Harvested my first coconut today in zone 9b (low end)

[Walt]

Last year my dwarf coconut palm set many fruits. Most aborted, but four of them remained attached. About five days ago I got curious and picked one of them, letting it sit on my kitchen counter -- until this morning -- when I decided to open it and check it out, as I didn't know what to expect. Shaking the nut indicated there was water in it.

After I removed the husk I used a cork screw to punch through one of the three end eyes, then drained the water in a small glass. I slightly tasted the water and it tasted sweet, so I drink all of it. I then opened the nut up by cracking it with a heavy chef's knife, exposing the white meat inside. I tasted the meat and it tasted normal to me. I will snack on the rest of it until it's all gone. I will let the remaining three nuts continue to grow and see if they get any larger than this one, which was very small.

In any event, I'm very pleased to finally get my first (edible) fruit from this coconut palm. About five years ago it produced some very small nuts that fell aborted, but then went 4-5 years with no flowering until last year.

Since I got into the palm growing hobby I've pushed the cold tolerance limits on palms. This required wintertime protection of many species in my USDA zone 9b (bottom end). As many of you know, I protect my coconut palm every winter on the coldest nights. When my palm was smaller I would cinch in the fronds and totally wrap it and use heating coils for supplemental heat. But the past several winters I only protected the trunk and meristem, as the palm was too big to wrap. Luckily, the past two winters were relatively mild, although my palm did get 50% or more frost burned last winter. But at least the wrapped and heated trunk and meristem saw no detrimental cold.

My coconut has a new emerging spathe about 15" long now, so maybe I will have another harvest next year.

[Walt]

[Pedro 65]

Excellent

[Keith N Tampa (ex SoJax)]

Dang Walt, that's great. Maybe we'll have to do the same to ours this year. Bought the as annuals but our winters aren't that different than yours.

[Cluster]

Congratulations!

[Walt]

When I bought my coconut palm, I had no illusions that it would ever bear fruit. I just wanted to grow it for ornamental purposes and, like most palm hobbyists, I just wanted a coconut palm in my garden collection. About five years ago my palm flowered and produced some very small nuts (maybe a little larger than a golf ball) and they fell off. Then my palm went about four years without flowering. Then, last year is sent up about 5-6 spathes, with two of them producing nuts. So last winter I used large bath towels, flannel sheets, rags, etc. to cover up the nuts and meristem area. On the trunk, I wrapped it with a quilted mover's blanket. Under the mover's blanket and also serpentine amongst the nuts and petioles I installed a heating cable. So the heating cable gave enough heat (with the isolative blankets, etc.) to protect the trunk and meristem. While the fronds got about 50% frost damage, there was still plenty of green left for photosynthesis, especially when new undamaged fronds opened up. There was no stunting of new fronds. I attribute this to keeping the meristem from being cold shocked/damaged.

Back in 2010 when I had a low of 20.8 degrees (my all-time low out in the open yard), I put a digital thermometer sensor under the mover's quilt, but away from the heating cable, and it never dropped below 55 degrees, so my covering method works. I also used a 15K BTU forced air propane heater (back in 2010) to blow on the fronds, but my palm still got 90% of the fronds fried. Just not enough BTU when the air temperature gets down in the low 20s and the palms canopy is so big and wide. One would need several heaters positioned at 120 degree intervals around the palm -- and I'm not going to go to the expense to do that.

Another thing I did last winter to help keep the fronds from getting too much frost damage was to go outside several times at night and at day break and spray warm well water on the grass all around the palm. The heat from the well water (which is in the mid 70s F) rises up into the canopy and helps keep it a little warmer. Of course, the heat rise doesn't last long once I stop watering.

[redant]

Nice job, that is a tiny coconut, mini coconuts.

[Cluster]

I wonder if the coconut pictured I posted on the Madeira island thread will get some size or fall like in your stories: (

[Walt]

I was surprised my coconut (after de husking) was so small). I figured the meat inside would be gelatinous, not solid (or normal). I went on YouTube to find videos, and one guy said the less mature a coconut (the nut itself) is, the sweeter it is, especially the coconut water. He said a fully developed nut, the water isn't so sweet or just doesn't taste good.

