Palm Tree Removal in Fort Lauderdale, FL

Palm tree removal is the most common single job on Fort Lauderdale lots. Palms are everywhere here: coconut palms by the pool, royal palms along the drive, queen palms in older yards and sabal palms throughout. A palm grows from a single bud at the top. When that bud dies, the palm cannot recover, and the heavy crown eventually drops. Unlike a hardwood, a palm cannot be pruned back to health once its growing point is gone.

Lethal bronzing

The disease most often behind palm removals in Broward County is lethal bronzing, which UF/IFAS has confirmed in the county. It is caused by a bacterium that lives in the sap and is spread by planthoppers and leafhoppers. It affects 21 palm species, including sabal (cabbage) palm, coconut palm, Canary Island date palm, edible date palm, wild date palm, pygmy date palm and queen palm. Early signs include fruit falling before it is ripe and dead flower stalks. Discoloration starts on the oldest fronds and works upward. When the spear leaf, the new leaf standing straight up in the center, turns brown and collapses, the bud is dead.

UF/IFAS is direct about what to do: remove palms with symptoms or a positive test right away, test nearby palms that look healthy and remove any that test positive, and protect the rest with oxytetracycline injections every three to four months for at least two years. Once symptoms appear, the injections cannot save that palm. Taking out an infected palm quickly also removes a source the insects can carry to the palms around it.

Other reasons to remove a palm

Not every palm removal is about disease. Tall Washington and queen palms rank among the weakest trees in hurricane winds in UF/IFAS studies, and a 70-foot Washington palm leaning over a roof is a reasonable thing to worry about. Coconut palms drop heavy nuts over patios and driveways. Palms planted close to a house grow into the eaves and the screen cage. And some homeowners just want the space back.

Fort Lauderdale permits for palms

The city requires a tree removal permit on developed single-family lots for coconut palms, royal palms and date palms in the Phoenix genus (other than the small pygmy date palm) with eight feet or more of trunk. Other palms, and shorter ones, are generally not covered by that single-family rule. A palm documented as an unacceptable risk by an ISA Certified Arborist or licensed landscape architect can be removed without a city permit under Florida law. We check which applies before scheduling.