Save Sago Palm

Question

My son cut all the leaves off of my Sago Palm and he didn’t know that it would damage the plant. I was hoping if you knew a way to save my sago palm. Also, my sago palm is in the early stages of seed formation. Will cutting the leaves off affect the seed growth?

Please help! Thank you.

Answer 1

Well, that’s kind of an interesting looking thing you’ve got there, isn’t it? Kind of an alien thing. Not much like a plant. I hope in the future you can keep the pruning shears out of your son’s hands.
As to saving the plant, if it can grow back, it will. Plants are amazingly tough. Don’t do anything special to it, no extra water or anything like that. If you’re feeling brave, you can carefully pull off most of the “petals” of the flower, so the plant can put it’s energy into leaf production. I don’t think I’d cut the flower, for fear of damaging the growing tip. It may take a year or so to grow new leaves, though, so don’t give up.

Answer 2

Thanks! Also I’m not sure if this make a difference but I have one leaf left on on my sago palm. You can see the picture above.. Will this help in aiding the growth of the leaves?

Also, how would one go about removing the “petals” and how many would you recommend be removed? Thanks!

Answer 3

I live in south central Texas. In late winter I prune off all of the existing fronds. If it has a developing flower, I do not prune off any of the fronds. I let the flower to its thing, go to seed, then I prune off all fronds and pull all of the seeds out.

Make sure you throw them in the garbage if you have dogs. Eating just one of the seeds will almost always kill them. Cats are generally not attracted to the seeds, but dogs are.

Mine have always set off a new group of fronds, and they are beautiful. Doing this also helps the sago grow taller. My neighbor has one that has a 5-foot trunk, which is about 18 years old. The way I prune it is to grab the frond mid way up from the base, pull it down sharply, and it will almost always snap off pretty close to the base. After you’ve snapped them all off (or some), you can use pruning shears to make them a bit neater. I’ve been growing mine for 11 years. When I moved into my home, I found it buried in the backyard in the shade, so I transplanted it to the front yard. I have never fertilized it, nor have I ever had any problems with it.

I transplanted a smaller one I had to my aunts yard in Houston. She never prunes hers, except for the pups. The spread is much larger than mine, the trunk is only about 1 foot, and it’s 7 years old, and the two bottom sets of fronds are touching the ground. Long-winded, but I hope this helps.