Possible to Stop Berries Produced by Palms

Q. My palm trees continuously produce berries. I keep cutting them off but they come back. Even the new 1-year-old palms I planted have green berries on them.  Is there any way to keep them off?  Are there palms that do NOT produce berries?

A. Production of these berries or fruits and dropping them on the ground is a natural occurrence every year on all palms. They produce flowers on long stalks, the flowers become fruits or berries and they drop from the tree and litter the ground.

This is a major objection to palms growing near swimming pools. Once a palm is old enough for flowering, it will continue to flower and fruit every year. There is nothing that you can do to prevent the sequence of events leading up to the production of these berries. There are no chemicals you can apply to prevent this from happening.

However, there is one simple thing you can do. When it is ready to begin flowering you will see stems growing from the trunk. When they are long enough, cut off them off with a pruning shears.

Flowers emerging from Canary Island date palm in the spring.

Cutting off these flower stems prevents the production of fruit and will not harm the palm. If the palm is too tall, use a pole pruner to cut them off or a ladder and a loppers.

These flowers will make thousands of "berries" that will drop to the ground. Cut off the flower stalks with a loppers or pole pruner.

If you want it done commercially, coordinate the pruning of your palm at the same time it produces flowers and cut them off at the same time the palm is pruned.