How to Grow Cycads From Seeds

Cycads are woody, seed-bearing plants with tuberous roots that look like palms or ferns but are not related at all. Some of the popular varieties are the sago palm, the cardboard palm and the coontie. These graceful plants have huge leaves that grow out of a large stem, covered in a woody bark with interesting growth patterns over the years. Mature cycads will produce pod tightly filled with seeds that ripen late in the year, around late December or early January. Collect a healthy looking pod for selecting a few seeds.

Shallow planting container

Sand

Cycad seeds

Perlite

Potting soil

Shovel

Fill a shallow planting container with 2 to 3 inches of sand. Before you add the sand, check the container for drainage holes in the bottom.

Set the seeds on the surface of the sand, pressing them down slightly to just sit on top of the sand.

Moisten the sand with water until it drains from the bottom. Add water daily to keep the sand moist until the seeds germinate.

Place the planting container in a warm spot where it will stay between 80 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove the seedlings from the planting tray when they are about 2 inches in height. Lift them carefully from the sand and set them in individual containers filled with a mixture of equal parts sand, perlite and potting soil, just covering the roots with the mixture.

Reduce the watering as the seedlings grow so that the soil has a chance to dry out between waterings.

Transplant the container-grown plants to a permanent site outside or to a very large container when it has outgrown its first plant pot. Dig a hole large enough for the roots, cover them with soil, and water only immediately after planting.

No fertilizer is needed in for cycads grown good soil.