I recommend posting pictures.

Sago palms have shallow roots. They topple easily.

I do not think they will die if you cut off their fronds. I have trimmed and seen trimmed sago palms flourishing.

Why would you plant their pups if you do not want them? Move on, plant something you want.

FWIW, some people are sensitive to Sago Palms, I.e. skin rash.

I don't mind the palms. It's just that they are 30 years old and it took them years to get this big. Nice to know their roots are shallow. I'm waiting for Google Photos to upload the photos I just took and then I will post them. Thanks!

We had some overgrown Sego palms dug out because they were overwhelming our driveway. You have to get the roots out. You might be able to transplant the pups elsewhere, but not the mother.

@ptreckel Did you hire someone? Like a gardener?

Yes. It took a few strong men with shovels and machetes to master the Mother!

They were able to separate the pups and replant them in less intrusive places in the yard. Most of them lived (with watering).

@ptreckel I was afraid of that! Google Photos is taking forever to upload!

You do know that sago's are extremely poisonous to both kids and pets. All parts of the plants are poisonous and if ingested there is not much you can do.

So we had some guys over to trim our palm trees and hubby asked for a price on the Sago removal. $750 for all 3!! YIKES! We plan to get more bids, but the dude said if hubby trims them down so the crowns can be seen, the price will go down, so he is going to do that. His age is approaching 80 and it's a big job for him.

Yikes is right. We paid about $500 to get a big sycamore tree taken down and the roots ground. It was well worth it! That was in 2000 or 2001. I would probably just let them do it all, if they are getting the roots out also.

Can't imagine paying that much ($750) to have 3 sagos removed. However, they are very heavy. Wish you would post the picture as that could make a difference in what advice you get. Something is wrong with your process as it takes only seconds, whether on Google photos or stored on the computer. Removing fronds with a chain saw is probably a good idea if they stay. Shouldn't be too difficult unless they are in a really tight space.

Here in the Seattle area experienced commercial gardeners can be about $45 per hour. So if a rate like that was the basis for the $750 then they were figuring about 16 man hours, if we ignore things like sales tax and dump fees being part of the equation. And if they were thinking that 2 or more people would be doing the job then the man hours would increase accordingly. So that $750 might be for 2 people working 8 hours, and so on - just how long they thought it would take them to do the entire process including cleanup and disposal would be involved.

Platanus become huge, $500 for a bonded, licensed and insured tree service to completely remove a "big sycamore" would have been absolute peanuts where I live.

The tree removal was 20 years ago. I am sure it would be two to three times now.

That would still be only $1000-$1500. Relevant points will be that you're in AL, she apparently is in CA. And you didn't say what kind of a business you paid to remove the tree - if it was a bonded etc. operation with associated rates or not.

So sorry.

@Yardvaark Once more I will try to post photos! I am not sure if these gardeners are licensed and bonded, but I doubt hubby would hire anyone who wasn't. He was project manager for a builder for years. English isn't their first language, but they have lots of tools for trimming palm trees.

View from upper deck. I fear they will crack the fake rocks for the waterfall.

View of all 3. Pool, is more like a spa pool.

Pup

Embothrium , Yes they were all of the above, Yes, that is the POINT I was making about the $750 charge for the palms. I am through talking to you. You win, you can have the last word. I was talking to Susan, the OP.

I wouldn't expect the cycads to crack the rockwork. Except for the one picture of a path now being grown over the general aspect is of them being just big enough to start to be in scale with the setting at this point. However if you just don't like them there is no point in keeping them anyway.

Given that there are houses behind that will suddenly pop into view if you remove the cycads, I would consider hard before taking them out. In that consideration, I would trim them up into tree forms (like a palm tree) to see if they were more acceptable. IMO, they seem like they would be. I don't particularly care for the wooly, unkempt look when they retain all their low fronds. There are a couple like that I see regularly next to a neighbor's driveway, and to me, they seem overbearing, and without the exotic, prehistoric look that I find appealing. They would be completely different animals when limbed up. Even if you had to pay to have it done, it shouldn't come close to the cost of removal.

BTW, in a tight, somewhat difficult space, in a competetive market, I can conceive that removing these might cost several hundred dollars.

I don't think I would have a concern about them cracking the fake rockwork either.

I had two removed. They were near the sidewalk (too close) so the guy used his truck to help pull them out. One he got with roots and was going to try to sell. The other one was not removed completely and I still get fronds coming up from pups several years later.

Hubby is diabetic and he just spent 3 hours in the heat trying to limb up the first bunch. He does have good gardening gloves and arm protector things we got on Amazon, so that helped along with a disposable mask and big hat. Anyway his beeper kept saying his sugar was low, so he finally came in and ate lunch. I asked him if he thought $750 was too expensive now? He would happily pay, but he's going to limb them all up just to see how it looks and maybe just have the gardeners take out the pups.

Your husband is more valuable than those Segos. But you know that! Good luck. Stay healthy!

@ptreckel He has worked for 2 days on it in the heat, about 3 hours per day. So far he has exposed 4 pups on the first sago and he will expose more I am certain! Plus he found 3 nests. He's not sure if they were birds or rats. Thousands of snails too! He has filled one Waste Management thing with a huge pile on the putting green. A neighbor might want one the two pups that have some leaves. He will be welcome to try to save it. Dig Baby, Dig!!

He's pretty patient and determined. Thanks for the healthy wishes and luck. You stay healthy too!

