Sago pups

[Steve Mac]

I have just noticed one or two pups, what are the chances of cutting them off and saving them?

[Fusca]

At that size I think not so good, but if you leave them on until the caudex is baseball sized your chance of rooting them is greatly improved.

[jimmyt]

Agree with Fusca.  Those need more size yet to survive.  I would even say tennis ball size will work. 

[Merlyn]

At baseball size or bigger I get about a 90% survival rate, and I'm honestly not even trying to save them.  I just toss them into 3G pots and put them in the shade.  If they sprout I give them to friends, if they rot I toss them in the fire pit.    The only ones that definitely died are ones I "cored" by accidentally pulling the tap root out of the center.  Those aren't worth trying to save, so just be careful when slicing them off.

[Butch]

Can the pups get too big to remove and save?.. I have some that are basketball size, and even starting to trunk...

Butch

[Fusca]

4 hours ago, Butch said:

Can the pups get too big to remove and save?.. I have some that are basketball size, and even starting to trunk...

Butch

I wouldn't think so - seems to me the bigger the better.  I've rooted some nearly basketball size before.  Remove the leaves and they will get roots going before the new flush of leaves.

[Merlyn]

I agree with Fusca, I've separated some big ones too.  Maybe a little bit less than basketball size, but with 100% success rate.  The bigger ones have more stored sugars/energy in order to easily grow new roots.  The only downside of really big ones is that it's awkward to slice them off.  That's just because they are big and getting in between the parent trunk and the pup is a bit more difficult.

Personally I do not remove leaves except to balance the amount of leaves with the amount of roots.  On transplants of 3-5' trunking ones, my neighbors chopped off all the fronds and all the roots, and tossed the trunks at the side of the road.  I picked them up an planted them, and they flushed within a couple of weeks.  But the flushes were about 1/4 of normal length, with maybe 6" leaves.  It took those 1-2 years to recover to normal.  3 or 4 others that I transplanted myself (two with almost no roots) I left about 5 or 6 leaves in place.  They recovered to full health in about 3 months and the first flush was normal healthy size. 

My theory on this is that you don't want the plant trying to make roots AND a new flush at the same time.  Both take energy, and if you've removed 100% of the leaves then it has no new sources of energy.  So it expends as little as it can to produce 3 or 4 stunted new leaves.  If you keep just a couple of healthy leaves in place then the plant doesn't need to expend energy to make new stunted ones.  It's just a matter of balancing the root loss with leaf removal.   If you have a basketball sized offset with zero roots, then leave 3 or 4 fronds in place.  If you've got a taproot and some side roots, then you could leave a few more fronds on there safely.  Just make sure it's in a partially shaded area for it to re-root.

[Steve Mac]

Ok thanks guys, got it, I shall wait.

[Butch]

My thanks also... And sorry Steve for the thread hijack...

 

Butch