It's not going to take anyone anytime at all to "trim" 20' palm trees. Anything more than $50 would be highway robbery. You can do it yourself with a polesaw and a ladder (if you're into that sort of thing).

Whatever you do, don't let them do a "hurricane cut". It's bad for the palms. Only cut out brown fronds. And if you tell them that, you should get a better price because they're not going to do as much work as they "planned" to bill you for by recommending a "hurricane cut".

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2011/sep/02/doug-caldwell-hurricane-cuts-may-be-death-blows-yo/

Thanks for posting that link!

I knew it was bad to cut the palms, but I didn't know why. Now, when I argue with people about it, I can sound like I know what I'm talking about. It seems like everyone wants to get those poor palms butchered.

Susie

I think the 'problem' with a lot of people is that they don't want to see brown or yellow on their palms. They have it stuck in their head that 'green is healthy, anything other than green is unhealthy' and so they try to keep their palms green, green, green. I knew a guy who trimmed trees over here in the Villages and he would recommend not trimming off the yellow fronds at least and his customers would decline, wanting the yellow ones removed as well. Sometimes you can give people all the information in the world, but they'll still take the path of aesthetics over 'health'.