That looks like the right spacing. It looks like you did good. It might not shock at all because many of the leaves are gone, but if you see some turn brown, don't worry, the plant will show you how many leaves to cut off.

Hi cycadjungle. I'm interested in this story. I bought a fully grown sago palm from somebody I met at a local nursery. I planted it in the ground and all the leaves started turning brown. I cut them all off. It's been 6 months since the transplant and I'm noticing that the stem has got thicker towards the bottom half and something is pushing it's way through the top as in the pics. Is there still life in this Sago? I stripped it of it's seeds and also planted these seed. The seeds started to germinated after 3 to 4 months.

Yes, sagos will sometimes drop all their leaves after transplanting, but they will come back.

My evil ex-landlord killed two beautiful 3-year old female sagos because he insisted on moving them while the large one was about to bloom, and he didn't know what the heck he was doing. He sent two people to dig it up, and I literally cried and apologized to the plants, because I knew they weren't going to make it. He wanted to put it into a yard to sell a house. He sold the house, then the sagos died. 30 years to grow those plants, and he would not listen to me and wait just awhile longer. Broke my heart.

Thank you for that feedback dirtygardener. It has brought much relief to my anxiety of thinking if my adopted sago will live on. I thought if she died then I would have to wait another 30 to 40 years to see how one of her seedlings would look like. Thanks again.