Greetings from across the pond.
Mine in a pot has done that also, I think from the sun.
Older and lower ones though do tend to die off some.
Not sure about your shingle round you have on it, but if it has stopped air circulation it could promote rot.
I have a huge one in yard I have to trim back and a guy at the nursery told me to give them blood meal to green them up, they will turn really dark green.

Hi & Greetings back at ya ;)
Oh really...mmm, better get me some blood meal then (sounds yukky!)
I will remove the small shingle now I think. i put it round the sago as being in a terracotta pot, it seemed the soil would dry out so quickly...I thought adding the shingle would prevent that a little. But as i did it I was concerned too about the rotting fact.Oh well, you live & learn!

Seeing as I only have three leaves on my sago, i hope i dont lose one! I did try it in the garden (well my zip up mini greenhouse) for a short while, and it seemed to make the leaf even worse.
See, that's because i was being too smug thinking how grateful i was not to of encountered any real problems with any of my plants....I talked it up!

Oh, I'm so jealous that you have a huge sago...not something you see here. Aren't the leaves sharp though..ouch! Just bringing my little palm home it stabbed me & bent the end of the leaf...I should of known then about what was to follow!!

Thank you so much for you advice:)

Hugs,
mandy (UK)

OH yeah they are sharp! I had to trim off about 30 of them in the corner of it cuz they were all dead.
I am trying to find the pic of it to post.

It is about 5 feet across and over 5 feet high.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:103811}}

OH MY GOD....No way, is that a photo of your sago??

Ohhhh, how green with envy am I, it's huge...makes my little three leaf one look pathetic :(
Is it true that sago's only put out one new leaf a year, two if you are lucky? So how old must your sago be?!

It's so beautiful...I dont think I'll live long enough to see mine get that big, if it is one a year. I mean I'm 30yr now...I'll have to at least be 160 before i see it looking decent at this rate lol!

Hugs,
Mandy (UK)
PS:You dont fancy posting it to the uk then?...no? Lol!

That is the one in yard. I just moved into this house so no idea how old it is, but house was built in 1988.
Yeah it is true they only put out 1-3 a year. One revolution of the earth, that is their cycle I am told.
My one in pot will never get that big either, it puts out 2 or 3 new and 2 die off. LOL!
But don't let this discourage you at all.
I just happen to live where they can grow all year long outside.

Sagos produce one WHORL of leaves per growing season, typically. This will mean more than one leaf. These cycads (not palms at all) grow readily outdoors, planted in the soil in semi tropical climates. When I lived in SC, they were a common landscape feature, even though temperature's would drop to well below freezing every winter. Large, well established specimens can survive very cold temperatures!

I suspect that the yellowing has nothing to do with sunburn at all, as these prefer as much light as you can give them. (Full direct sun outside!!!)

Hi Mandy, I'm in your same zone and grow several Cycads. As Rhizo said, they love full sun indoors or out, but they will also adapt to shade...thus making a great house plant. I let mine dry out almost completely between watering during winter indoors. They are potted in a very fast draining soil so in summer outside they are watered 2-3 times weekly but our summers are much hotter than yours.

Your yellowing leaves are probably the older leaves dying off. You may still get a new leaf or two this year, but even if you only have one leaf left, don't discard the bulb...it will resprout next year. I wouldn't fertilize it, just water when it dries out a good bit, and as much light as possible this winter. Good Luck. josh

Here is a link that might be useful: Sago Palm

Hi Rhizo,
Oh, yes sorry, I know they are not actually palms, just tend to call them that, as it's how they are usually labelled!
Oh...I just cant put it outside though...it gets all sad when i do that!! I did put it outside for a bit, but it looked worse, so i had to bring it back in. I bought it from an indoor garden centre, so i think this little one was mean't to be kept as a houseplant...I just cant part with it!

hey Josh,
I guess it must just be an old leaf dying off then. Funny, because my sago is so small and only has three leaves, i tend to think of it as a very young plant & think it cannot possibly have 'old' leaves!! But I'm wrong to think that, guess i just panicked as didn't want to lose it, as cannot find sago's easily here.
Like you, i just water when it dries out, i'm trying to give it as much sun as possible, only over here at the moment we do not get a great deal of that!

Should I cut the leaf off eventually, or will it just fall off?
That's great to know that the bulb would still sprout...phew, i really dont want to be parting with this baby.
Are all yours growing outdoors?Not that i'm jealous of course, just because you have more than 1 cycad!

Thanks so much for your help:)

Hugs,
Mandy

I agree that the more sun the better for these guys. One of mine had scale but is recovering nicely in it's bright spot. They will occasionally lose older leaves for no reason.

I heard these plants are very very old, that they were around at the time of the dinosaurs.

They grow outdoors in Phoenix AZ but need some shade there, thre is one at my mother's old house I planted in 1980 that was almost as big as the one Gobluejm has when I moved her in 2003. It had not been fertilized or properly watered since I moved out in 1982.

Indoors I would recommend full sun and to let dry between waterings. Not bone dry though.

Cycads were indeed, around when the dinosaurs were. They are very primitive plants.

Cut off the dead leaf once it is dea. It will not fall off by itself. Do not over water it during the winter months. Once spring comes, give it fertilizer and as much sun as you can manage.

Brenda