How to Grow Sago Palm from Seed? A Detailed Guide to the Latest Techniques and Methods
The sago palm (Cycas revoluta) is an evergreen palm-like woody plant of the genus Cycas in the family Cycadaceae. It likes light and tolerates partial shade slightly, prefers warmth and is not very cold-hardy, and likes fertile, moist, slightly acidic soil, but it can also tolerate drought. It grows slowly, plants over 10 years old can bloom, and its lifespan can reach over 200 years. It has extremely high ornamental value. Let us take a look at the propagation techniques for sago palm!
Growing Sago Palm from Seed
The seeds of the sago palm are large with a thick coat. It is best to sow them immediately after harvest, or they can be stored in moist sand after harvest and sown in the following spring. For sowing, use spot sowing in pots, covering with 2 cm of soil. At a high temperature of 30-33°C, they can germinate in two weeks, and the seedlings need to be grown for 2-4 years before transplanting. Before sowing, soak the seeds in warm water of about 50°C in a thermos for 12 hours, pour them out and spread them for 1 hour, then change to water of the same temperature with 0.1% ferrous sulfate and monopotassium phosphate added, put them back into the thermos and soak for another 12 hours, after which they can be used for sowing.
Growing Sago Palm by Division
The formation of sago palm suckers generally takes 2-3 years. Division propagation is best done in early spring in March to April when repotting, separating the suckers from the stem of the mother plant. When cutting, try to damage as little of the stem bark as possible, insert them into open ground or a pot, and bury half of them in soil. The survival rate of division propagation can reach 80-90%. Suckers grow slowly, so it is best to take suckers after 3 years to separate. Suckers with small wounds are easy to keep alive. You can also cut the trunk into long sections of 15-20 cm, bury them in sandy soil so that new buds form around the trunk sections, and then divide and grow them separately.
Growing Sago Palm by Burying Stem Sections
Propagating sago palm by burying stem sections means using the trunks of old cycad stumps dug from mountain forests, sawing them into stem sections about 10 cm long, and dividing them into 4, 6 or 8 pieces depending on the diameter. After scraping off the pith, disinfect with a 1500-fold carbendazim solution, dry in the shade, then soak in 1500-fold indolebutyric acid for 2 hours. After removing and drying in the shade, bury them in clean sandy soil at a depth of about 3 cm, with the side that has bark or the side that originally faced upward facing up. Keep the soil temperature at about 25°C, cover with glass or film, and maintain humidity. After about 2-3 months, the latent buds on the stem sections sprout and grow into suckers. When the suckers grow to 2-3 cm, remove them and pot them in plain sandy soil to encourage rooting.