Hey Andy-
I put mine out every year usually around April 1. It's in fairly large pot and as long as it stays above 25F I do not cover it... If it's gonna get colder I've got blankets and boxes that work well...

Sagos can tolerate temperatures lower than that. I started leaving mine out in February and they saw temps overnight in the 20s with no ill effects. In my post about Sagos I am curious about how successful a Zone 7 outside planting in a good south facing setting near the house would be with protection in the ground. There is one guy around here that leaves his Sagos out almost all winter in pots and only takes them in if it looks like it will get colder than 15F. I am not that bold for potted Sagos, but he has had success. Generally mine in pots stay outside from February through late November or early December. That is 10 months of the year outside on average. I doubt you could rely on that in the icy, cold and snowy motor city, but 6-7 months of the year outside is realistic.

Mine is potted and we're only supposed to drop into the 40s for I would think the rest of spring. It sounds like I can keep it outside.

thanx, Andy

Oh yes, you should be fine now, but for future reference...
Cycads are typically more cold hardy than frost hardy. Plants growing under tree cover (even in pots) can keep their leaves on at much lower temperatures than if the same plants are out in the open. A good frost on the leaves and about 28F can burn some leaves, where the same plant under a tree would keep its leaves at about 18F or so. I saw a few containerized sagos die at 17F, but only a few out of 1000s. It is estimated that the stems will start to die at about 10F to 12F and can't handle much lower than that.

Andy,
You should look into some of the more cold-hardy sagos, such as the Prince Sago. It's supposed to be a faster grower than Revoluta. I've just started to research them myself, and it might be worth a try here in SE MI. Given plenty of protection, and if defoliation arises, it should recover if these things truly have the growth speed that I've been reading about. I'm not sure if the spelling is correct, but I think it's Cycas Taitungensis. By the way, I also have my sago out. I'm trying to get it to grow out some of those ugly low-light fronds it has grown while indoors.

Yes, try Cycas taitungensis, I'm going to buy a few from: http://chumleycycads.com/. They are supposed grow much faster than the Sago (multiple flushes per season) and the caudex (trunk) can withstand short boughts to the single digits. But if you protected it, you would never let it get that cold to begin with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chumley Cycads Pricelist

So this is wild: I have a Sago palm that is in a 1.5 to 2 quart size pot (a little fella) and the temp has already dropped to just below 30 degrees several times. It seems to be happy as a lark! The new book, 'Palms Won't Grow Here and Other Myths: Warm-climate plants for cooler areas" by David A. Francko of Miami Univ. in Ohio, talks about how many palms have a sort of built-in antifreeze element all their own. I'm starting to believe it.

Andyandy,

I concur with Tiffany 6 and especially cycadjungle. Cold doesn't seem to be so much a danger as frost. Mine is in a 3-gallon pot and has done fine with temps in the low 30's/upper 20's. The one time I nearly lost the sago was after frost got it one night. Almost completely defoliated but it bounced back, thankfully.

I am begining to like this prince sago. I have a a nice sized cycad revolut. but with the prince sago growing faster and able to withstand lower temps this just might work (with protection of course) Where can i find some of these at to purchase? I have checked ebay and there is none up for auction.

spataro51; Tom at cycadjungle might have some Cycas taitungensis. By the way, another even hardier cycad might be Cycas panzhihuaensis. I've seen talk about it being maybe the hardiest cycad. Einar

I brought mine in about a month ago. It's in my living room window facing north. It gets a little morning sun. the only time I've seen noticeable growth was last summer when it had its first flush since I got it last fall. It really looks good.

andy
I keep my 7 gallon outside unless the weather gets in the teens.
I did leave it out once and it got burnt a little but thats about it... they are very hardy ! they realy do like the sun!

I live in Columbia SC and the temps have recently dropped into the 20's for several nights. In the beginning my potted Sago did fine, but today I went out and it was faded, not brown....but had lost its green color. However, the stems on the palm are green and still sturdy....Is it toast, or is there anything I can do to bring it back???

Yea, I have C. taitungensis in anything from a 6 inch stem to 2 foot of trunk. They get a lot bigger than the revoluta, so if you let it get large, it will have up to an 11 foot spread.
I have formulated a soil mix that will kill asian scale in the soil,as well as mealy bugs in the soil. Also, I have made a mulch that you can cover you soil with and it will kill the scales that way. It is all natural too. I found a seed that if you grind it up and mix with the soil or other materials, it will kill most harmful insects. I can now grow more cycas now, because I can get this to my customers (once I perfect the method) and they won't have to worry about Asian scale any more. I have cured 3 cycas plants now for up to 6 months without the scale coming back, just by using the mulch on the soil. Now people can have a forest of Cycas debaoensis out in the yard without having to worry about getting Asian scale.

Cycas revoluta is quite hardy. I once had one survivea cold winter in Siuth Jersey in which it reached -6f! The mulched Sago flushed a new set of leaves to replace the leaves it lost in the bitterly cold winter. The plant was growing in a sheltered location near the southeast side of the house.

Gleaphart

If there is still green on the fronds next to the center
and no brown it should recover... just give it plenty of sunshine.

