Xtremehorticulture

Xtremehorticulture of the Desert

Remove All Roots of Palms During Removal?

Leave a Comment / coir, date palm, soil mix, sucker /

Q. We have decided to have our Mexican fan palms removed. Do we need to have all the roots removed or just cut the palms down to the ground, especially the one next to the pool? Suckers from palms such as date palm are oftentimes removed when they get larger.  Success rate depends on taking a small amount from the “mother” palm as well as the sucker. A. If your palm trees do not sucker from the base (date palm, Mediterranean fan palm do produce suckers from the base) then as soon as the top is cut off, the palm will die. Both Mexican and California fan palms have one central bud at the top which is the only place where new growth can occur. Once cut and they die, they will slowly decay if left behind. Suckers from date palms are usually removed when bigger. Palm “Wood” Rots Very Slowly             The problem you will have when you leave any kind of stump is the palm trees very slow decay rate. Palm debris decay or rot very slowly. Coir is taken from coconut palms and is used in soil mixes to build soil structure because it resists decay. It is slow to decay and is the main reason I discourage its use in compost piles or use in woodchip mulch. It makes a great semi-permanent component in soil mixes. In both cases you want fertilizer or compost added to circumvent its slow decay. When plants decay, they add to the organic content of the soil and help make it darker. Coir is an ingredient we use in our soil mixes at our farm in the Philippines. Why? Because it is available and cheap. Remove as much of your palm trunk as possible. The palm roots won’t regrow, but any debris left behind from the trunk will decay very slowly. If you decide to use it in your new soil mix (it is a great addition to soils to improve soil structure), chop it as small as possible and make sure that fertilizer or compost is added to the soil to compensate for the slow breakdown of palm debris. By the way, water from pools is not all that desirable by any plants if they are getting enough water from irrigation.

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How to Kill a Yucca

Leave a Comment / pup, removed, sucker, yucca brevifolia, Yucca gloriosa /

Q. I had a yucca plant that has been in the ground 15 years, so you can guess how large it was. It was encroaching on the sidewalk, so felt we had to remove it.  We were unable to dig it up, so we took a chain saw and cut if off at the base and turned off the water. Within 3 days, we had 20 new shoots. Can you advise how to kill this plant? Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia)  in Sandy Valley. A xeric (watered infrequently) yucca.  Little rain in the Mojave Desert causes a small amount of growth every year. A. I dont know what kind of yucca this is. There are yucca that are “mesic” and others that are “xeric”. In the Mojave Desert climate it will eventually die because of a lack of water unless something is growing a few feet away that needs water. If water from other plants is close enough, the roots will take that water and use it.  Another type of Yucca (probably Y. gloriosa) which is mesic (watered more often than xeric) and more commonly found planted in the Southeastern US. When you cut it with a chainsaw you leave behind a small amount of stem attached to the roots. The stem, and not the roots, can provide new growth at certain times of their lives or when they are damaged. In most cases I know of, the roots alone cannot do this. Only if there is some stem (trunk) tissue left behind. There is a portion of the stem just above the roots which can send rhizomes into the surrounding soil to produce new plants called “pups”. Not all yuccas will do this. Evidently, yours is one that does. Some Joshua trees can produce pups while others will not. Conservationists believe it is a trait of Joshua’s growing at higher elevations but not lower elevations. Regardless, if you can kill all of the stem tissue down to the roots this should stop any regrowth of the plant. You can try drilling some holes in the remaining stem about half an inch from its perimeter and as deep as you can. Fill these holes with a diluted weedkiller or use copper sulfate. If it’s a liquid, fill the holes several times. If it’s a solid, fill the holes once. This should kill the stem and prevent any new growth.

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