My CYCAS REVOLUTA "Sago Palm" is sending up shoots from the base below the soil level. There are three so far - about 2 to 3" wide and up to 4" tall. What is the best thing to do? I have never seen one do this before. The main "trunk" is 6 to 8" wide and about 9" tall. Can I cut them off to make more plants?

Why would you cut new shoots out of a sago ever?
Sounds like it may be burried in the soil too much. Did you pot it, or did you buy it that way? Either way, I still question why a person would ever want to cut new shoots off of a sago.

When we bought our house our sago had 14 pups on the sides which were so big that they were causing the mother plant to tilt to one side. We successfully removed them all and transplanted them and I am VERY happy to say everyone is doing well over a year and a half later.
I will tell you it is QUITE a task to remove them, not to mention very scary. We were extremely concerned about harming the mother plant since it is a large specimen over 5 feet tall. We dug carefully around the pups approximately 18" deep until we could clearly see where the pup was attached to the main trunk. Then we removed them as tenderly as possible with a saw (I know... that's the scariest part). Once they were removed we treated the wounds on the main trunk with a fungicide and filled in the space with some fresh soil. The pups we let cure for about a week to 2 weeks and planted each in a small pot only covering about half way with soil. We kept them in a partially shaded area and in a few weeks they all sprouted.
No harm done to the mother tree and 14 babies to boot :)

Thanks for the replies! I have the same problem of the pups forcing the main plant to tilt. It was potted up into a larger pot, but the pups were forming before I repotted the plant. So there are two reasons to cut the pups off - 1) tilting mother plant and 2) make more plants. What will the plant with pups look like if I let them grow? Will I get a cluster of plants? So far, the pups do not have leaves. I'm in zone 5, so I can't plant the plant outside. It already takes too much room in the greenhouse. I'm considering moving the plant indoors for the winter. Will I have problems growing the plant as a house plant?

What fungicide did you use? Did the pups have leaves before they were removed?

The first thing you should do is get my address and mail me a pup or two.
I am in Z5 also. Where are you at??

Thoes pups - get in there with a shovel or whatever and rip them out! Then pot them and water them once a week and then ignore them. I had 16 pups I popped last year that I just gave away. I'm always throwing those things away.

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"Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there’s a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain’t nobody got to know what I done"
- Drive-By Truckers "Heathens"

Oh, just to be clear, I never worry about the mother plant. Either it gets a little gashed or not. No fungicide, just dirt and some water. Those things are much tougher than you realise. The pups - I've never worried about their condition, whether they have any kind of a root or not, they'll usually grow.

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"Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there’s a fit about to get thrown
If we get the van out of the ditch before morning ain’t nobody got to know what I done"
- Drive-By Truckers "Heathens"

You can grow these indoors over the winter, but if you thought it took up a lot of room outdoors, wait till you get it into your living room! I now have 6 C. revoluta, some spreading almost too much to get through my patio doors, which I've grown indoors for 3 or 4 winters now. Between the warm temps and the amount of light they get, most will send up new leaves at some point during the winter. An extra flush of leaves per year is nice except that it's hard to give them enough light to prevent the leaves from getting real long. I'm careful not to bring in any insects, they multiply like crazy in the house. I only have to put up with gnats during the 6 months they are indoors. I've never been able to completely eliminate these from the soil. For light I use 200 to 500 watt compact fluorescent lights in highly reflective fixtures and put reflective foil on the sides too. I can position the cool fluorescent lights as close as 2 inches from a tender leaf without harm so the light intensity can be maximized. Because of the rate of leaf growth, I sometimes have to move the light a couple times a day if I want to keep it close, but not too close. A 500 watt CFL uses about 100 watts of electricity so my bills aren't very big. I also compensate for lower light intensity by giving more hours of light. When I maximize things like this I can get nice leaves even during the winter. I'm sure if I had a cool room for them they would do fine with less light and wouldn't flush in mid-winter.

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People ask me why I don't have a pet. I tell them I have a hard enough time keeping a plant alive, I don't want that to happen to an animal.

Just planted two huge females, frond spread in diameter is 10 feet. Had to build braces for them since they both curve and with hurricane season coming up the storm surge will want to push them over. Plenty of seeds too.