[College of ACES] [University of Illinois] [Illinois CES]

Re: Canary Island Pines - Topping

arbor@global.co.za
Mon, 23 Jun 1997 14:58:37 -0500

The Canary Island palm (Phoenix canariensis) is a palm, like any other palm. Palm trees are "primitive" plants, this means that it has but one single growing point. Removing this growing point will kill the tree, because there are no adventitious buds from which to re-sprout.

You may want to suggest that the trees rather be "pine-appled", that is that most of the fronds be removed from the bottom up, leaving the growing point intact. Although having most of their fronds removed is not ideal for the trees, they will tolerate it, and it is certainly a much better option than losing the trees!

Anton Moller
Johannesburg
South Africa
arbor@global.co.za