palms often grow into overhead lines. If any frond is within 10 feet of a line, call SCE at 1-800-611-1911. Do not let anyone climb until the line is clear. Read our power line guide.
When to remove a palm
Remove a palm when it is dying, diseased, too tall to maintain safely, too close to the house or in the lines. Removal is done from the top down, with the heavy crown lowered on ropes. The root ball can be ground out. See palm trimming and removal.
Street palms
Palms in the parkway are City street trees in Pomona and need a City permit for trimming or removal. Call the City at (909) 620-3759.
Watering palms
Palms are often thought of as desert plants, but most landscape palms do best with regular deep water in summer. A stressed, thirsty palm sheds fronds faster and is more prone to disease. Water slowly around the root zone, keep sprinklers from spraying the trunk constantly, and add a palm fertilizer with manganese and magnesium in the growing season if the fronds turn yellow or frizzled.
Hiring someone to trim palms
Ask how they climb, how many fronds they plan to leave, whether cleanup is included and whether they clean tools between date palms. Tree work of $1,000 or more needs a contractor with a CSLB license in California.
Call (909) 479-2666 to book palm trimming.
After a big wind, check palms using our windstorm checklist.
Common questions
Why should I not cut all the lower fronds off my palm?
Healthy green fronds feed the palm, and older fronds store nutrients it reclaims as they age. Removing them early starves the palm, can narrow the trunk over time and makes the crown weaker. Keep everything at or above the horizontal line and remove only dead and dying fronds and stalks.
Do untrimmed palms attract rats?
Yes. The dense skirt of dead fronds on an untrimmed fan palm is a common nesting spot for roof rats. Trimming off the dead fronds removes that habitat, and also lowers fire risk from embers in wind events. Pair trimming with sealing any gaps in your roof and attic.