Sago Palm or Cycas Revoluta

This is so far the most popular indoor plant in our northern region appealing with its exotic appearance. Easy to care for it is suitable even for brown-thumbs and newbies.

Sago Palm or not exactly a palm?

We all got used to this name but in the proper botanical catalog you wouldn't find it under palms topic. Look for cycads instead. Turns out that sago palm belongs to a group called cycads and is among the most primitive plants out there. Fascinating thing is - they didn't change much from the dinosaur times.

How to care for them indoor?

To grow happily sago palm needs lots of light with at least coupe hours of direct sunlight daily. So if you have southern window - this is a perfect spot for your plant. If there is no spot with bright light in your house, you can still have sago palm but don't expect any significant growth. In fact in poor light even if your sago will give out the shot of new leaves they will be leggy with large space between their needle-like leaves.
Another important thing - sago palm would not tolerate overwatering. The cone-resembling base (actually reminds pineapple to me) is prone to rotting if left in too damp conditions.
Therefore soil shiuld be light, draining quickly and never have standing water in. Other then those - sago palm will not give any fuss about growing conditions. As bottom leaves will get yellow, you can cut them off to keep nice appearance of plant.

Sago palm pests

Look out for pests! Rearly but still sagos can get infected with scale, white formations usually placed on the leaves undersides. Scale damages leaves by sucking on them, affected leaves turn yellow, then brown, but most of the problem is when scale attacks the new growth. Untreated scale can ruin sago palm completely, so check the leaves undersides often.
They are really hard to cure, my advice - cut affected fronds off, desinfect all the tools that touched the plant, isolate the plant from the rest ones for at least a month and check the rest of the fronds every day.

How to propagate sago palm?

They can be propagated by seeds or small offsets that sometimes appear at the base of mature plant. Seeds should be bought from reputable seller to make sure they are fertile. As other cycads sago palm seeds have to come from polinated source. Female plant that was not polinated will still produce the seeds but they will be totally useless.
To germinate the seed at home soak it in the clean tapped water for a day, then fill the pot with well draining soil, dump the soil with water and put the seed on it's side on the top of soil - don't bury it in, just gently push it down so it doesn't move on the surface. Keep the pot in warm place, keep the soil constantly moist and have a lot of patience.
To read about propagating from offsets go here: http://sagopalms.com/sagopups.htm

Does it grow outside?

Yes, sago palm grows happily outside in zones 8+. If you are higher up on the map (I mean up to North) - you can only grow it inside. However sago pam can still enjoy summer months outside, just don't forget to bring it inside when the temperature drops. If leaves got some accidental night frost - cut them off, new growth will come out fresh and green.
Whether you are the lucky owher of sago palm or just thinking about getting one - good luck growing and get back to us (admin at sago-palm dot com) with your results to share your sago stories.
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