Question
Hi,

I have a lot of Saga Palms in my backyard, baby Palms are growing how do I transplant them so they grow into big Saga Plams?

Answer
Sago Palms are a great landscape plant as a focal point in a planting. Best known to growers and green gold for their resale value (sometimes selling retail for 18/inch of clear trunk)you can bet they would love to get their hands on all those "pups" around your mature trees.

To move and start new palms:

1) Sharpen a round spade (shovel) with a file or grinding wheel so that the digging edge (the full smile of the face - is very sharp, like that of a knife. The sharper the shovel the better for your success in severing the pups from the main trunk. [NOTE: the smile of the shovel face is the curved button that extends up to where the shovel straightens out on each side].

2) Trim lower palm branches from the palm so that they are out of the way of your work area - you can poke your eye out with one of those buggers if you are not careful.

3) Starting with the pups that are the furthest out from the tree, you will want to dig a trench to the outside of the pup(s) that you want to take. This trench will allow you to see the outside of the ball of the pup as you remove the soil to the outside of it. Work back to the ball until you can see how large (or small) the ball of the pup is.

4) Once you have exposed the outside half of the pup's ball, insert the shovel with the blade point going straight down between the pup and the next pup or palm trunk about 2 inches away from ball of pup (depending on the size of the pup). Don't worry about cutting the roots of the ball as they are quick to put out new ones. Note: The shovel back should be facing the palm trunk of the mother plant (father plant if its a king sago - tongue in cheek).

5) Once you have the shovel firmly in place, stand on the shovel and gently press it down. This will separate it from the main trunk.

6) Repeat step 4 and 5 around the entire pup taking care not to cut diagonally into the pups bulb under the surface of the grown.

7) Use the same technique on all sides of the pup until you have detached it from the main cluster of pups or from the palm trunk.

8) Trim off all but two or three limbs of the pup, and then place in a well prepared hole with enriched soil, then water in like any other plant. It is important that you keep the new plantings well watered. One way to do this is to place a section of a plastic trash bag about 1 foot under the ball of the pup to catch water. the wicking affect of the ground and natural evaporation as the ground heats will help you in watering. I suggest using a hand full of Milorganite (about 1 cup) poured directly around the ball of the pup when you plant it. This is a 6-2-0 non burning granule that you can get at almost any garden center.

Please let me know if I can be of any further help or encouragement.

Yours for a greener garden walk,

David Ward