Sago root thingies

What are these little things on the roots of this baby sago?

A close up.

Could that be "Stubby Root Nematode" infestation?

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/IN617

Says that Sabal palm can host it. Might be worth checkingthe web to see if there are pix of infected palm roots.

Robert.

Thanks Robert, I had considered that and the pictures I did find looked similiar but another FL site says Cycads are not affected by nematodes. Also, the roots look good and healthy. It's a puzzlement.

I was looking also at the roots above the "nodules" and thought there was a little "accordion pleating" in them, but since I don't know palm roots, I didn't know if it was characteristic.

I found the scrunched roots on one of my Hippeastrums while repotting and was wondering if it had some form of nematode.

I think that nematode infection in palms isn't necessarily fatal and doesn't affect the overall health of the plant so much unless severe and can cause general decline. May just be something to be aware of as a pest. Have you ever seen this on any other palm's roots?

Root-knot nematode is another common one.

Not that that is what is happening with your Sago......

R.

This message was edited Oct 18, 2006 4:22 PM

I do have this on other, seemingly healthy, Sagos but Sagos are really Cycads, not Palms.

I believe palms do get nematodes but I am not sure about the Cycads.

I intended to trade this little guy but do not want to send it off with anything nasty.

ardesia0
They don't look unhealthy to me, at all.

It looks more to me like the nitrogen nodules I see all the time on roots of legumes. It looks as though your palm might have the same nitrogen fixing ability that legumes do.

Legumes make little things that look just like that, and they are nitrogen reserves for the plant to use, when it needs it. Often-times surrounding plants will "steal" from a legume, and use their nitrogen reserves. Or why so many use a legume as a "green manure" crop. Come Spring, they till under the legumes, and then the soil is filled with all these nitrogen nodules that the legumes produced. Then, whatever crop is planted next, has instant access to lots of ready nitrogen in the soil...

just my guess...
-T

They do look more like nitrogen-fixing nodules as seedpicker pointed out. They look like healthy growths, anyway.

I looked at pix of different plants with nematode problems and the "knots" were never that large. Makes sense since the nematodes are nearly microscopic. It was usually the secondary roots, much finer than the parts in your pic, that were affected.

AFAIK, it's nothing. Just a new thingy to me. Really just guessing at it.

robert.

Ardesia-
I did a quick google search, hoping to find a picture of nitrogen fixing nodules for you.

By typing in "nitrogen fixing nodules", the very first search reference used a palm as an example!
http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/nitrogen.htm

It is a good read, but not the best pictures...

Yes, those are GOOD things!! You can tell a healthy cycad by those little nitrogen fixing rootlets... should be at or near the surface, surrounding your cycad. Don't take those off! But if you do, they will grow back eventually. Sometimes really large cycads will have large 'beds' of those rootlets all the way around the plants, often up to 3'-4' from the trunk, but usually a lot closer in smaller plants. And yes, those are unique to cycads... no palms have those.

Thank you all; I am feeling much better about sending that sago off now.

Not a day goes by that I don't learn something here on DG. I love it!

Isn't a sago palm, a palm?
-T

They are called palms but they are not really palms at all. This one is a Cycas revoluta and Cycads are a completely different genus.

ah...

well we both learned something today, lol...
-T

cycads are living fossils .. these guys and other gymnosperms were around long before any of the flowering plants came on to the scene.

and If i remember correctly, cycads were among the first plants to develop this symbiotic relationship with nitrogen fixiging bacteria.

chris

WOW, thanks for the info.

So glad I joined this site (TODAY) . I joined just for this reason... My sago's are still young and look a slight bit sad. I figured from reading on this site I was watering them to much. So.... I went outside and raised them up a bit for better drainage. Upon raising one of the sagos I have had 2 years now, I saw two large golf ball size (brain looking things) ON THE ROOTS. I was scared the sago had a fungal infection...but learned here they are nitrogen fixing nodules. I ALMOST cut them off.
Thanks so much for the info!!!

You need to be a bit careful when using common names. A lot of cycads grow in different conditions so you have to be sure which one you're talking about. Some cycads virtually grow in water, most would rot in those conditions. Some thrive in hot humid tropical conditions, others are suited to arid conditions. If you use the wrong name you can end up with the wrong information.

On another note, the Sago Palm is really a palm tree, Metroxylon sagu. The name is now being applied incorrectly to cycads to the point where these days most people don't know the right plant which has that name.

Soooooo? Does that mean my Sago King Palm Labled Revoluta really is a Palm... or is is cycads???

Cycas revoluta is a cycad and not a palm. Cycads superficially resemble some palms, but as Skilledwithands mentioned, they aren't flowering plants. Palms are flowering plants. Palms are more closely related to things like grass, or tulips, etc., than they are to cycads. It's all marketing, sounds better if the plant you're selling is called "Sago King Palm" than just Cycas revoluta which everyone else has. Nurseries are notorious for "fluffing up" names to make them seem more desirable.

By the way, that was a good move to raise up your Cycas revoluta to provide better drainage. They come from the southern islands of Japan and nearby by mainland China, growing on hillsides. So they'd naturally have good drainage.

Ty tropicbreeze for all the great info... Much appreciated!