I have a young sago palm, maybe 2' high or so. It had several sets of fronds and one new set growing in the middle. Our gardeners just trimmed it and cut off ALL the fronds except for the new set in the middle! Is this good for the plant? I was very surprised to see it as there are sagos all over the place and I don't see them being trimmed this way.
I sent email to the owner of the company but no answer so far. It can't be undone, obviously, but if this is bad for the plant I'm going to fire this company.
Trimming Sagos down to one set of fronds?? Is this good?
We often do this to combat the sago scale which has been killing our sagos.
Just like a palm tree, only the dead leaves should be cut as far as what's absolutely best for the plant. They seem to come out from it ok, tho.
Perhaps in the future maybe only one 'rung' of growth on the bottom should be cut; or just tell them not to in the future.
Any reason they cut it? To weed below more easily?
NONE of the leaves were dead. They were all fine. It didn't have scale - it did once, the first winter I had it, but I scraped it all off, and the bugs, repeatedly and sprayed it with that horticulture oil and it recovered and was doing well. Since then I've watched it for scale.
I have no idea why they cut it like that! They trimmed a lot of the plants. I guess it was on their schedule to trim which was fine - except for the sago. Everything I've read online says what you said - that you only cut off diseased fronds. I'm glad to hear your sagos came back from getting their fronds cut off.
I'm going to fire them. This isn't the first problem I've had. I should've fired them earlier but it's harder than it should be to find someone good.
Thanks for letting me know your sagos came back. It just makes me sick every time I look at the plant now.
Last fall, I cut ALL the fronds off two of mine, because of the scale insect - the plant grew all new ones, so I plan to do it again this fall - they are so beautiful when they are new.
KayJones, thanks for letting me know your sago also recovered not only from the scale insects but from cutting off all the fronds.
Use soap to control the scales. Older branches should be removed and burned.
Evesocal, I am surprised that your gardening crew trims anything. You pay oodles of $$ in my area for anything over and above mowing and blowing.
I cut all the fronds on my sagos, except the newest set because I want more of a tree look to my plant. When you don't trim any leaves, sagos look like huge gigantic rosettes, and that's a good look. I just prefer the look of a bare trunk and 1-2 set of fronds. Trimming this severely has not damaged my sagos in any way whatsoever.
vossner, thanks for letting me know the trimming didn't hurt your sagos. I prefer the rosette look but my main concern was hurting the plant. If the only reason to trim it is to change its look - a valid reason, if that's what you want - then they should've talked to me first.
However, the important part is the sago seems okay and since it's still relatively small I'm hoping it regains the rosette look..:)