- 1). Wear protective eyewear and clothing when pruning sago palms, especially if trimming away scale-infested foliage. The leaf tips are relatively sharp and its low growing habit makes pruning relatively difficult, as you have to crawl under the plant. Consider wearing safety glasses or sunglasses, gloves and a long-sleeved shirt.
- 2). Prune the leaves using hand pruners or loppers. Bottom leaves that require pruning will be easier to get at using hand pruners, whereas loppers will easily reach top foliage.
- 3). Trim off yellowing or brown leaves. New foliage does not grow back on pruned areas of the trunk. Cut the leaf off where it attaches to the trunk.
- 4). Prune away leaves that are infested with insects such as scale even after it had been treated with insecticides. In certain areas of the country, cycad aulacaspis scale is problematic, severely infesting sago palms. Prune off infected leaves where they attach to the trunk.
- 5). Place scale-infested, pruned foliage inside a plastic bag for disposal. This keeps the insects contained and unable to spread throughout the garden.
- 6). Disinfect pruning equipment blades after using them on infected sago palms. Wipe them off with alcohol or bleach, so they do not transfer diseases to other plants.
previous post