Did My Kid Kill His Sago?

splitgrille

My 10-year-old loves my bonsai trees, so I got him a little sago palm (trunk about size of a racquetball) ... something he'd have a hard time killing -- or so I thought.
About 10 days ago, new foliage starts rolling out, so today the kid lops off all the existing fronds (!). The new foliage is barely starting to spread out...Is this sago doomed?

Advertisement

Attila

No problem,

it you leave it alone, the new foliage will be out in no time and support the plant. Sago palms can survive without mature foliage for quite a while.

Attila

Pill_Man

Agree. Although I've not had one as a bonsai, as a potted house plant, mine has survived a couple of serious cat-attacks and weathered through just fine.

splitgrille

Thanks, guys... I suspected as much.
Now I just gotta keep the bugs off it. Yesterday I noticed that something had completely chewed off several of the still-tender leaves, so I gave it a squirt of some basic rose/flower bug spray. I hope that keeps 'em away.

ChrisM

i have quite a large sago, and had no expierience with them, when all the old shoots started to yellow, i lopped off every one of them. for a week or two i thought i had made a mistake, but it began to sprout. i now have more foliage then before and it is doing very well. on a side note, let your kid know that if he rotates the pot every once and a while, the foliage will bend towards the light angle a little. i did that and most of my new shoots formed like this:

Attached Images

untitled.jpg (3.5 KB, 55 views)

__________________
A bonsai is like a good marriage.You commit, for better or for worse, till death do you part. I DO!!!

ChrisM

my drawing doesn't do justice to the form i achieved, but i hope you get the idea.

chris

__________________
A bonsai is like a good marriage.You commit, for better or for worse, till death do you part. I DO!!!