I have a Sago palm that is in part sun area. How much water do they need? When will they grow some more frowns? Will they survive the winter? Do i add mulch now or later for winter or they do not need mulch? Do they need fertilizer? If so! What kind of fertilizer?
Sago palm
This site might help
http://www.junglemusic.net/cycadadvice/cycads-sago-palm.htm
I used their info to help a guy down the road and it worked so far so good!
Mitch
They really need little water once established. If this is the one you planted in June, I would water it every week in this heat until the weather cools. Otherwise, water it every other week in the hottest part of the summer or when the soil becomes very dry. Do not keep the soil continuously wet. In the winter, it will probably not need to be watered unless there is no rainfall for quite some time. It can actually withstand drought conditions and many people here do not bother to water them once they are established and if we receive normal rainfall. The soil should be well drained. Don't plant it in a depression or leave a hole around it. It there is one now, fill it in with soil. It prefers to be dry rather than wet.
You can mulch them to keep weeds from growing, to conserve water and to protect the roots in the winter (especially if they are newly planted). It will definetly survive the winter, but temperatures below 20 degrees may frost-damage the leaves which will probably turn yellow or brown. If this happens, remove these to reduce stress on the plant and encourage new leaves in the spring. If the temperatures fall below 15, it may die back; but, as long as the trunk and leaf crown is hard wood, it should send out new leaves in the spring. If your plant is small, you can cover it with a large container or a box and place a blanket over the container if the temperature is going to fall below 20 degrees to protect the leaves. We have had relatively mild winters the past few years; however, with it being this hot now, I think we may have a colder winter this year.
A palm fertilizer can be used on the sagos (also, citrus trees) and it is generally applied during spring and late summer. I would not fertilize it now. A palm fertilizer has the micronutrients like manganese and magnesium that it needs. Do not let any of the fertilizer fall into the plant crown which is protecting the formation of future leaves.
They produce a periodic "flush" of new leaves which is called a "break". The flush of new growth usually happens in June. It is a relatively slow grower. Under optimum conditions, three new sets of leaves and an increase of 1" of height and trunk diameter per year can be expected. The new leaves emerge all at once from the center in a circular pattern and are a beautiful lighter green than the older leaves. They are very tender when they first emerge and then they begin to harden several weeks later. When the new leaves are being produced, do not let the soil become excessively dry or the new leaves may wither. You won't be seeing any new growth now because the days have shortened and the plant is preparing itself for winter.
Hazel,
I have a sago on the northwest corner of the house. It gets sun during the hottest part of the day. The spring flush was yellowish for weeks and weeks. It had a second flush almost 2 weeks ago, The new growth is a healthy bright green. This surprised me because it has been so hot and dry all summer. If its new leaves don't harden by the time we get our first frost, I will have to cover it.
Veronica, perhaps it was receiving too much water in the spring when we had a lot of rain if I recall. I had just looked at my brother's sago palms. He has about 8 of them growing in containers. He usually doesn't water them. They didn't have new growth. That is strange that your's would be putting on new growth now. Maybe it knows more than we do ... I sure hope we don't have an unending summer. :o) I am having to force myself to do anything outside in this record breaking heat. Perhaps because it hasn't cooled off yet, they produced another flush. I thought they did not produce new leaves when the amount of daylight shortened. I must be wrong and thanks for setting me straight. After thinking about it, the sagos are fenerally larger in zones 9 and 10 so the growth must depend upon the number of days that the weather is warm. I will have do do some research on the subject.
It has been hot here in San Anton .I usalully do my watering in the early morning . Thanks Htop for all of that info on sagos. Just 1 more question!! If i see a yellow or brown color on my leaves, Do i cut this whole leaf to near the crown of the sago. Will a new leave grow after i cut this leaves?
Yes, cut the leaf to the crown after it has browned. The plant is absorbing nutrients from the leaf as it yellows. No new leaf will appear until a flush of new leaves occurs.
This message was edited Sep 28, 2005 10:47 AM
Just a tidbit about watering containers. I heard on Gardening By The Yard (on HGTV) that a study showed container plants did remarkably better when they were watered between 4 and 6 pm as opposed to other times of the day. My theory: containers dry out faster, so by watering at this time, they receive water when they need it most- at the end of the very drying conditons of the day- and have all evening and night to take in the water, so they start the next day fully hydrated. (Part of the problem in the summer is that plants can't take up water as fast as they lose water.)
maggie, that is interesting information. I tend to water mine in the morning and will have to test this out. Thanks for the info.
