Odd Sago Growth

Anyone have any idea what is going on with my Sago? All the others have a "normal" leaf formation in the center.

Hi Quilter,
Looks to me like its going to put out a whole new group of leaves. Others may have more knowledge of sagos.

I've just never seen the orange globules in the center.

It's has seeds.

So I'm finding out. Was told to dry them for a couple weeks then plant 1/2 into the dirt. Looking forward to growing the babies.

Aliens.

Qwilter
It's a female Sago that is blooming . After she blooms the seeds will appear and next the fronds will come.
Now is time to hit her with a good pesticide one that is systemic unless you want Asian scale it's a killer big time here in our hood.

This message was edited Jan 14, 2013 12:47 PM

I wouldn't mess with the seeds. If you want a new plant, just cut off the little plants that will grow off the sides/bottom (pups) and plant them, it will speed up the new plant growth.

Darren

Darren ~ it sounds like you are the experienced person I should ask.

I've tried to root pups a few different times and was an abysmal failure.

Can you give me any hints/tips/pointers... pretty please? Kristi

Podster, I have a sago and wanted to grow some pups, mine puts them out all the time. Anyhow, rather than typing out lengthy directions here, I'll point you to the youtube video I watched to learn the proper way to grow the pups. Probably most important is to let the pups scab over for about 2 weeks at least before planting.

http://youtu.be/Jb0hiU2frZc

Hope this helps.

Darren

Hopefully it will indeed help. I appreciate your taking the time to respond.

I have tried periodically without success. l don't recall letting them scab over and hope that will be the solution. It stands to reason to treat it as a succulent.

Thanks much, I will watch the video. Kristi

I watched the video but didn't catch any suggestions as to what kind of planting medium they like best. A friend just gave me one thats about 2 feet high extremely pot bound and it fell out of pot so hopefully today I will get it planted. I usually plant everything with a little cow manure in hole. I also have some peatmoss if it likes that. Any advice would be greatly apreciated.
Bonnie

Bonnie,

I've cut pups off my plant and thrown them into the wooded area next to my home and they sprout up, don't think they're all that fussy on the soil. Only thing they need every now and then is magnesium. They are prone to scale so need to be sprayed to keep them off too.

Those are seeds in the picture.
I would pull off the Sago pups when you get some and dip in a rooting powder. Worked well with all of mine.
Use the safer insecticidal soap for scale. Much better. Also I would cut off some of the scaled leaves.
The scales come from the dirt, so you will have to watch it closely.
When I left Fla. they were having a big problem with this type of scale. Many of them died, I would see neighborhoods that had dead Sagos.
I live in AR. now and have King Sago's here. I bring them in for winter, then out when it warms up.
I would love to get ahold of some Queen Sago's!
I dug up a 5 foot Queen Sago and moved it to another spot. The master gardeners said it couldn't be done, but I did it. It growed twice as good in the new spot.
There is a trick to that though. It takes about a 2 week process to do that.
You sever the feeder roots for starters. Let it set awhile for about 2 weeks without messing with the rootball. But keep watering it as usual , you don't want it to go into shock.
When moving to a new hole, make sure the dirt is good to go and good nutrients in there and it will do fine.
Anyone have any Queen pups or seeds? I would love to get some.

Wow sorry was more worried at how Qwilter's adult fronds looked next to the bloom. Anyway ...

The Sago is still there seeds & all. Never got around to doing anything with him. He sure seems to be "happy".

Quilter,
My neighbor and I have female sago, no seed yet for me, but hers is older and has seed, they just fall off and grow where they land and pretty much anywhere she pokes one, so besides the pups you should soon have all the sagos you need! She never dries them out, just lets them do their thing under the plant or else pushes them down in beds an inch or so.
Happy Gardening,
Belle
You'll start to see the fat orange seeds as the fuzzy odd growth you noticed opens out. The seed are small golf ball size and ready when they start to drop or pull away easy.
I have a small male and it's fronds go up and out. The female looks so different, round in center and when new fronds come up they go out and then lay flat. Thank goodness no scales for mine.

Its the white scale that are constantly appearing on the Sagos that are a concern here... Sagos are now maintenance more then they used to be unfortunately.

I see the new fronds starting on mine so think I'll go cut most of the old ones off. Maybe then the seeds will fall off.

Johnnie - need some sago seeds or pups???? One day I'll get over to see your Brugs. The days seem to get away from me!!!!!

Fun to see this thread revived.

I did remove the pups at the end of February and followed Darrens' video instructions. Allowed them to dry, potted them on the surface and finally!!! Now at the end of May, I see two out of seven are showing signs of life.

Thanks so much. I had no idea they would take so long. Perhaps different times of year make a difference?

Reading this again I can say I pretty much hate Sago palms . It's like a lame status symbol from the 70's here in North Florida . They will bite you if you work around them , they will be covered in bugs and they still cost 100 dollars a foot for this deluxe (Palm ) .
I've got a 3 foot trunk one that I'll pay to have it removed !

Asian scale has really made most of them just ugly in my hood .

Ahhhhhhhhh, I like my Sagos. So far all appear rather healthy & I have lots of babies coming up. I was out weeding under them this AM and they can be a bit pinchy.