Cycas palm tree suddenly fell down? Any explanation???

8 years ago

Hi there, I have no previous gardening experience and I suddenly found two cycas palm trees in the new house I moved to falling down. Is this a disease. Please see photos below

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susanzone5 (NY)

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

Jurasico. Here's what you did wrong:

"Nobody here can read minds."

That's sarcasm which doesn't come off well when someone asks a serious question.

"WHERE ARE YOU? LOCATION matters!!"

On the internet, capital letters mean you are yelling.

That's why what you said sounds rude.

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Comments (10)

User
8 years ago
Nobody here can read minds. WHERE ARE YOU?

LOCATION matters!!
Jean
8 years ago
looks like no roots
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Fori
8 years ago
Vandals perhaps? It would be odd for them to both flop over suddenly from natural causes.
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
8 years ago
No reason for your rudeness, jurasico. Good grief.

Sarah, I wonder if the two plants in question were just plopped into place in order to sell the property. Give it some instant curb appeal.
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
How is it RUDE to ask where someone is located when they are asking what is wrong with some plant?! We have people here posting from all over the earth (both hemispheres). We don't know if it's winter or summer or in some desert or in the deep tropics.

Location matters.

GOOD GRIEF INDEED!

P.S., Peace out, I won't be posting on THIS forum any longer.
Sarah Mall
Original Author
8 years ago
Jurasico and all. This Cycas is in Cairo, Egypt. No worries at all. I am not offended by any means. I should have mentioned the location but I am a newbie and actually trying to help my parents with their new house. :) all is well. Any insights will be ver much appreciated
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
8 years ago
Of all the questions regarding plant care, location is probably less important when discussing a problem with a specific plant than it is with other growing issues. Especially when a photo is provided that clearly shows what's going on. Jean is correct - the plant is lacking a sufficient root system to support it. Cycad roots do not look a lot like many other plants, even palms, but there are none obviously showing in the photo. No roots = unstable plant and eventual decline, if not death.

The question is why there are no roots. And I don't have an answer for that. It could be as rhizo suggested; it could also be due to root rot.
tropicbreezent
8 years ago
The leaves look too good for it to be root rot. Any rot would be relatively slow to set in and the leaves would decline over a period of time. They wouldn't look so good. To me it seems like whatever it was happened quickly, such as vandalism. Insect damage wouldn't be so quick either. Do you have a photo of where it broke off from? What's left in the ground?
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
8 years ago
I'm not so sure I'd agree. IME, depending on the source or cause of the rot, it could happen very rapidly. And the caudex itself could support the topgrowth to the extent that any rot may not be very evident until too late.....like the cycad falling over.

But without more detail, we really don't know the cause of the problem........only that an obvious lack of roots caused the plant to fail.