Asked on May 18, 2017

How to kill palm tree "saplings"?

Richard Sipek
by Richard Sipek
I removed 2 palm trees in a parkway area that I converted to dry landscaping. But the thousands of seeds left behind from palm trees keep sprouting. Round up has no effect. I've resorted to pouring pool chlorine on a few with mixed results, but don't know if this is environmentally sound.
  21 answers
  • Cut them off at the base, dig into the core of what is left to make a hole and drown with vinegar, lots and lots of vinegar. Will take a bit of time, and since we are going into summer, it will go quicker than you think.

  • I don't know if this will help, but when we removed the palms from our yard, we tilled the area before adding Preen and mulch on top. We haven't had any sprouts since.

  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on May 18, 2017

    Make o mixture of white vinegar and water and add salt.Spray them continuously until you have gotten into the roots.

    • See 4 previous
    • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Jun 20, 2019

      1gallon vinegar 1 cup salt not diluted with water kills everything and soil so nothing will grow or regrow.Add 1gallon lemon juice for even better douse each plant in center/crown area until it soaks into roots in full hot direct sun no rain for 3 days

  • Pam Walker Pam Walker on May 18, 2017

    I would take advantage of this opportunity. Don't try to eliminate them. Use them to your own advantage. Dig up the bigger ones, pot them & set them aside. Once you've got enough for a yard sale, sell them somewhere. Maybe a local nursery will buy them from you to resell to the public or you can set up somewhere & sell them yourself. The ""mother"" tree will provide your seeds & you could use THAT area as your growing garden. Border it with rocks or stones & make a bed so it looks better but they seem to be doing good on their own as far as watering & nurturing. When opportunity knocks ............ :)

    • See 1 previous
    • Pam Walker Pam Walker on Jun 20, 2019

      Yeah, true lol. Your last sentence, I agree with lol. If they're a neusence, then omit them. Your information, I didn't know about how common they were. I can't think of anything else right now to do. I'm sorry. :(


  • Richard Sipek Richard Sipek on May 18, 2017

    Unfortunately, there is no demand for this type of palm tree anymore. They're messy and attract rats when they get bigger. Plus, I'm not the only one who had these popping up all over. You're welcome to come get em if ya want! Lol!

    • See 3 previous
    • Amanda Smith Amanda Smith on Nov 01, 2019

      Yes, you're right, the odd large one is attractive BUT I'm fed up with all the seedlings popping up.... messy

  • Marcia Marcia on May 18, 2017

    What kind of palms are they? Why remove them?


    • See 2 previous
    • Gustavo Perez Gustavo Perez on Jun 09, 2021

      We have the same nasty space-using palms we cut down and now, the sprouts all over. There isn't a product I WON'T use to get rid of this mess.

      We removed the space-taking palm to create a place to park our boat and I don't miss that rat-infested mess.


      We have much better choices for landscaping and palms will never be my choice again.

  • Richard Sipek Richard Sipek on May 20, 2017

    Pretty sure its a California Fan Palm. I"ve allowed two to keep growing for now. but there could be as many as 50 growing at any one time in my side yard, mostly around where the old trees used to be. As many as 15 can sprout up in a few inches where the seeds had bunched.

    If not trimmed a couple of times a year, they get very messy as old fronds droop. Once they get taller than 6' they get harder to trim and I will need to pay to have it done. I'm getting on in years and don't want the extra maintenance. Just the two I have will fill my 110 gallon trash can with trimmings..The stalks on the fronds have very sharp thorns that easily tear my skin if not careful. Need I go on?

  • Ginger the farm gal Ginger the farm gal on May 20, 2017

    Super Brush Killer from Co-op. Active Ingredients; Isooctyl (2 ethyhexyl) ester of 2,4- diclorophenoxyacetic acid 32.45% 2- ethylhexyl ester of (+) r-2-(2,4- dichlorophenoxy propionic acid15.90% and Dicamba: 3,6-dilchloro-o-anisic acid.It's concentrated to add to water and spray, kills everything I've tried it on.

    • See 2 previous
    • Ginger the farm gal Ginger the farm gal on Apr 26, 2020

      Brush killer has to touch the leaves of the palms to die back.

  • Erin Erin on May 20, 2017

    Go out and rake them up every day. Great exercise!

  • Janet Pizaro Janet Pizaro on Feb 13, 2018

    water and vinegar 50/50 a dab of soap and a dab of salt

  • Brooks Brooks on Jun 20, 2019

    Richard, did you find anything that helped you with the invasion of baby palms? Please help!

  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Jun 20, 2019

    Round-Up concentrate not diluted poured on each plant add food coloring to chemical so you know ehere you are putting it. Or pull each one while they are only single stem.

  • Nancy  Lea Nancy Lea on Jul 05, 2019

    I’m still waiting for the answer. Tried the vinegar full strength, they still grow. We’ve pulled, dug, cut and we are so sick of them. Ready to get rid of the culprit as well. Cut it all down and hoping to find the solution for ridding the saplings! Ive read all these, the farm gal has the best advice so far, going to try that first.

    Great advise from some of you.

  • Pat Pat on Jul 05, 2019

    We had a yucca plant that was close to the foundation of our house and looked bad. We cut it down to the ground...later on it grew little leaves like your palm. We just kept cutting them off as close to the ground as we could. After about 3 summers, it quit growing those pesky little sprouts.

  • Patt Galasso-Egiziano Patt Galasso-Egiziano on Jul 18, 2019

    I can’t get rid of my fan palms either. They are connected somewhere underground to many others, and it’s impossible to pull them out. I have an entire berm of them out back but they are encroaching onto my flower beds.

  • Dave Dave on Jul 20, 2019

    I have a million palm trees growing in my grass. Ok maybe not a million. But I do have 500 of them. What do I do

  • Sneh Sneh on Sep 15, 2019

    Getting rid of palm saplings

  • Eric Woodring Eric Woodring on Sep 26, 2019

    I want those I want that to happen in my yard palmtrees are pretty

  • J Brown J Brown on Sep 27, 2019

    trust those of us who have them, you Don't want them.

  • Colle Gilliland Colle Gilliland on Nov 09, 2019
    Here is a link regarding what works for palm tree control this is considered invasive in southern California https://documentcloud.adobe.com/link/track?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A705e27be-9f44-40ed-99c7-73e2815204cf
  • Don Teeter Don Teeter on May 24, 2020

    If I pull them when still like just a single blade of grass, will they grow back? Only occasionally do the roots and berry come too. I like to think they'll be unable to keep trying if I'm persistent.