If the trunk or below ground portion of trunk is smashed or damaged I would cut that part off apply some root hormone and let the open part dry,then replant it in a well draining soil mix and don't water it to much right away,I'm not sure how well these root,I'm in a similar situation with a giant yucca I,m trying to reroot that was removed as you described, good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Normally the location where the the cable was put on the stem will cause brusing so that the stem rots after a few years. (even if it had come up in one piece) You would want to make a clean cut above that area. I use a sawsall with a 12 inch blade. As soon as you make the clean cut, you put the wound in a Daconil solution to help with fungus and let that air dry, which is usually 15 minutes to an hour. Once it is dry smear a bunch of black tree sealer on the wound and plant the stem in coarse sand. You will first want to remove all the leaves, don't water hardly at all and keep it in the shade. Do it this way and you have about a 70% chance of saving it. If you do the same to the base, it will continue to produce more offsets even after yout ake the ones off now. I would treat all offsets and wounds on the base just like the top.

If you hadn't cut the leaves off the top it would have dried up and died in a few weeks. People don't understand cycads because you treat them like no other kind of common plant. Its not like rooting a cutting. Either way, you will have offsets and they are clones of the original plant and are part of the plant that you hold so dear. I know people who's grandmother had an old sago and when she died, they planted it at her grave and all the family members have offsets of that plant and now these large plants all remind them of her and her favorite old plant too. Some things are worth more than money, and the time it takes to keep something like that alive.

donvon - I hope you don't mind me adding my situation to your thread - they seem very similar, and I'm hoping my advice will be the same as was given to you.

My neighbor ran over one of my Sago palms, and it is broken at the base with damage down into the root ball (below ground level at least).

Here are some pictures:

Full palm: http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q196/Nixxxed/Spring2008/100_0766.jpg
Base: http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q196/Nixxxed/Spring2008/100_0771.jpg
Inside closeup: http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q196/Nixxxed/Spring2008/100_0768.jpg

Will my procedure be the same as mentioned before by jim and cycad? donvon's situation sounded like her plant's injury was further up the trunk, leaving the base and rootball intact. I understand making a new cut, but I'm confused if I need rooting hormone or wound sealer, or both, and if both which order to apply them.

Many thanks for any help - I googled my brains out for about 3 hours last night, and this was the only posting with information close to what I needed. Also, good luck to you donvon!

- Chuck in Texas

Your plant will be easier to work with than the other. You could go up about 6 inches with the new cut. Rooting hormone wouldn't be a bad thing to use, but most of the ones available retail are the powder types and if you put that on first, then the tree sealer doesn't stick very well. If you had a liquid, like "Dip and Grow', then you could mix that with a Daconil solution and then paint the wound with the sealer after that. Your long term problem might be the impact of the car on the stem. If there was a strong impact, that may cause a bruse and could start a rot in the stem a year or two down the road. It is funny that this was the only thing you found while searching. In the past, I have caught so much crap from some people on this forum for sending over my articles, but I have had what you were looking for in my article section for years. I will try this and see what happens, but these might help everyone understand what to do:

http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cycadjungle/Most%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions.html

http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cycadjungle/Horticulture%2C%20Article%204%20Never%20throw%20away%20a%20cycad.htm

Thought I would give an update to my mama plant trauma. I have no idea how mama is doing as I trimmed all the leaves but a yellow cone seems to have developed at the top. So, I'll keep watching it and see how she does.

The exciting part is that about 12 of the pups have sprouted beautiful leaves and seem to be thriving! I planted 18 pups in the back of the yard in a soil and sand mizture and watered in some root stimulator. After that, I pretty much left the babies to fend for themselves.

So my follow on question is this -- as I continue to work on my landscaping, once I am ready to replant them in their right locations, do I need to start over and chop off all the leaves or are they young enough to transplant as they are?

thanks much!