Sago palm frawns curling down and inward

[tton]

I have a ~6 foot Sago palm in my yard. The frawns are curling down and inwards towards the trunk.  Color on them looks alright.  Any ideas what might be causing this.  I have several other sago palms in the yard in similar growing conditions but are not showing the curling like this one is.  The base of the trunk also looks a little off?  Thanks in advance

Edited December 26, 2022 by tton

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, tton said:

I have a ~6 foot Sago palm in my yard. The frawns are curling down and inwards towards the trunk.  Color on them looks alright.  Any ideas what might be causing this.  I have several other sago palms in the yard in similar growing conditions but are not showing the curling like this one is.  The base of the trunk also looks a little off?  Thanks in advance

I don't think this is a Cycas revoluta or Sago "palm".  Looks like a different species.  Please share some close up photos of the leaves, leaflets and top of  caudes where leaves attach.  These are Cycads not palms as you may or may not know.  Any photos of the cone would also be helpful.   The tightly recurring leaf ends is very attractive on this specimen.   Appreciate it as something different than a common Sago or Cycas revoluta. 

[pinktree1]

Some of these fronds curled to get from the shade into the sun.

 

 

[tton]

Thanks for the replies.  I'll get some close up pictures tomorrow.  We moved into this house about two years ago.  The leaves have been relatively straight up until a few months ago so wasn't sure if this was cause for concern.

[Merlyn]

@ttonif it looked exactly like a normal sago (Cycas Revoluta) before, and the leaves just changed to looking curly and thin...then it's a cause for concern.  It could just be something environmental or nutritional, like too hot/cold/dry or just missing some fertilizer.  But it could also be something fungal.  Do you have any other photos of it before it started looking odd?

The other possibility (as Tracy mentioned) is that it's not a Revoluta, but some other species of Cycas or a hybrid.  There are a couple that usually have curly leaves, it's always possible that it's part something else.  The slightly bluish leaves also make me think hybrid.

Your general location would help too, since the soil/temps/humidity/etc are very different from Florida to CA to Australia.  I'm guessing FL, just based on the photos and the weird community mailboxes that I've only seen around here.

[Tracy]

12 hours ago, tton said:

Thanks for the replies.  I'll get some close up pictures tomorrow.  We moved into this house about two years ago.  The leaves have been relatively straight up until a few months ago so wasn't sure if this was cause for concern.

The pictures would help as well as your location to better understand what else might grow in your climate (as Merlyn pointed out).  Post a couple of photos of you other cycads as well for comparison. 

It is interesting that a plant of that size has no pups unless they were regularly removed.  Most Cycas revoluta would be loaded with basal pups at that size.  The trunk is also slightly narrow for a Cycas revoluta compared to most I see or have grown. 

[tton]

Located in Houston, TX.  Here are a few pictures of the leaves in the current condition.  Some just started turning brownish due to the freezing cold front that just came through.  Tried to get some of the crown but it needs to be cleaned up from pine needles and will need to get the ladder out for that.  Pup leaves are regularly pulled out when they start appearing.  Will get some before pictures if i can find them, have only been in this house for about 2 years.  Right after moving in we had that hard freeze in 2021 which killed all the leaves on this tree and the others.  Took a season for them to come back so they may naturally be curly but needed that time to mature again?

Edited December 26, 2022 by tton

[tton]

 

Current pics attached

[tton]

Picture when we first moved in of the tree about 2 years ago

 

[Tracy]

32 minutes ago, tton said:

Picture when we first moved in of the tree about 2 years ago

 

Even here, it has a slightly different look than the two females on the left side.  The one next to the house looks like classic Cycas revoluta, but the other two have longer leaves, as does the one that now exhibits the recurved leaflet ends.  Not sure if that is just because the two on the left above which also have longer leaves in your current photos, are growing in the shade.   They could be Cycas taitungensis as opposed to Cycas revoluta.

With the cold and apparent damage you received by the browning, you may just have to wait and see what it does when it flushes again this summer.  I personally love cycads that have heavily recurved leaves.  A different genus cycad in the photo below, but hopefully you can see the attraction to that look.

[Merlyn]

36 minutes ago, tton said:

Picture when we first moved in of the tree about 2 years ago

 

So my first thought is that the "snowpocalypse" defoliation a couple of years ago may have affected them all.  It can take as long as 2 years for them to get back to "normal" after something like that. 

The second thought is that you've got at least 2 species there.  The one next to the house solo looks like a normal Revoluta.  The other three in shade look like something else.  Cycas Taitungensis (aka "Prince Sago") is similar to the common Revoluta, but a bit bigger.  They tend to have longer fronds that droop more.  Here's an example of a Taitungensis at Austin's Zilker Botanical Garden.  It's also in shade, but you can see how the fronds are similar...but longer and more recurved:

[Patrick]

I may be corrected, but by that second and third image, the leaflets look revolute to me...

[tton]

Thank you both for the information.  I do like the look of the leaves curling in, but being it was the first time I've seen it I wasn't sure if it's is of concern or not.  I'll continue to monitor it and see how it holds up with this cold damage.  May need to trim up some of the leaves if they brown out too bad.  Most of them lost pretty much all their fronds the last heavier freeze but came back pretty good

[Merlyn]

@ttonI recall seeing a research paper suggesting that Revoluta and Taitungensis should be put together into a single species.  I personally think they are different enough to be considered separate species.  Cycas also hybridize pretty easily, so it's possible your recurved leaf one has some genes from another type like Guizhouensis, Panzhihuaensis or others.  There are also some "queen sago" types that have somewhat drape-y leaves, such as Thouarsii, Circinalis, Seemanii and Rumphii.  There were a bunch of Thouarsii imported back in the 80s and 90s, it's possible yours are one of the intermediate hybrids between one of them and a Revoluta/Taitungensis. 

One thing that came to mind while I was moving seedlings from my garage back to the backyard...did the flush on the curvy leaf one happen recently?  I've seen some flushes come up and get distorted by either a storm with high winds, or from cold.  I have a unnamed Cycas that had a great looking flush come out right before hurricane Ian, and the fronds and leaves were still soft.  After the storm they were whipped all over the place, but straightened up most of the way...just in time for hurricane Nicole to come by and wreck them again.  They are still nice and green and reasonably healthy, but they look pretty messed up.  I've also had flushes get messed up if they aren't quite "hardened off" before it gets close to freezing.  This happened to several Encephalartos Laurentianus over the past 2-3 days.

As a preventative measure, you could squirt some hydrogen peroxide into the crown.  If it fizzles and bubbles up there might be a fungal infection in the crown.  This is a common treatment for palm crown infections.  I've used this on lots of palms and several cycads with a good success rate.  Hydrogen peroxide will attack fungus but doesn't affect any normal live plant tissue.  You can also check the trunk for any soft spots that might indicate a trunk rot.  I don't know if the Christmas lights would have any negative effect on the trunk, I suppose they could burn tissue if they were high enough wattage.