I went Brugmansia crazy this year. Before I got them, I tended to water in the afternoon – late afternoon. This summer, it has been on demand watering. They demand, I water even if it's in the middle of the day. They then get water in the afternoon along with the other plants. Next year, I'm putting in a drip system for them. I've had too many encounters with dehydration this year even though I drink plenty of water when I'm outside.
Hazel, the Sago is planted where it can get water coming off the roof – no gutters. Thing is, last year, we had 54 inches of rain here at the house and had no problems with yellowing. Are they easy to transplant? When our new house is built, I've been thinking of taking some plants with me and this area will be my fruit tree orchard.
veronica, a drip system sure would help out. I am having to water my brugs that are in containers twice a day right now. I am surprised that the sago plant's leaves did not yellow with all of that rain. I have read that the yellowing leaves should not be removed until they turn brown because the plant is asorbing nutrients as the fronds yellow. I just read that if the fronds that are not old fronds (that are dying naturally) are yellowing at the bottom of the plant, the sago needs magnesium, use Epsom salts. If the top fronds are yellowing and frizzling, use manganese sulfate.
They should be transplanted during winter or early spring (which is the best time) when they are not actively growing. Prune off all of the leaves except one ring of the topmost leaves. This will also help you see the base of the plant while you are digging. Some of the roots will be damaged in the transplanting process, so this will help the plant establish itself after transplant shock. If it has a trunk diameter of 4" or less, using a long nose shovel, dig around the base of the plant about 8" away from the trunk and at least 12" to 14" deep while retaining as many roots as possible. If it is a large sago, with a trunk diameter of 6" or more and trunk height of over 12", dig a larger, deeper root-ball and hole. Using the shovel, gently crowbar it out of the ground. If it is a relatively small plant, place it in a box or a large container that has some soil in the bottom and then cover the roots with soil. Water it. If you will be able to plant it at your new house right away, you can place it in a large heavy duty trashbag, put some water in the bottom of the bag and tie the trashbag (folding down the sides) around the base of the trunk. If it won't fit in the trashbag, cut down the sides of the trashbag so the trashbag will open up and place the plant in the center. Then, pull the sides of the trashbag up around the trunk and secure around the base of the trunk after putting a little water in it. You could also just use burlap and than spray the burlap with water. If it is a large plant, it may be very heavy, you will need help and you will probably have to use burlap. When replanting, the hole should be slightly larger than the root-ball of the plant. Center the plant in the hole, being sure that the soil level is about an 1" above the old one. Backfill with a mixture of 1/2 peat moss and 1/2 garden soil. Use Fertilome Root Starter solution. Water it more frequently after first transplanting it. By the end of the summer, new leaves should emerge. I have read that it often takes a year or two for it to actively resume normal growth.
Note: Somewhere I read that it is best to use the original soil in which the sago was growing rather than add peatmoss, but I can't find the link to the article. Also, I read somewhere that the roots should be pruned 6 to 8 weeks before digging up the plant so that new roots have started to form before the transplant. Again, I am unable to find the link to this informatiom. This is accomplished by stabbing the long nose shovel about 8" from the trunk and 14' or so deep (farther out and deeper for a larger plant) around the perimeter of the root zone.
Note: I have never transplanted a sago palm before, but my brother has. He never pruned the roots before hand and he used the soil that the plant was originally grown in to backfill the hole in the new spot.
Hazel, my sago palms put out new growth this month, but we are still hot here.
Calalily, we have had 100 to 103 temps for days. Usually the sagos here that I have seen do not put out new growth now. Thanks for the info.
Hazel,
Thank you for all that information. It will be a while yet before I am ready to transplant (about 1-1/2 yrs.) but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead. The yellowing was on the previous year's leaves. Since the yellowing ocurred during the winter, I blamed frostbite.
