cycas revoluta

[GREENHAND]

My dad planted this sago in at there lake house in 1979 from a small plant. he said if i could dig it up i could put it at my lake place, hmmm never say no to a nice sago!!so i am on my on diggin this one, so here goes.

[GREENHAND]

after many scratches and pokes, and a thorn in my face i got it

[GREENHAND]

here is the hole

[GREENHAND]

here it trimmed and planted at its hew home.

[GREENHAND]

another angle

[aussiearoids]

Did you got lots of offsets ?

Got one a similar size at work and it has over 40 around it , some up to 6" ++ dia. already .

[Neofolis]

1979, I knew they were slow, but that's crazy.  My father-in-law has one that is not much smaller and it's only about 4 years old.  Do they slow down once the caudex has reached it's maximum diameter or has that one just not grown?

Nice plant, either way.

[GREENHAND]

that is what i was thinking super slow!!my dad said it almost was killed in the late 80.s i was thinking the big freeze of 89 put the hurt on it. it just grew there for years no water or fertlizer, with proper attention it would have been alot bigger. now that i have it i should be able to increase its growth rate.

[Mike4284m]

Nice looking plant!  You may want to trim most or all of the leaves off to reduce the water lost from transpiration.  Then again, I can't quite see how much of the root ball you ended up with.

[Neofolis]

Once you establish a regular flush cycle, leaf trimming almost immediately prior to a flush will create a much bigger flush, in turn increasing growth rate.  If you are fairly sure when the flush is due, you can be quite severe with the leaf trimming to maximise the benefit.  I've noticed with other plants that if they have been in a situation where they have not been achieving their growth potential and that situation is greatly improved, they often grow very quickly, as if they are trying to catch up with where they should have been.

[GREENHAND]

thanks for the advice, it is starting to flush now, it is just coming out of the middle, iam pretty sure it will go through some transplant shock, i got a pretty good amount of root ball , i will keep a eye on it , and keep it well watered.

[BobbyinNY]

from what I understand, they put out like 1 set of new petioles/year..... Doesn't matter where it's growing.... Painfully slow... maybe that's why they're pricey when they get some size.

[GREENHAND]

oh yea there pricey , that is why i dug it up ,around here you could expect to pay 300.00 to 400.00 bucks for one that size. i saw a news report about sagos being stolen out of peoples yards. in the dallas area. my friend had one in a apot stolen off his front porch.

[Neofolis]

Bobby, one flush per year is fairly common, but not the only possibility.  Some people will have them not flush for 2 years or more others will be able to regularly achieve 3-4 flushes per year, although four is exceptional.  Either way, maximizing the size of each flush will increase growth rate.

It's not just the growth rate that makes them expensive, they are expensive as seeds and seedlings as well compared with many palms.

[BobbyinNY]

Bobby, one flush per year is fairly common, but not the only possibility.  Some people will have them not flush for 2 years or more others will be able to regularly achieve 3-4 flushes per year, although four is exceptional.  Either way, maximizing the size of each flush will increase growth rate.

It's not just the growth rate that makes them expensive, they are expensive as seeds and seedlings as well compared with many palms.

Now do you maximize the size of each flush, Corey?.... Mine have all been putting out exactly one new set each year for the past 2 1/2 years. Two of them I left outside all winter long unprotected, and the other one I kept in my greenhouse - no different, they all performed the same..

[Paul S]

Once you establish a regular flush cycle, leaf trimming almost immediately prior to a flush will create a much bigger flush, in turn increasing growth rate.  If you are fairly sure when the flush is due, you can be quite severe with the leaf trimming to maximise the benefit

I don't see how this can possibly be so.  The growth point would surely form the leaves way before they are showing themselves in it's 'pre-flush pout' (or whatever you would call that phenonemon in cycads - you know what I mean) so the number would have already been determined within the bud way before any subsequent leaf trimming which would therefore have no effect whatsoever on the number of leaves.  

If you are not referring to the number of leaves, but to the size and vigour of the growth, I would have also thought that, rather than promote strong growth, constant removal of leaves on an evergreen plant would weaken it as you are effectively removing the engines of photosynthesis.

Maybe cycads are different to other plants in this regard, but I don't see how.  Certainly not in the UK climate, which I realise is not what is being discussed here, but it stretches the imagination to visualise a cycad not only being grown, in effect, as a herbaceous plant but being stronger as a result.

Where did this advice originate from, Corey?  I would certainly hesitate before pasing such things on as gospel if you haven't tried it out for yourself.

[Neofolis]

I don't have sufficient knowledge to explain how it works, but it is only the case for flushing Cycads and will not work with Cycads that have a constant growth cycle like Macrozamia moorei.  I have read this on many reputable Cycad websites and understand it to be fairly common practice amongst experienced Cycad growers.  Perhaps Tom Broome can help me out by posting here and explaining the mechanics behind it.

Bobby, I'm not entirely sure how to promote more regular flushes, although I believe a combination of temperature, fertilizing, growth medium and watering regime are the only things that would effect it, maybe light levels as well, although this seems to have more effect on the form of the leaves.  I don't have revoluta, but my taitungensis flushes almost constantly, thought that may also be to do with it's stage of development.  Fertilizing seems to be the most important factor in achieving more frequent flushes, but I don't have sufficient experience to say how much, how often or what fertilizer.

[GREENHAND]

i have been getting two flushes a year on this one at home.

[GREENHAND]

another angle

[BobbyinNY]

Mike,

that Sago looks great.. Also, love the T. Forunei in the background......  Also, is that a hyophorbe Lagenacaulis I see to the left?

[GREENHAND]

hey bobby, yea i picked that bottle palm up at homey depot, 59.99. it is putting out new spears constantly.that puppy will be well protected this winter.