This old thread was SO helpful. My local thrift store today had two pairs of terracotta (terra-cotta/clay) pots that were stuck together. Both sets were marked waaaaay down because of the problem. I did a quick Google search while in the store and up popped this thread; it looked like it might be possible to separate them, so I went ahead and bought them. Each pair was stuck pretty darn tightly. I tried but no way to separate them by hand. Once home, I decided to try the easiest method first. I gently bounced them on their sides on mulched ground (not concrete, not grass). I rotated them as I did it, so that each successive bounce was on a new side. I bet it wasn't more than 7-8 bounces on the first set and pop - they came apart. Performed the same procedure on the second set - 7-8 bounces - and pop! They came apart. Worked like a charm. I now have four separated pots - all survived - no breakage. Thank you to all above for an easy solution and enabling me to get a very good deal on some nice-sized pots! Carol in Jacksonville, FL

I think you're a good plant person with the wrong information. Your problem is you believed what you read on the internet. Most of the information that I see appears to be from people who are just repeating the wrong information they heard from someone else that they thought knew what they were talking about. I have heard what is happening to you at least 200 times. (I get 5 to 10 emails every single day from people asking me cycad questions). Let me guess, your plants leaves start to turn yellow then they die. Then it goes up to the top of the plant and dies. Does that sound about right? If you look at the big wholesale nurseries down here in Florida who are growing 10 acres of Sagos, most of them are watering Their sagos every single day during the summer time and every other day the rest of the time. On top of that, we get 4 inch rains in an hour multiple times during the week sometimes. We get 12 inches plus of rain each week during the summer time and they're just fine and they don't rot. Good draining soil is very important but most cycads don't want to be dry. It is not the same thing. The good bagged mix of Canadian peat, perlite, and sand would work real well. They don't need Cactus mix or orchid mix. If I were you I would repot the plant, I would incorporate a time release fertilizer like Nutricote or Osmocote, and water it once a week while it has no leaves, and water it real good at least twice a week once it starts pushing new leaves. For more information here is a website written by a person who has tested what he talks about in his articles many times before it goes in print. I would really read the fertilizer, water and soil articles specifically. Good luck with your plant. With the right information you should do fine. http://cycadjungle.8m.com/cycadjungle/articles.html

Good advice from Garrett. Leave them dry until they root. Instead of lifting them out to check, you can wait about 3 weeks, then gently tug to feel for resistence. if you feel resistance you probably have roots on all that type, don;t tug on each one, just one to test. Then you can take all that type, say green ones or whatever color you think has roots, and take those plants to a separate tray and give them a small drink. Allow them to dry out again before you water again. hey should be able to grow well rooted into those tiny pots for at least 4-5 months before you need to consider planting out or bigger pots. Add your zone/location to your user name so we can give you some more climate specific advice about how to move forward with your Nana's plants as they grow:-) Search this forum to learn about 3 things: Soil/gritty mix, light/sun, and watering. If you learn about those 3 you're well on your way....

FWIW A) worm castings provide very little in terms of nutrition, and used in any volume (in containers) they add to excess water retention. B) The problem could very well be a nutritional issue, especially if most of the leaf damage is affecting older leaves. Reason: Some nutrients are mobile in the plant (N,P,K,Mg), the rest are considered immobile or nearly so. The mobile nutrients can be moved from one location in the plant to another in order to fuel growth of new organs (leaves/ stems/ roots), while the immobile nutrients are locked into existing tissues. It is almost always the case that container media cannot break down fast enough to provide for all of a plant's nutritional needs, which creates deficiencies, even in new/ fresh plantings. When these deficiencies arise, the plant robs mobile nutrients from existing organs, mostly older leaves, which results in the plant recognizing the now compromised 'donor' leaves as a liability, which causes the plant (a shedding organism) to rid itself of the liability by shedding the leaves. C) PTs are very tolerant of droughty conditions. That is not to say they like/ prefer to be allowed to dry down completely, but drying down completely would be the lesser of two evils when the 'other' evil would be watering at intervals too short.. Ideally, you would be flushing the soil thoroughly when you water, and waiting until the soil is nearly but not completely dry to water again. IF you have been watering in sips because you think the soil is too water-retentive and are trying to avoid risking the specter of root rot, your grow medium is likely inappropriately water-retentive, not to mention the fact that watering in sips ensures dissolved solids (salts) in your tapwater and/or fertilizer solution remains/ builds up in the soil to the point where water uptake becomes difficult for the plant. A high level of salts in the soil can actually reverse the process of osmosis and pull water OUT of cells by exactly the same mechanism that curing salts pulls water from meats like ham/ bacon/ sausage. Moisture levels near the top of the soil column are relatively inconsequential. What is important is the level of moister at the bottom of the pot. I'll leave you with something I wrote about using a "tell". The "tell" will provide you with the information you need to determine appropriate watering intervals. Using a 'tell' Over-watering saps vitality and is one of the most common plant assassins, so learning to avoid it is worth the small effort. Plants make and store their own energy source – photosynthate - (sugar/glucose). Functioning roots need energy to drive their metabolic processes, and in order to get it, they use oxygen to burn (oxidize) their food. From this, we can see that terrestrial plants need plenty of air (oxygen) in the soil to drive root function. Many off-the-shelf soils hold too much water and not enough air to support the kind of root health most growers would like to see; and, a healthy root system is a prerequisite to a healthy plant. Watering in small sips leads to avoid over-watering leads to a residual build-up of dissolved solids (salts) in the soil from tapwater and fertilizer solutions, which limits a plant's ability to absorb water – so watering in sips simply moves us to the other horn of a dilemma. It creates another problem that requires resolution. Better, would be to simply adopt a soil that drains well enough to allow watering to beyond the saturation point, so we're flushing the soil of accumulating dissolved solids whenever we water; this, w/o the plant being forced to pay a tax in the form of reduced vitality, due to prolong periods of soil saturation. Sometimes, though, that's not a course we can immediately steer, which makes controlling how often we water a very important factor. In many cases, we can judge whether or not a planting needs watering by hefting the pot. This is especially true if the pot is made from light material, like plastic, but doesn't work (as) well when the pot is made from heavier material, like clay, or when the size/weight of the pot precludes grabbing it with one hand to judge its weight and gauge the need for water. Fingers stuck an inch or two into the soil work ok for shallow pots, but not for deep pots. Deep pots might have 3 or more inches of soil that feels totally dry, while the lower several inches of the soil is 100% saturated. Obviously, the lack of oxygen in the root zone situation can wreak havoc with root health and cause the loss of a very notable measure of your plant's potential. Inexpensive watering meters don't even measure moisture levels, they measure electrical conductivity. Clean the tip and insert it into a cup of distilled water and witness the fact it reads 'DRY'. One of the most reliable methods of checking a planting's need for water is using a 'tell'. You can use a bamboo skewer in a pinch, but a wooden dowel rod of about 5/16” (75-85mm) would work better. They usually come 48” (120cm) long and can usually be cut in half and serve as a pair. Sharpen all 4 ends in a pencil sharpener and slightly blunt the tip so it's about the diameter of the head on a straight pin. Push the wooden tell deep into the soil. Don't worry, it won't harm the root system. If the plant is quite root-bound, you might need to try several places until you find one where you can push it all the way to the pot's bottom. Leave it a few seconds, then withdraw it and inspect the tip for moisture. For most plantings, withhold water until the tell comes out dry or nearly so. If you see signs of wilting, adjust the interval between waterings so drought stress isn't a recurring issue. Al