MAY 13, 2007

In a little over two weeks we'll be approaching the beginning of our summer hurricane season. Hopefully this year we'll be lucky enough not to have a direct hit, but predictions already are out that it will be a much more active hurricane season than last year and we always have the possibility that one could strike us.

Landscapes should be ready for hurricane season and if you've been delaying getting some of the activities completed, don't put it off much longer. Any large trees that need to be pruned properly to help them better withstand high winds should be done while there's still tree trimming companies easily available. Also if you have coconut palms with large clusters of nuts that could be a problem during high winds, those should be removed and all palms many people remove dead or yellowed discolored fronds to give palms a better appearance going into the summer.

Don't be guilty of over pruning palms though. Many communities make the mistake of taking off many green healthy fronds thinking that will offer less wind resistance during hurricanes. The fact is removal of too many fronds leaves the bud of the palm more exposed to wind damage and there were far more palms that were killed or took very long to recover because they were over pruned. Palms that are never pruned weather storms quite nicely and nature has evolved palms to take high winds.

If you have large shrubs in the landscape that you're worrying about coming out of the ground or getting tipped over, it's OK to do some severe pruning on those going into the summer season. Hopefully our rains will begin next month and most plants following pruning should make a rapid recovery. Should be get an early storm though plants that are pruned back drastically always have a better chance of escaping the storm's fury with less damage and they will recover much more quickly than those that were not pruned that were beat up, broken, or partially uprooted.

Make sure you have things prepared to help you recover should a storm strike, too. If you have a chain saw make sure you have gas and oil available for it. Also make sure that you have some extra parts for your home irrigation system. Often tree roots will break pipes if they go down in a storm and you may have difficulty getting irrigation companies out to your property quickly. If it's a simple job that you can do yourself, having a few spare couplings or extra sprinkler heads often times will help your landscape recover more quickly.

Make sure that you fertilize your landscape and get it in good health because healthy plants generally will recover from storm damage quicker than those that are weak or malnourished. June is the second major feeding of the year for landscaping in our area so in the next week or two get busy and take care of that operation.

If you're not sure about other things that need to be done preparing your landscape for the hurricane season, you can get some valuable free advice from the Palm Beach County Extension office during normal business hours. Dial 233-1750 in the north and central county area or 276-1260 in the south county area.

GJ/nr