Maybe you or Suzi can answer a question about my Charles Grimaldi. My 5' plant is in a 14" pot, but I couldn't put it in a larger pot because the roots had grown into the soil underneath. I wasn't going to distrub the roots until I moved it into the greenhouse in November. This past week-end, my husband tripped over a plastic pot blown about by hurricane Rita and he fell on my CG severing the pot from its ground roots. Then to make matters worse, he moved the pot out to where it would get sun all day. When I found it the following day ( He "forgot" to tell me what he had done.) the leaves and all the blooms were wilted. That flush is history. The plant itself has wilted and recovered twice. Since it lost at large number of roots, should I remove most of the branches or can I leave a few? Would it be a mistake to pot what remains in a larger pot? There are a bunch of roots sticking out the bottom of the pot.
Calalily and Veronica, I am so glad that y'all mentioned that your sago palms had put out flushes of leaves recently. I visited my brother yesterday and checked his which he had recently moved near pecan trees. The crowns of the sagos had pecan leaves piled deeply on top of them which is not good so I removed them for him as well as the pecan leaves that were all over and between the leaves (didn't have any gloves ... ouch! :o) ). I discovered that each sago was sending out a new flush. I am gald that I checked them and removed the pecan leaves so that the new leaves are not able to receive light.
Veronica, I have had to deal with this situation before when roots had grown into the ground and I had to move the plants. They weren't brugs, but I think that you would need to do the about the same thing. Just go ahead and repot it into a larger container, add some root stimulator and keep it well watered. Do not fertilize it as it recovers from the root damage. After new leaves appear, then it can be fertilized. You might try trimming off just a couple the branches and wait to see if it recovers. If it isn't doing well, go ahead and trim off a few more of the branches. Good luck.
This message was edited Sep 29, 2005 11:33 AM
I agree, give it a few days and if parts of the top are wilted and the stem has shriveled, then but it off.
I have three very LARGE Sagos. I have never experienced a second flush. Interesting.... Yellowing leaves can signal the need for nutrients. One of mine (gets more sun) tends to have yellowing on the leaflets nearest the petiole or stem (as opposed to the outer edge). Applying magnesium cured this yellowing. Yellowing on the outer edge of the leaflets could be due to a lack of nitrogen. This is an excellent site for information about Sagos: http://www.junglemusic.net/cycadadvice/cycads-sago-palm.htm
Hey, welcome to DG and the TX Gardening Forum, ceejaytown! I'm practically a neighbor!
Hey maggiemoo! I notice you say 9a and I say 8b. I didn't agree with that map, but being new to the group decided to go along..... I'd heard that we'd been changed. True? And thanks for the welcome!
I can't even remember now where I found the map that said 9a. I know that some say 9a, some say 8b. Since our problem is usually more about which plants can survive the summer than which ones can survive the winter, I went with the 9a. :-)
So glad to have you "on board" with us, looking forward to getting to know you!
I was just about to through out my sagos they look so bad and now I find out it was not my poor sagos fault but mine. I will go out in the morning and take care of them right.
I do not think I was doing one thing right and I have had them for 20 years.
I had better stick to the Texas forum.
Thank you all very much. Joan
Joan, I am so glad you stopped by and I am happy we could help you with growing your sagos. :o)
Three of mine are making new fronds right now. They grow new fronds all different times of the year here.
Today we are cutting two big ones to the ground and digging them out. I can't win the battle with scale, so they are going to be replaced with something else. I bet one of them is 50 years old! I used to like sago palms, lol, now I wish I didn't have any!
I also need help with my sago palm. It's a very young plant not over one year in the ground. It looks healthy even though it's still small. A friend told me I probably had planted it too deep. She said they like to be planted very shallow. Is this correct? If so I need to dig it up and replant it this fall.
Any help would be appreciated.
Lin
Calalily, what a shame. I bet you are sick about having to dig them up. I haven't seen any here that have been bothered by scale.
Lin, the crown should be above the ground about this far (or actually a little farther).so that the leaves may emerge and so that the crown does not rot. I hope this helps.
http://www.plantapalm.com/centralfl/images/Jul28_24.jpg
htop, thank you again, that was just what I needed to know. Joan
You're welcome. Glad to help. :o)
Thanks htop! That is a big help to me. I do have it planted too deeply. Later this fall I will replant it. I had been wondering why I didn't have any new fronds (or whatever those are called) on it.
Thanks again!
Lin
Hazel, actually I don't like the sagos, but I do hate to dig them up because they're so old. I figure if they survived that long, I can put up with them, lol. I have some really big ones down the driveway, I'm going to try to save them. My friend that has a nursery has found a new colodial plant wash that she wants me to try. She said it works great(I've fallen for that line before, lol)