How to Prune a Bamboo Palm

Careful pruning can help the bamboo palm to thrive by allowing light to reach the inner stems. But overpruning can be the worst thing for a palm tree. The mature leaves of the bamboo palm are useful to the tree even when they appear yellowed and dead. Some nutrients move from older leaves of palms to newer leaves as they decay. This is why leaves that are only partially yellow or brown should never be removed as it may harm the palm. The key to pruning bamboo palm is to be patient and never prune solely for cosmetic reasons.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Garden gloves
• Small pruning shears

1. Examine the tree to look for the brownest and driest leaves that appear ready to drop on their own. Gently run your hand against these to see if they will drop on their own.

2. Find the remaining leaves that have absolutely no green and only brown or very dark yellow.

3. Gently pull at these leaves. If there is any resistance, do not force the leaf to come away from the plant.

4. Prune the plant matter remaining after removal of the brown leaf. Clip gently near the base of the removed leaf with a fine pruning shear. Do not prune any bamboo palm leaves that are growing horizontally or upward even if they are brown.

5. Rub your fingers against the stem of the palm where you have removed the dead leaves to clear the final debris away from the green stem.

6. Remove flowers from the bamboo palm when they appear by pulling them away. Wear gloves because they may irritate the skin.

Tips & Warnings

• The palm tree has its own counting system. It loses or creates no more leaves than it needs. In pruning you must follow the lead of the palm and remove only what is ready to go on its own. When a new leaf emerges, the oldest leaf dies, so trust your bamboo palm to let go of leaves in their time.
• Three to six leaves per stem is normal for the bamboo palm. Simply cut off old unsightly leaves, but be careful not to remove the leaf sheath from the stern until it is dry and easy to loosen.
• Do not overtrim bamboo palm. Palm trees use their leaves as protection against the weather, animals and diseases. Immature leaves that are without support and protection of mature leaves are more susceptible to damage. In an indoor environment where air may not be fresh and pollutants may be in the air, it is important that the self-care system of the plant not be disturbed by violent pruning.
• A large number of yellow leaves can be an indication of a nutrition problem such as a lack of potassium or magnesium. Too much nitrogen in the fertilizer can also be a troublemaker causing yellowing of leaves.

References

• Palm Trees.com
• Florida Palm Trees.com: Palm Tree Care Mistakes
• Sun Palm Trees.com: Palm Tree Pruning