momoese

The female plant will grow seeds that can be deadly poisonous to dogs.

MediaHound

Thread stuck

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AnnaJW

Wow, Mitchel! Thanks for posting this! I normally research any plants that I bring into my house or yard. I never thought about Palms being dangerous to animal companions though.

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Lard Greystoke

For those unfamiliar with Sago Palm, it is actually not a palm but a cycad (Cycas revoluta). Unless you are familiar with both kinds of plant the differences are not obvious. If in doubt, get the plant identified by someone who knows. Most seeds of actual palms are nonpoisonous or actually edible. Plants with scientific name Cycas, Dioon, Macrozamia, Encephalartos are cycads.

valerie@flower

That is correct, a Sago palm is a cycad which is really related to the pine tree family. The seed is grown in a cone that has been pollinated. Cycads are the oldest plants in the world dating back to the dinosaur days. There is also different varieties of the Sago (King, Queen and Japanese) to name a few that have different characteristics.

formontcalamus

A few years ago in Florida a shipment of Sagos arrived at a wholesale growers nursery from Thialand "" with a new species of scale The scale spread all over the state and was found by the Florida agi department to be resistant to insecticides. Many Florida growers quickly sold off thier Sagos cheap just to get rid of the problem and stopped growing them.

If anyone buys Sagos, especially at chain stores, check the leaves undersides carefully befor buying !! The scales apear as little charcoal dots with a central "bump" and a gray edge. I do not know if the scale will actually kill the plants, but thoes that I have seed infected look deteriorated.

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Bch Grl

In my neck of the woods, the scale is white and looks like snow on the plants! It's very obvious on the tops and bottoms of the fronds and spreads quickly. It can cause some serious damage and I think kill the plant if left unchecked. There have been many articles in the paper and oils(like Neem) seem to help suffocate them. I'll post some pics when I get back to FL. I'm in L.A. now, for Xmas.

Margie

plumeria

be sure to purchase sago palms from a nursery. There are many on the black market that have dug up out of the wild. In parts of California, the have to be chained down, otherwise they get stolen.

mskitty38583

i purchased mine and my moms at lowes about 2 months ago. they looked very good. no black dots or white specks. im glad someone caught this before it gets way out of hand.. you got to love the neem tree!!! do they have any idea where the scale came from or was it affecting the cyads before they got here? is it like the scale that we have here or a hybred? iam just asking caue i dont know. im clueless in sparta again.

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inkcube

most likely cycad aulacaspis scale insect, Aulacaspis yasumatsui, originally collected near Bangkok - armored scale known to infest cycads. it has been rapidly spreading through southern Florida since around 1996, its has spread throughout other areas in Florida and has been reported recently in Hong Kong, Hawaii, and the Cayman Islands.

keep in mind there are over 175 species of armored scales occur in Florida & 60 species of soft scales - i mean to say any scale you see could be any one of these not that the reported scale is a natural scale to Florida, if it is from Thailand it is most likely the cycad aulacaspis scale.

mskitty38583

thank you very much for the explanation. i appriciate it.

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D_&_T

how do you tell difference in an female to male sago? we seen a lot of them for sale at Lowes and Walleyworld other night. we are interested but with in door pets worried (2 cats)!

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D_&_T

seen this any thoughts?

http://www.tonyspencer.com/2007/10/0...ybe-your-kids/

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inkcube

you will only be able tell if your plant is a male or female when the plant is or has shown its reproductive cones - male cones protrude and are shaped like a cone or torpedo, the females are "cabbage" shaped and are gold or tan-yellow in color and the female cone is usually larger than the male. female cones emerge from the central area of the crown and look somewhat like a round mass of twisted and compacted tiny leaves. typically a sago will not produce cones until they are over 10 years, often it is much longer. a happy sago can put on a foot of trunk in 8 to 10 years, at about 10 years they can be about 1 - 2 ft tall and typically 3 - 4 ft tall when 20.

i have a sago in a pot that is well over 10 years old and has never put out a cone.

D_&_T

thank you inkcube

that link posted was talking about their dogs chowing on root ball, not just the seeds

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chumleyrobert

Yes , it was reported that there was one case of a dog 's death after drinking some water that cycad seed had be soaking for many days located in New Guinea about 40 years ago. I soak mine for many days before cleaning the outer peeling off the seeds and it smells like it would kill anyone, but I have two dogs and have never worried about it, and I clean thousands of cycad seed every year. I grow over 100 species of cycads......and only three or four species get the "Aulacaspis scale" and it is controlled if you spray a good insecticide every 6 months and spray often with a pressure sprayer. (That's what I do) and I might say very sucessfully.) But there are well over 200 species of cycads that don't get Aulacaspis scale....that you should seriously consider growing. You cannot tell the gender (male or female) of any cycad usually until it gets fully mature and produces a cone........unless you remove a "basil pup" (or sucker) from an older mature cycad that has produced a cone ... then the pup will be an identical clone of the mother plant (male or female) which ever it is. Robert Chumley Chumley Cycads Specializing In Artificially Propagated Cycads

Miracle_Ace

I went through a Cycad faze, but they all died!
I had a rare African one, a Mexican one, and my favorite the
Japanese Sago palm which I think is one of the most beautiful plants I have
Laid my eyes on, theres just something about it, reminds me of a time
When the earth was young.

Richard

It's a hot debate, but some biologists believe that the ancient Cycads are ancestrial to conifers, with the Japanese Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata) being the example intermediate form.

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phantom17

Thanks for the warning! I love Sago palm trees & bought one that came from a 3gal container @ Lowes here in McAllen, TX, & it looks clean, no black or white spots. And I made sure before I took it home to plant in my fron yard. Now, I have a 3 ft meditteranian (sp?) palm, 2 small sago palms that I had planted 6 mos. ago, a Spanish dagger, & a small chinese palm tree, about 1 ft tall. They are all in the front lawn. It's in the mid to hi 90's here in deep south TX, so they like the HOT weather!

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mskitty38583

ok you sago growers i need some advise. i have 1 sago that the leaves are turning white on. it gets full morning sun and i dont water till its dry. and no there is no scale on it. what am i dong wrong???this is driving me nuts.

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