Sago palm - is it dead?

[Jeveion Amaluhu]

Hello, I am new to this website and I am pretty new to palm trees. I live in zone 7a North Ohio and I have a dwarf palmetto tree (Sabal minor) and a Sago palm. I had these grown completely unprotected for the past 2 years, but now they are getting brown. The dwarf palm has brown on the leaves and the sago palm is completely brown. It was 7 degrees F this morning. What should I do?

[John2468]

The petioles still looks green at the base, It should produce a new flush next year.  If it gets any worst, I would remove most of the snow from the plant and cover it with a frost cloth.

Edited January 18, 2024 by John2468

[Las Palmas Norte]

I can't see a Sago making it thru 7°F unprotected. True damage and the extent of that, may not be fully assessed until spring.

[WSimpson]

Throw leaves over it a couple feet thick and put a trash can over it . Wait for spring and it might make it . Or throw a lightbulb under the trash can without leaves and turn the light on when it gets into the low 20'sF . 

Good luck 

[Scott W]

I have to agree, single digits unprotected for even Cycas revoluta does not sound good.  Best you can do is cover it and provide it some warmth, maybe even build a box over it and place some lighting or another heat source within to keep it warm and hope foe the best.

[Dwarf Fan]

I seen an old established Sago left unprotected return from being fried at 2F in central Texas during Palmageddon’21. Keep us posted, don’t dig out until spring, as they do come back from single digits but it may take months.

[Tom in Tucson]

One great source of data concerning the trunk hardiness of cycads, is now only a memory; the tragic loss of a member of this forum; the owner of the once famous Texas Cold Hardy Palms Nursery. Before the '21 event known as 'Palmagedon' his cold tolerance reports (both leaf and trunk) were very useful. At least his posts are still found on this seemingly eternal forum. What a loss for us all.

Hi 76°, Lo 43°

[PalmatierMeg]

On 1/17/2024 at 1:00 PM, Jeveion Amaluhu said:

Hello, I am new to this website and I am pretty new to palm trees. I live in zone 7a North Ohio and I have a dwarf palmetto tree (Sabal minor) and a Sago palm. I had these grown completely unprotected for the past 2 years, but now they are getting brown. The dwarf palm has brown on the leaves and the sago palm is completely brown. It was 7 degrees F this morning. What should I do?

The so-called sago "palm" is not remotely related to palms but is a cycad, an ancient lineage of coning, non-flowering plants more closely related to conifers. Researching true palms (70 million years old flowering plants) does not make a lot of sense. Begin your study of Cycas revoluta by focusing on Cycads (300+ million years old coning, non-flowering conifer kin).

[SeanK]

http://cycadjungle.mysite.com/

Don't know if Tom keeps this up and running. He was active in CFPACS for a lot of years.

[Jeveion Amaluhu]

Here are updated pictures. The trunk is not squishy, but I think it is dead. It is warming up now somewhat.

[Las Palmas Norte]

I think these prefer some real heat, before they become active in growth.

[Manalto]

Don't give up yet. There's a reason these cycads have hung around for 300 million years - they're tough, and sago (Cycas revoluta) is one of the toughest. If it sends up a flush of new foliage, it may not be for several months. (As LPN said, they respond to a good spell of warm weather.) You'll then have to protect it in future winters.

 

[JLM]

Sagos can be quite finicky, sometimes they go more than a year without a new flush. Is the top part of the plant in the center squishy? If it is then it’s probably rotting, however I don’t actually know what the center of these are like normally as I have never made it a point to stab myself with the fronds of these things to find out lol
 

I would wait until June to make a final verdict on whether it goes to the trash or not, by then you should know one way or the other if it’s gonna do anything or if it’s dead. If it’s dead however, you’ll know before June and once you are sure it’s dead then it can be dug out.
 

If you have to replace or get another because you like sagos and just want another one, I would protect it below 15F. My sagos have burnt patches on the fronds following 18F, but otherwise they look fine and will likely put out a decent flush this spring.

[redbeard917]

On 1/20/2024 at 8:28 PM, SeanK said:

http://cycadjungle.mysite.com/

Don't know if Tom keeps this up and running. He was active in CFPACS for a lot of years.

Tom's article "Never Throw Away a Cycad" came to mind for me as well. An excellent resource.

http://cycadjungle.mysite.com/cycadjungle/Horticulture%2C Article 4 Never throw away a cycad.htm

I have grown Sagos in north FL for a while and some years they get defoliated. It takes a long time for the fronds to come back when the weather warms up. It might be worth physically protecting your plant in the future. Maybe even putting it in a pot and bringing it in during freezes.

