Grow Enduring Sago Palms From Seedlings

From The Fresno Bee, June 17, 2010, by Elinor Teague:

Sego palms are unusual plants.

First of all, they're not palms or ferns; they're cycads, primitive relatives of conifers and ginkgo trees.

Secondly, sego palms can be either male or female. The bare area inside the rosette of leaves which encircles the top of the palm will be pointed if the palm is male and more rounded if the palm is female.

Female sego palms will produce many seedlings (called pups) at their base or along the sides of the trunk.

Sego palms can endure a really wide range of temperatures, from 15 degrees [Fahrenheit], well below freezing, to 110 degrees, which makes them eminently suitable for our climate here in the Central Valley.

Leaf production on sago palms is also unusual.

The leaves grow in a circle (a rosette) and new rosette of leaves will sprout on sago palms all at once, usually in early spring.

It takes at least a week for the tender new leaves to "harden off," when the plant should not be disturbed or moved to avoid damage.

Too much bright sunlight at the time when the new leaves are appearing will cause those leaves to be stunted and yellow.

Protection from our afternoon sun during the early spring will ensure that the new leaves are large and dark green.

Yellow leaves is a common problem on sagos. They can be caused by too much bight sun or by over watering or by a nutrient deficiency.

Water a sago as you would a cactus, watering only when the soil is nearly dry.

There are palm fertilizers available (good for puny queen palms), but the old-fashioned remedy of adding a few tablespoons of Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) to the soil around a yellowing sago is still recommended.

Some gardeners try to boost the slow growth habit of sago palms by cutting off all the leaves in winter. This is not a good practice; in fact, it can kill the plant or stunt the growth severely. Only dead, brown leaves should be pruned off sagos.

Starting sago palms from pups is easy. In early spring, gently pop off or carefully cut off larger-sized pups from the mother palm. Snip off any roots and allow the pups to dry out or harden off in a sheltered spot for a week.

The pups can then be planted into a pot that should be small in relation to the size of the pup. A 4-inch pup will just fit into a 4-inch pot. Use a lightweight, sandy soil mix (a cactus potting soil mix is ideal) and place the pup so that it is only buried halfway.

Put the pot in a spot where it will receive good morning sun, water it when the soil is just dry and then transplant it into the garden, into well-drained soil, a week or so after the first rosette of leaves has appeared and has hardened off.

Sago palms don't like to be moved, similar to ficus trees their leaves will turn yellow and drop until they adjust to the new position, so pick your spot in the garden carefully.