Palms are monocots — closer relatives of grass than of oak. They have no cambium, no secondary growth, no branch collars, and no capacity to compartmentalize wounds the way a hardwood does. Every assumption from broadleaf arboriculture has to be re-examined when the subject is a palm.
The 'hurricane cut' is malpractice
The practice of removing all fronds except a small vertical tuft (the 'hurricane cut' or '9-and-3') is the palm equivalent of topping. The palm's only photosynthetic tissue is its fronds; the only stored carbohydrate reserves are in the trunk and in the petiole bases. Strip the fronds and you strip the food supply.
It is also illegal in most Florida municipalities for licensed contractors. It still happens constantly because clients ask for it.
What proper palm pruning looks like
Remove only fronds that are fully brown, dead, or hanging below horizontal. Living green fronds — even ones drooping at 45 degrees below horizontal — are still photosynthesizing and still feeding the tree. The rule of thumb: never cut a frond whose petiole points above the 9-and-3 line on a clock face.
Seed stalks and flower stalks can be removed for cleanliness without harm. Boots (the persistent petiole bases on sabals) can be cleaned for aesthetics, with care not to wound the trunk.
Palm nutrition is its own thing
Palms in Florida are chronically deficient in potassium, magnesium, manganese, and boron. The deficiency symptoms are species-specific and dramatic: 'frizzle top' on queen palms (manganese), translucent leaflets on sabals (boron), yellow-orange older fronds on most species (potassium and magnesium).
Use a palm-specific fertilizer (8-2-12 + 4Mg with micronutrients is the University of Florida standard). Apply four times a year at label rates. Do not use 'tree and shrub' or lawn fertilizer — the ratios are wrong for palms and the magnesium imbalance will hurt them.
Lethal bronzing — the new threat
Lethal bronzing disease (formerly TPPD) is a phytoplasma that has killed thousands of palms across Florida since arriving in 2006. It spreads via planthoppers and has no cure. Early symptoms: dropping fruit, then browning of older fronds inward and upward, then spear leaf collapse, then death within months.
Susceptible species (sabal, Phoenix, queen, coconut, others) can be protected with annual antibiotic injections in high-risk areas. If you are within range of confirmed cases, talk to an arborist about a prevention program. Once symptoms appear, the palm cannot be saved.