Neutering the Palms

The pygmy palms around the pool, when healthy, put out palm kernel seed pods, every couple of months. The original owners of our house planted a trio of palms Much Too Close to the edge of the pool, and as they have grown, the seed pods tend to dump into the pool once ripe. So constant vigilance needs to be taken to avoid clogging up the pool strainer & filters with seeds, by proactively neutering the palm.

I think it just pisses off the palm, who then tries to send out another seed pod soon after.
A good pair of Fiskars pruners works really well to take out the pods before they start seed dropping.

Before I moved to AZ and began to own and grow palm trees, I had No Idea that they were arms with really quite vicious spikes along each frond. Birds love to hide amongst them, and wearing gloves when pruning is Strongly recommended to avoid puncture wounds and spilling your own blood.

[Note: the photo to the right shows one clipped, one about to be clipped, and one recently emerging seed pod. Abundant UV and water, and look-at-them-go!]