And that is what they do. If you live in the Central Valley California the weather or direct sun may be too much for the infant sago - A tad bit of shade may work toward its keeping its leaves longer. However they will adapt to full sun, it takes a couple three years. Each year their leaves will brown early and they will look like they are dying - they are not they are adapting, slowly. Sagos are very - no V-e-r-y slow growers, they also adapt very slowly, and also are very hardy. Frost killed one of ours several years ago - at least we thought it was dead, it slowly rose from the ashes. Water like when you water your lawn. I will assume you have planted in the ground - if so it will do a frond (the leaves are called fronds) drop on you. They react slowly to shock, slowly to being fed... slow. They are semi drought resistant - this means you can miss or water infrequently and they will not mind. However they are subtropical and as such they like lots of drainage (if you have sandy soil that is a plus) and they like to have their leaves bathed. In hot summer before the peak of after noon if you water the fronds they tend to survive better. Fertilize with a 10:10:10 fertilizer twice a year (spring and fall) or get a Tree Fertilizer Stake and use as directed. Personally I do not use chemicals, I amend my soil with compost and around my roses, trees and sago palm I lay in mulch material (usually just grass clippings). At 8 inches high you can consider your sago palm to be a newborn. It will take at least 5 years before it grows another foot - decades of time before it will reach 6' in height. And yes their frond will be bright green for a month or so then start dieing (turning yellow - brown) but the process of "death" is super slow like their growth. When it gets older and taller it will have many fronds and you can trim off the yellowing ones for a nice looking plant - but you have to wait about 10 years starting with the one you have.

Hello! I have never owned a Sago before. We have been keeping it in low light because the tag on it said that it was ok... but i'm not so sure about that now... My Sago leaves are also turning a different color. Eight of the leaves are turning yellow/light green color, while one leaf is still really green. We have been watering it every week (except for missing a week) and re-watering it as we water, meaning resoaking the soil and letting it drain off taking several hours to water it... Is that partially causing the leaves to change??? And also do they just normally change this time of year??? Also, should it be moved to some high light or is low light still ok for it???Thank You So Very Much!!!

I may be able to help you depending on where you live. I have sagos that are about six feet in height and they were so beautiful.. I let them grow wild except for cutting new growths underneathe to keep it healthy. They relish attention and thrive on being fed and watered consistently. I live in Florida and about four or five years ago I noticed they were getting small white areas on them and the old growths looked to be yellowing and turning bad. New growths soon followed in looking bad. I noticed it at other residences in the neighborhood and contacted our dept. of argriculture. Sure enough.. we have a problem on our hands that they have as of yet been able to get a control on. It is called Cycad Scale. 80% of Florida sagos suffer it now. I forget where it came over from but it was carried here (little bugs). We have been treating ours but in the summer months it takes extra vigilance. We were buying the costly "medicine" to treat them but it is rather costly so our local "feed store" told us to try rinsing them with a solution of dish detergent and water. It worked but like I said.. you must do this weekly in the summer time. Those little bugs are below ground eating the central part that maintains the health of our sagos. If yours have white spots.. you need to have a nozzle on your hose that sprays a hard stream and knock it off. I have done this for years now and it has not damaged my sagos. If you use too much force you will see a branch bend and will know it is too much but it takes a hardy spray to knock off the "infected" parts. The new growths look pretty for a bit but it will not take long before this disease eats it up as well .. and you may not see it as it all starts mostly underground. You have to keep them rinsed off your plants. If your problem is just a watering issue.. remember sagos have to be fed.. not just watered. There is a special feed for them that you spread around (not touching) the base. Watering in the morning before the strength of the sun hits your sago is best as to not burn it up. They are only slow growing if not cared for properly. If you just let them grow on their own.. they will grow slowly but if you nuture them.. they will be beauties!