From a fellow northern Virginian, my sago was in an unheated greenhouse for the last few nights with lows down to 15° a few nights with daytime highs below freezing and all of the leaves are zapped, a very light green and definitely freezer brunt and dead. I have a heated space to move it and just wanted to give fair warning to anyone who wants to keep their green leaves on their sago do NOT let it get below 25-20° for any length of time (more than 1 night) or they will get felled to the trunk. These were 1 1/2 and 6 month old leaves that were all killed. I have a dioon edule that I have indoors and am glad I didn't expose it, as I don't want my cycads to be naked all winter and struggle in spring.

Moral of the story: Sago palm is not hardy below 25° - Unless you just want a brown trunk w/ dead leaves.

" I once had one survivea cold winter in Siuth Jersey in which it reached -6f! ,,,The mulched Sago flushed a new set of leaves to replace the leaves it lost in the bitterly cold winter."

What was it mulched with, 3 rolls of corning fiberglass lain in a criss-cross pattern, forming a 6' high, 15' diameter mound? Yes enough mulch can protect almost anything, within reason, but it eventually becomes a not practical thing to do. At least with a plant like that. Probably more impressive: I had a small Cycas panzhihuaensis recover from 3F with very little mulching. Alas, I gave up on getting them to survive around here because it's a little wetter in winter here than western suburban DC and they just need to be drier than I can give them, apparently. Furthermore that might be a plant that doesn't get much hardier with age, or even gets less hardy with age...for various reasons too complicated to go into.

Definitely more impressive: the last C. panzhihuaensis I had came back up from the ground after a full two years of "playing dead". Apparently it has some ability for the growth point to go into a long term senescence or dormancy. Maybe an adaptation to things like volcanic eruptions which caused brief mini ice-ages? They have been on this earth for a while. Alas, not surprisingly polar winter #1 finished it off for good. In retrospect I probably should have dug it up and coddled it for a few more years, but I was tired of dealing with them by then.

(yes I know that post was from 2006, so it was a rhetorical reply)

BTW you see large ones along the Gulf, and inland to some degree like Baton Rouge, so they can survive down to 15F as long as it's infrequent. Probably a zn 9 plant but cultivated in some sheltered, warmer parts of 8. I'm pretty sure that mature outdoor ones do _not_ defoliate with a brief dip to 25F.

It's very good to know they are a little more rough and tumble, I read that they can survive the single digits and hearing your experience is definitely encouraging. I have shelter for them to get out of the rain, I do not heat it and it can drop to basically the temperature outside when it gets extremely cold. I was surprised it defoliated completely at the 2 day dip in temperatures. It's potted and I could have moved it to the basement but wanted to push it's limits as it looked completely ok after night one. The leaves took on a darker leathery appearance but seems fine, yet another day below freezing and night at 16 degrees did the newish (less than 6 months) fronds and over a year old fronds in, too.

I am sure the plant will reflush and be fine, I brought it in the basement and chopped off the dead leaves. I have read not to do this as it encourages it to flush again soon thereafter, but I have a sunny room indoors with room for it and hope that's exactly what it does to get a jump start on the growing season.

It has always done very well with night time lows dropping into the low 20's (22 and above) but that's with daytime highs at 40-50 degrees. The sustained cold for more than 24 hours is what did the leaves in. And I can definitely see what you mean with not wanting to bother with them as someone in zone 7... who wants to look at a stump!?

Mine is in a big pot and I usually try to haul it indoors before temps dip below low 20's so that leaves remain green and intact...but sometimes I'm lazy or I forget. Last winter, I forgot about the plant and it stayed out all night it dipped to 8F, a 30+ yr record low. The following morning, I rolled it into my garage and it stayed there in cold but not freezing temps for several months. As expected the leaves were fried but after being trimmed back, and some sunshine and warmth, a brand new full set of leaves was produced.

This winter my plant was exposed to several nights in the mid-teens, and many in the 20's. Last month the leaves were not only toasty but also droopy, so I brought it into my garage for fear of rot setting in. It will flush new leaves, I have no doubt.

It's a very tough plant, but an extended period of very cold weather without protection is probably not wise. If I were to leave it out all winter by me, a heavy mulch would be in order, and I'd definitely snip off all the leaves right after a hard freeze. I think a dead, slowly rotting leaf would pose the greatest risk to the crown of the plant.

x

Sago palms are truly a zone 8b plant. If you are in the South in zone 8b, cold should not be an issue.

I have mine in very large tubs that go into my sunny, minimally heated/detached garage in December and they go back out (normally) some time in March. I just brought some of mine out yesterday as it was getting too warm (and dry) for them under glass (as it approached 70 outside). They are getting BIG though, and eventually will need help with this seasonal chore! I protect mine from temp below the upper 20's. Last winter there was some leaf damage under cover when we had an arctic blast and temps for them might have dropped to the low 20's for a extended period, but they came back with a vengeance the following Spring. I really don't like the idea of a yellow crown, even if they do will recuperate from it.

I brought our potted Sago palm inside the house the one week we had 8" of snow and temps staying low 20s and below the entire one week back in mid February. I did not put it back outside until it was around 30 degrees. I keep it outside year round because our winters have been so mild the past several years. This past February was the first time we have had bitter cold in at least 3 years and the first major accumulating snow in 6 years. The fronds on mine turned brown after being inside that entire week. Now two have fallen off. But the lower stems are very green. We are zone 7. I live in the Midsouth. Hope it puts new out.