our sago palms had a rough winter because of the cold and one appears to be rotten at the top, the one trunk. The other has 3 heads, one of which is rotten. They are both putting out lots of pups on the trunks If the plants are not totally dead, is there any way to save them. They are over 20 years old and the trunks are at least 4 feet tall. Any advice would be appreciated.
Compare what you are experiencing with this first, Sago Palm Crown Rot (it may not be the cold, or it may have been cold weakened the plants such that an infection can take place)
First, need to find out what the plant is - Sago Palm is Metroxylon sagu, but the same name has often been wrongly used for Sago Cycad Cycas revoluta. Can you post some photos?
Thanks! Yours are Sago Cycad, not palms at all. I'd suspect it could be as simple as winter cold damage, killing the apical growth. The pups should be OK, but they'll be slow to develop, it might be several years till it looks good again.
Thank you. I was worried that it was crown rot and would kill them and we needed to use some fungicide as suggested We did have a cold winter which delayed the appearance of fronds and killed many plants. Should we cut off the dead heads which have holes in them (could cause rot maybe) or just leave them there looking ugly? We usually remove pups to give away, but if that is going to be the only greenery on the female plant, I guess we will need to keep them. Thanks so much for your help. No one around here has seemed to know what to do.
You are pretty humid there, aren't you? Down here, I'd trim off whatever is punky, soft, smelly. Those spiny little bits on the stem will pull off fairly easily if the inside is rotted. Try up near the top and then go down to where they are still firmly attached. Cut off at that point, at an angle slanting away from the center of the plant on the one where it's at the side. You probably will need to dust a fungicide of some sort, but you could do with something like a milk spray, or cinnamon dust, or maybe chamomile tea which I have heard works well. I've used cinnamon and I've used milk with good effect on controlling fungus on crepe myrtles, zinnia, and St Augustine grass. People down here take Cycas revoluta for granted. Many of them have been killed by a few years of cycad scale.
Thanks so much for the advice. Have already cleaned off the soft part and will try to cut off the rotten head on both of them and hope for the best.
