Palm Fronds Falling From Mexican Fan Palm. Wrong!

Q. I see palm trees with the fronds falling off all around our Sun City McDonald Ranch as on our daily walks. Was wondering if this is part of the palm’s life cycle or is it a disease problem?

Palm fronds falling were thought to be from the Mexican fan palm. Not really.

A. Some palms have fronds that drop from the tree and other palms that don’t. The usual dropping of fronds may or may not be typical to some palm trees like the Mexican fan palm. It depends.

Mexican fan palms flowering.

            It's a genetic issue. Seed production in palms is from the wind, not from bees or flies. There can be a lot of genetic variability when starting plants from seed. In other words, there is a lot of variation in palms because they are started from seed. There is such a thing as "seeded varieties" (some lawn grasses) but for the most part not in palms.  

Mostly California fan palms near a lagoon in 29 Palms.

            The palms you have a picture of are generally Mexican fan palms. Mexican fan palms are typically started from seed. Mexican fan palms are famous (mistakenly) for "self-skinning". There is a lot of variability in that feature of Mexican fan palms. What you are seeing is genetic variability in these palms because of the seeds.

            Palm fronds separate from the trunk because of rotting (rotting diseases) but this does not happen as often with California fan palms. These typically have a fatter trunk that holds on to the palm fronds and may form a "skirt" of old dead fronds that cling to the trunk. So, we call fan palms with a fatter trunk "California fan palm" and those with a skinny trunk Mexican fan palm.