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, redbeard917 said:

Tom's article "Never Throw Away a Cycad" came to mind for me as well. An excellent resource.

http://cycadjungle.mysite.com/cycadjungle/Horticulture%2C Article 4 Never throw away a cycad.htm

I have grown Sagos in north FL for a while and some years they get defoliated. It takes a long time for the fronds to come back when the weather warms up. It might be worth physically protecting your plant in the future. Maybe even putting it in a pot and bringing it in during freezes.

We have two Sabals in the ground.  We live in a solid 8b zone in San Antonio.  There's this sago in front of our house that comes back so quickly after each hard freeze. In a month we should have a full crown.  Fronds are already growing but stay together since it isn't the time to fully develop a crown yet.  The much smaller one in the backyard recovers very slow and I had the same thought that it would be dead when I moved in to my wife's house.  Surprisingly it came back . Don't let that dead look fool you it might take a long time to recover but it all depends on each palm. I'm going to provide some pictures that I'm going to take now since I'm off from work.  Sagos are tough.  

[Harry’s Palms]

I had a Cycas Revoluta that I planted on my hill many years ago it grew well , getting a set of fronds every year , for 3 years . Then , for no apparent reason , just stopped growing . It did not turn brown and every year for at least 7 years , I went down and looked to see if it was growing .....NOTHING!!  I just left it , and about three years ago in Spring I saw a new set of fronds pushing up. It now gets a new set every year (3 now) . I talked to my friend who is very up on Cycads and he said that Sago's can go dormant for years and do not give up on them . Harry

[_nevi]

On 1/20/2024 at 2:51 AM, Tom in Tucson said:

One great source of data concerning the trunk hardiness of cycads, is now only a memory; the tragic loss of a member of this forum; the owner of the once famous Texas Cold Hardy Palms Nursery. Before the '21 event known as 'Palmagedon' his cold tolerance reports (both leaf and trunk) were very useful. At least his posts are still found on this seemingly eternal forum. What a loss for us all.

Was this his account on here? @TexasColdHardyPalms

Edited February 12, 2024 by _nevi

[_nevi]

On 1/17/2024 at 6:25 PM, Las Palmas Norte said:

I can't see a Sago making it thru 7°F unprotected. True damage and the extent of that, may not be fully assessed until spring.

I definitely will be keeping an eye on this post. It will be interesting to see if this cycad species can survive single digits unprotected. Ground temps and snowcover could make all the difference regarding whether or not the plant survives.

Edited February 12, 2024 by _nevi

[MarcusH]

I know our Sagos survived 9F in 2021 . Maybe we just got lucky.  There weren't protected either and the one in front grows on the NE side with no wind barrier close by. 

[MarcusH]

Just now, MarcusH said:

I know our Sagos survived 9F in 2021 . Maybe we just got lucky.  There weren't protected either and the one in front grows on the NE side with no wind barrier close by. 

I also would like to add here in San Antonio pretty much all Sagos bounced back after Palmaggedon.  

[Gville Palms]

I lived in Michigan and Indiana for many years before I moved to Florida. While where you like in Ohio may be 7a, that is just a minimum temperature. That does not take into account the length of time that it can stay below freezing, which at times can be for days. 20 degrees for 5 or 6 hours at night and then 60 degrees and sunny during the daytime (like what typically happens in the very deep south) is vastly different than 10 degrees for 5 or 6 hours at night and then 25 degrees and snowing during the daytime (like what happens sometimes in the midwest). Many palms can take into the teens or even single digits for short periods of time, but multiple days well below freeing is often a different story. I am sure there is some anomaly where sagos have survived for many days well below freezing, but that is certainly not the norm. If you are going to keep trying to grow palms outside where you are then I would recommend keeping an eye on the weather and protecting them when there is going to be multiple days in a row below well freezing. Even then, I am not entirely sure it will work during really bad winters. 

[VA Jeff]

Keeping it realistic, sagos are mostly hardy in cold zone 8a.  You will have better luck with a large pot in the ground that gets moved to a garage for the winter.  You'll end up with a much bigger plant that can survive many years.  Otherwise, your cycad is less than 50% likely to survive any given winter.  I've fought this battle for thousands of dollars wasted with hundreds of dead palms.  Go for success more than bragging rights.