removing saw palmetto

10 years ago

As a snowbird spending winters in Florida for the past four years, I've certainly made gardening mistakes. Underestimating how large a plant can grow in one summer, finding my too sunny yard has suddenly become too shady, and learning downsides of plants I really wanted to grow.

I admired the bismarck palms I saw growing nearby, so I bought a small one but it succumbed to the freezing winters we had in 2009/2011. I liked the blue/green coloration so thought I'd grow a saw palmetto with a blue-ish color cast. Now it is taking up too much space in a border, so I'd like to dig it out/kill it.

Can anyone suggest the best way to get rid of it? I hesitate to spray with an herbicide because of a palm and crepe myrtle living on either side of it.

Thanks for any help!
Marcia

Featured Answer

Michael AKA Leekle2ManE

10 years ago

If by stems you mean the frond stems, cutting them off won't do much. It will put out more fronds next year. It is my understanding that you have to decapitate the trunk and get the heart where the fronds come from.

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Comments (6)

Michael AKA Leekle2ManE
10 years ago
You might try advertising on craigslist.org in the Free section or freecycle.org. A landscaper might just come out and dig it up for you.
marcia_m
Original Author
10 years ago
That's a thought but I'm not sure saw palmetto is so desirable that a landscaper would bother with mine. And my husband would kill me if his block wall was damaged!

My original thought when planting the palmetto was that the palm tree and crape myrtle would get taller (faster) and the palmetto would be a nice under planting, but you can see that's just not working so well.
Marcia
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fawnridge (Ricky)
10 years ago
If you cut it off at the base, you will kill it and it will slowly rot away.
marcia_m
Original Author
10 years ago
I wondered if that would work, Ricky. Last week I had my husband cut off one of the stems that was getting too close to the crepe myrtle and OMG! he laid right over a fire ant nest. Now he has blisters over both arms. They are healing slowly. Just wait until I tell him I want him to cut off all the rest of the stems. We'll be more careful and dig around a bit to see if there are ants present before attempting any more pruning.
Marcia
morningloree
10 years ago
I had someone cut them down to the ground, then I mulched over the area and cut the few fronds that struggled through the mulch. Eventually they gave up. Just a side note, the woody roots make a great base for orchids.