Re: Fashion Note: now sago

Jim,
What you suggested about cutting back to a bald stump on a palm...
Many gardeners, new and long-time, seem to really fear, dread, begrudge
cutting anything off.  And often, as you pointed out here, that's the best
thing you can do.  When I see a houseplant looking good but for a few yellow
leaves, I wonder, "does she actually think they might turn green again?".  I
read once that leaving a bad leaf on a plant doesn't help the plant at all.
If anything it wastes the plant's energy and possibly harbors a problem that
will jump to the healthy leaves.  Get rid of it!  And pruning is often a
signal to the plant to put out new growth - new healthy growth.  I'll admit
though to just cutting off bad parts of leaves if there are very few leaves.
I tend to think I should leave something to conduct photosynthesis, to build
more energy for the plant.  So, I would have trouble with the idea of
cutting to a bald stump, too.  I guess sometimes you have to be cruel to be
kind ;+)

Kitty


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "james singer" <jsinger@igc.org>
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Monday, December 15, 2003 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Fashion Note: now sago


> If you want to quit spraying it, Bonnie, just cut the fronds off. It
> will probably put out a flush of new ones... and they will likely be
> scale-free. I think it's old enough to take that kind of shock in
> stride. That, incidentally, is how we have treated some of the very
> large ones at the nursery. If the infestation was really bad and the
> fronds began to turn brown, we cut them all off [bald stump], sprayed
> the trunk to kill any scale that might be hiding there, and fertilized
> the stump with osmocote. They all came back free of scale.
>
> Man, this cold [don't laugh, northern persons] is really beginning to
> annoy me. About 60 degrees today with a north wind. An office chum, who
> is new to the area from another part of Florida, leased a beach house
> that is neither insulated nor heated. Every morning she looks like a
> smurf with red hair.
>
>
>
> On Sunday, December 14, 2003, at 04:27 PM, William Morgan wrote:
> >
> > Now I'm trying to find room somewhere near light (away from a vent, of
> > course) for my throatwort and a new little hibiscus. I think I caught
> > my
> > Sago Palm's "bugs" too late as it is starting to brown. I'm still
> > spraying it on the off chance it will recover once the infestation is
> > crushed.
> >
> Island Jim
> Southwest Florida
> Zone 10
>
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