I suppose you can certainly trim them. A better solution may be to give it more sun so the fronds will be shorter or grow a variety that has shorter fronds.

I agree, you can do it. May look a bit strange. What length are you talking about when you say they are "so long"?

Here is one pic of my large Sago. The fronds are so long, my husband put a plant ring around it so we could walk out the back door, lol. This plant is approx 14 years old.

This is a pic of my small sago. It is probably 8 years old now.

I agree with giving them more sun. When they're about to flush, or push out new fronds, I would put them in a full sun location outside and the fronds will grow more compact. Once they grow, you can cut off the old, long fronds.

I have a couple of concerns with moving the plant outdoors. 1) It's never been in direct sun, so I'm afraid it would scorch. 2) I plan to keep it in the same place, so the long frond issue would just recur over time. That is why I was trying to find out if it would harm the plant to shorten the fronds.

You have to acclimate sagos to part or full sun after they have been indoors. It takes about 4 weeks. I cover mine with several layers of bird netting when I set it out in late April or May. That seems to cut the full sun just enough so that it doesn't sunburn. Eventually the netting can be removed.

Hopefully, the new flush of fronds will occur when the sago is outdoors. As new fronds emerge, rotate the plant every couple days to keep the growth symmetrical. Once the fronds have hardened off, the plant can be brought back indoors.

This will help to keep the fronds more compact BUT, sagos will eventually get too large for most indoor situations.

hi. sorry to hijack this thread. I'm trying to reach houstonpat and I can't seem to figure out how to message a user. wondering if he will see this note? or can someone advise how to reach someone?. I believe this was the last thread he commented on. again I apologize for going off topic