The ancient sago palm has a tropical look that thrives in garden containers or as houseplants.
Sago palms are cycads, some of the most ancient plants, dating back to prehistoric times.
They are easy to grow indoors as houseplants or outdoors in containers in warm areas.
Ed Gohlich.
Slow-Growing Plant
Don’t let the mature size of these plants frighten you off.
Sago palms take many years to reach their final height.
Able to live for 200 years or more, the sago palm makes arugged houseplant.
Credit:BHG / Evgeniya Vlasova
Prehistoric Propagation
The way these plants reproduce is a relic of their prehistoric pasts.
Unlike many plants, they do not flower but create large, cone-like structures.
Each plant may be female or male, and cones are borne on each plant.
Credit: Paul Craft
It can take 15 years or more for a plant to produce cones.
Both male and female plants are needed for pollination.
Indoors, they need a bright,indirect light location.
Outdoors, they appreciate a little shade on hot afternoons.
Transfer the plant to the new container and backfill while pressing down on the soil.
Water it well and put it in a brightbut not full sunlocation to recover.
Create good drainage by mixing potting mix with perlite, vermiculite, or course sand.
They also make greatcontainer plants outdoorsas long as some shelter from direct sun is provided.
One of the surest ways to kill a sago palm is to overwater it.
Although they don’t like being overly moist, theyneed consistent moistureand humidity.
When growing a sago palm as a houseplant, put it in a south-facing window or another bright area.
It tolerates typical household temperatures well.
For the amount to use, follow product label instructions.
Pruning
Sago palms seldom need pruning.
Remove dead, diseased, or badly damaged fronds when they occur.
ensure it has suitable drainage holes.
Partially fill the container withcompost-amended garden soil.
Remove the sago palm from the nursery container and set it in the new container.
Backfill with more soil, pressing gently on the soil as you work to eliminate air pockets.
Sago palm is so slow-growing that you probably won’t need to repot it for several years.
When you do, select a pot that is only slightly larger and use fresh planting medium.
Scale insects are white or brown and generally do not move.
The best way to control scale is with a systemic insecticide.
An alternative to combatting scale is horticultural oil spray, which coats the insect and clogs its breathing pores.
While this will not kill your plant, it is not exactly a good look.
Removing affected foliage is the best way to eliminate the fungus.
The plant’s stiff leaves can be a problem for gardeners.
Wear gloves when handling sago palm and avoid the sharp thorny trunks and leaf tips that can cause injury.
The parent plants must be mature (which takes about 15 years) before they produce pups.
You may be able to wiggle off small pups.
Otherwise, use a sharp spade or knife to sever the connection of the pup to the parent.
Dig deeply beneath the pup so as not to damage its tap root.
When seeds are harvested, only the pollinated ones will germinate.
Place all the seeds in a bowl of warm water.
The ones that sink to the bottom are the pollinated seeds.
Soak the pollinated seeds for 24 hours to soften the membrane that covers them and remove them.
Fill 4-inch pots with a mix of perlite andpeat moss.
Moisten the soil and add a plastic bag to each pot.
Place the pots in an area that is at least 70F and check regularly that the soil remains moist.
Transplant it to anoutdoor containerin early spring or enjoy it as a houseplant.
It is relatively small, growing 8 feet tall and wide.
Slow-growing sago palm grows best in well-drained soil and is drought-tolerant.
Sago palm makes a stately indoor plant in a bright spot.
Zones 8-11
Queen Sago Palm
Cycas rumphiiis more tree-like than king sago palm.
It grows 15 feet tall and 12 feet wide, with a swollen trunk 18 inches in diameter.
Male plants may form side branches on the upper trunk or from the base.
It is less hardy than king sago, growing in Zones 9-11.
After that, it can be removed at any time.
The female sago palm has a dome-shaped structure that is eventually filled with red seeds waiting to be pollinated.
These two structures are the “flowers” of the sago palm.
Sago palms are native to the southern Japanese Kyushu and Ryukyu islands and southern China.
They grow particularly well in subtropic regions of the United States including southern Florida and southern California.
They also thrive in the territory of Puerto Rico.
ASPCA
Cycas revoluta (Sago Cycad) Exposures.
National Library of Medicine
Decline and Dieback of Trees and Shrubs.University of Illinois Extension.
Gill, Dan.How to deal with scale insects.LSU AgCenter.
