Get Your Palms and Yard Ready for Hurricane Season

Hurricane season runs June through November in Tampa, and the yard is one of the easier things to get ahead of. Loose branches, dead fronds, and clutter all become projectiles in a strong wind. A bit of prep early in the season takes most of that risk off the table.

Trim palms, but trim them right

Dead and loose fronds are the first thing to deal with. A brown frond that's already hanging by a thread will come down in the first gust, so it's better off removed on your schedule than the storm's. Same goes for old seed pods and fruit, which are heavy and can fall hard.

Here's the part people get wrong. Do not over-prune. There's a habit around here of stripping a palm down to just a few fronds standing straight up, sometimes called a hurricane cut, on the theory that it helps the tree survive a storm. It does the opposite.

A palm uses its fronds to feed itself and to flex in the wind. Strip it bare and you starve it and leave the growing point exposed, which makes it weaker and slower to recover. A healthy full canopy actually handles wind better. Take off what's dead, dying, or loose, and leave the green fronds alone.

Clear the loose stuff

Walk the yard and pick up anything the wind can throw. Fallen branches, old mulch piles, stacked pots, loose pavers, yard tools. Bag the debris or get it to the curb well ahead of a storm, because once a watch is posted, pickup schedules change and you can be stuck with a pile of ammunition in the yard.

Trim back any tree limbs hanging over the roof or near the house while you're at it. A branch that's been rubbing the gutters all year is the one that comes through a window.

Do it early

The worst time to prep is when a storm is already named and bearing down. Yard crews book solid, the dump lines stretch out, and you're rushing. Get the palms and trees handled at the start of the season and you only need quick touch-ups after that.

We do storm-prep trimming and cleanups throughout the season for homes across the Tampa area. If you want the yard squared away before the first system spins up, reach out and we'll get on it.