Not a very good indoor plant.You might want to keep it outdoors as much as possible. I'm not sure if that is a pest or fungus but you can buy a product that does both at your local home depot.If the problem with the yellow spots are the newest leafs then you might have a nutritional problem as well. Here I have a problem with manganese deficiency and I have to add extra to my fertilizer. Hopefully the man from cycad jungle will chime in for more and probably better advise then me.

Usually Sagos (Cycas revoluta) that are found in typical nurseries are grown in poor soil mixes, which inevitably leads to weak or dead roots. After roots deteriorate, the potential for rot setting in increases.

I would take the entire plant out of the pot, inspect the roots and if there is rot you have to remove all infected tissue and treat it appropriately. Do a search on the internet for articles that describe treating cycad rot. I can provide some links if you need them.

You will need a new potting mix and time for the plant to recover. If the rot has spread into the crown of the caudex, that is an ominous sign. Hopefully that's not the case. Good luck.

x

Thank you very much for your insights. I think I am going to haul this HEAVY plant home for some TLC-- it looks and sounds as though something is very wrong. Would it hurt the plant if I tried a fungicide/pesticide? I'm a little intimidated by the root rot issue, although if that is the problem then I guess I will need to learn about it . . .

Can you post a pic ? That would help to identify the problem.

Trying a pesticide/ fungicide should be the last resort only after you have no idea what is going on. If you can correctly diagnose the problem, you can treat it effectively. Dumping chemicals, even if they work, does not help because you don't know how to improve things so problems don't arise in the future.

Some info can be found here
Additional reading right here

It's a lot of info. Try and familiarize yourself with some basic concepts and do what is best. Come back here for more help when you're ready.

x

There are safe ones if you just look for them. I never mentioned the word pesticide at all by the way.

Okay, I tried to post the pics with HTML. Hope this works. As a back up, I put a photo link in the Optional Link URL box.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Your plant looks perfectly healthy in these photos. The fuzz is a normal part of cycad anatomy.

When there is rot, one of the signs is that the leaves become flimsy and bend at the hinges. Yours appear firm and upright.

Being new to gardening, you should learn and read as much as you can. Welcome aboard.

I had to get my husband's help with the photos, but I wanted to make a few notes about them:
1. you can see the "clouds" of fluff that accumulated once I tried to scrape/wipe the stuff off.
2. the photos are kind of bright-- the fluff is actually more of a medium brown color than it appears, and there is a thin film of the fluff covering most of the caudex (I'm learning new terms!) and especially in the crevices of the scales.
3. Although with the photos all enlarged you would think otherwise, the stuff really isn't THAT easy to detect until you rub some of it off, and the caudex (under the fluff) is super-firm and the branches are still deep green and very spiky-- no wilting (except for the patches of fronds that I have cut off). Also, no black spots anywhere, which is what most of the rot pictures I could find looked like.
I've been on every website I could find (and thank you for the links-- very informative), but I couldn't find a description of this stuff or any pictures of plants that look like mine does, so I'm having trouble diagnosing the problem. Does it look like rot? I'm stumped.

I just bought me a sago palm 8 fl oz in IKEA last weekend that had 3 fronds but its in perfect health anyways your sago is all right and in fine shape. I am a newbie too.

Well, OK, GREAT news! So glad I didn't rush off and yell at the nursery folks for selling me a sick plant.

I guess I should leave the fuzz alone and not worry about the yellow-spotting fronds (which may not come back now that I have fed my plant) unless they return. I really appreciate everyone's input! Thanks for the education.

yellow spotting can also be from mechanical insult

we recently had a hail storm and my revoluta developed a bunch of yellow spots on the leaves afterwards. it kind of ruined the perfectly glossy leaves but luckily they will be replaced in time

My dad has 2 beautiful palms and as i was gardening at his house today, i noticed the brownish fluff this other lady is speaking of. I cannot find out any information about this either. One of his palms has it and the other one does not. Help!! what is it? I tried to scrape it off and it does come off, but it is like fuzz. It is the strangest thing. Does this mean the plant is sick, because as i said the other plant does not have it and they are basically 10 feet away from eachother.

I am seeing the posting from biscuits.. but not the replys.. I see coleen humes ask the same question... Can you please share the answer with me.. I have hunted and hunted.. and this is the only site I have found anything about it.. My sego was part of a larger sego I have in my yard.. we removed the pup (2-3 years in age) and put it into a container.. today I noticed the brownish fluff you all are speaking of.. Do I need to worry about this?

I had the same fungus on my sago palm. It was just like you said and no one had ever heard of it before. I got rid of the fungus on my Palm by spraying vinegar and water mixture on it. I did this every day for about 5 days then I sprayed it with water and the fungus came right off. Then I did a repeat to make sure it was gone. Good luck.