WOW! I am impressed by his perseverance!

So far there are now 6 pups on ONE sago! I have a feeling the price is going up for all those pups. The limbing up is looking good.

Just want to echo the point about them being poisonous. They have no place in a backyard, imho, unless you plan to never have children over or let pets into the yard.

I found out about their toxicity the hard way, and many, many people who have them are not aware of it--because they assume they're palms, and you already know they're not.

As soon as I found out about them, I had them removed from a house we rent out. I couldn't live with myself if a tenant snuck a dog in there and it was poisoned.

They sell them as cute little houseplants also. It killed the little dog. She had bought a $5 houseplant at Walmart, here in town. They spent several thousand, but it didn't help, the dog died.

Our children and grand kids are all grown and we have been there and done that with pets! But it's a good warning for those that do! I'll update again once the scalping is complete!

They are beautiful! What bugs me is that with all the nanny stuff with everything else, they won't put a warning label on them for people with kids and pets.

Not everybody is into the exotic plant look. I don't see a problem there..they look to be well away from walkways or pool.

They are very valuable plants. I'm surprised nobody has dug them up for free. I know of two here in town that were stolen..dug right up..from the front of a flower shop and some other business in another part of town.

I would thin them..well,everything you've done seems fine short of taking them out completely. But if its better for you not to have them..just chainsaw them down in 10 minutes. Only plants.

@stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area We decided to keep the three main Sagos, but get rid of all the pups. Hubby is in the process of limbing them all up. The First two are pretty much done and look amazing with their trunks showing and all the foliage and waterfall behind, but he still has to do the last one. That one is a little harder to access. @Yardvaark thanks for the limbing up suggestion. I'll post more photos at the end of this ordeal. There might be a few pups on that 3rd one. He's not looking forward to that.

And to those who fear poisoning children and dogs, if we ever get great grandkids who come to visit, everyone is more afraid of coyotes and rattlesnakes, so the little ones don't go outside without an adult. And God Bless any Coyote who decides to lunch on the Sagos!

Yes, do show the reveal at the end. From the snippets, they are starting to look quite civilized and handsome ... making me wish they were in a garden me!

(This is how it is when you do 20 years of maintenance in 3 days. :-)

Still following the Sego Saga! Keep us posted!

Updating today. Hubby has worked on the third Sago all day. He's got a lot more to do. When we bought this house in 2013 it was a mess. Got it on a short sale and nobody did much for it for a long time. It was a foreclosure prior to that and neglected for years also. @Yardvaark is right. 20-30 years of maintenance in 3 days. Turning out to be 4-5 days. THEN we have to get rid of all the sago fronds. We'll probably hire the gardeners to come back clean up all the babies and haul the fronds to the dump.

It's so hot today! I asked hubby if he wanted me to turn on the waterfall so he could stick his feet in it, but he declined. You can clearly see my fig tree between Sago 1 & 2. Don't know what variety it is, but it rocks my world. Those figs are dark outside, red inside and delicious. It's a prolific tree. Between 2 & 3 is the rocky waterfall filled with dead fronds. Can't wait to show you how beautiful it looks when it's done!

He's done trimming and now we have one more dilemma. There are 4 pups and we can't figure out which is the mom. We need to decide which one to keep. We would like uniformity. They are all smaller that the other two. We'll figure it out.

UPDATE! There was a ring on the doorbell this morning. It was the gardeners. Did we want them to haul off all the mess? So I told them to do that and also take out the babies leaving only the main tree. They charged $400 plus they really cleaned up all the trunks of the 3 trees. I let them decide which of the 4 in the 3rd planting to take. They said the main tree was hanging over the pool and not good, so they left one baby. Here's the pic and yes, the pool is a mess, but the pool guy will take care of that.

This is the pup the gardeners left.

And here are all 3. You can finally see the putting green in the background. We will probably put some asparagus fern in ftont of the 2nd and 3rd Sago and maybe some Agapanthas and society garlic of which we have a ton in other places, but they are so pretty all summer.

FINISHED! YAY!

Wow! It looks so much better.

Agree. It looks tidy and civilized ... less like the place is being overrun with vegetation. By the time you finish the filler plants, it will look complete.

Beautiful!!!!!! You and your intrepid husband have achieved your goal. It looks wonderful! On to your next landscaping adventure!

I liked before too,but the after is more open and shows off the trunks very nicely. The photos are like the classic Southern California dream house- and view. Great deal and find of a home.

Large Sago Palms are worth a lot of money💰 You can sell very large ones to nurseries or collectors for hundreds or thousands of dollars. Why pay to remove them when somebody will pay you AND do all the work!

This is very much after the fact but I wouldn't be overly concerned about the toxicity of these plants. They are only one of among hundreds of genera we routinely grow in our gardens that are toxic to pets and kids....and adults as well. And many with far higher rates of toxicity than cycads! The good news is that pets are generally too smart to randomly graze on poisonous plants and unless the plants produce something that appears enticingly edible - like berries or fruit or interesting seed pods, kids won't eat them either. And small kids and pets should be supervised when out in the garden anyway.

I would also say that $500 to remove a full grown tree would be a bargain here, even 15+ years ago! We had a very tall, awkwardly sited Douglas fir removed from a former garden more than 30 years ago and the cost was $3000 (the best of multiple bids)! There will of course be regional cost differences but on the west coast with our high cost of living, the quotes given here for removal are right on point!!