If the developing spathe on my coconut flowers and starts to produce nuts (and if my palm doesn't get totally defoliated), it won't be until mid 2016 before I will get ripe fruit. At this point I don't care as I'm satisfied I've met my challenge.

What I've learned is at least two things:

1. I have adequate wintertime heat for a coconut palm to grow here in terms of soil and air temperatures. The January average high is 73 degrees F/22.5C. The problem is when I get a below average temperature winter like we did in January and again in December of 2010. Had I not protected the palm's trunk and meristem it surely would have been killed.

2. As long as I protect the trunk and meristem when nighttime temperatures fall below 32F/0C, my coconut will survive (that only happened once last winter and once the prior winter). Even if the fronds get mostly toasted, there will be enough food stored in the root system and trunk to grow the first new frond, as which time that frond can start producing food, followed by another frond and another, etc.

The above being said, my palm will probably never hold a full crown of fronds like the ones here growing by the lakes and on high ground, both locations much warmer than mine. But I would rather have an over trimmed (look) coconut palm than no coconut palm at all.

And, BTW, in 2010 I used heating cables and wraps to wrap the trunks of three other palms up by my house where I have an electric available. These palms were A.alexandrae, D. leptocheilos, and Adonidia. The fronds got burned but the trunk and meristem weren't hurt. I feel keeping the meristem from cold damage (even non fatal cold damage) at least prevents new fronds from being stunted, or at least less stunted.

Alas, the day is soon coming that I'm not going to be going all out protecting stuff (I only protect stuff up by the house). My wife doesn't want me climbing up ladders anymore, so when my palms get too tall they will be on their own.

[Walt]

Cluster: I checked out your posting of the Madeira coconuts, and they look very similar to mine, but with more trunk. I would say if the fruits never grow to maturity that it is from lack of heat, not cold, like I would get in my climate. I checked out Madeira's January temperature and found the January average high temperature is 66.4 degrees F, whereas my January average is 73 degrees F. But, Madeira' January average low is about just the opposite at 55.6 degrees F, whereas mine is about 47-48 degrees F.

But in Bermuda they have fruiting coconut palms (with mature fruit) and Madeira's temperatures seem similar to Bermuda's.

[Cluster]

One thing that is good about Madeira, however, is that the record low for Funchal is 7.4 c (45+ f), which is a lot higher than Florida extreme lows and not lower than Bermuda extremes as well. If the fruit does fall it will be due to heat not cold damage like you said. Even if it fails in Funchal due to the mild daily max temperatures (which are actually around 68 f(oldest weather station was in a cooler spot or so I have heard) there is still some hope in the south west part of the island where mean temperatures (and especially the max temperatures) are almost 1 degree higher.

Hopefully you will keep us up to date with the development of your coconuts.

[Walt]

Cluster:

Since you are relatively new to this forum, you might want to check out a posting I made some years ago about Midway Atoll, which is on a latitude slightly north of Tampa Bay, Florida, yet it's official all-time low temperature is 54 degrees F (12C). But wintertime daily highs run only in the mid 60sF, so it's relatively cool for coconuts. Yet, there are towering coconut palms at Midway Atoll.

http://www.palmtalk.org/forum/index.php?/topic/18760-midway-atoll-28-12-north/?hl=%2Bmidway+%2Batoll

If you go on Google Map you can traverse all over the atoll, as Google used a bike camera to document the roadways and paths, and you can see lots of coconut palms planted years ago with the Atoll was an active navy air station.

As far as Madeira island, I recall about 25 years or so ago seeing a TV program about it, and it showed a market place where vendors were selling bunches of bananas and other tropical fruits. This interested me to know more about the climate of the island, but this was before the internet. I had no idea coconut palms could be grown there (regardless if the did or did not bear fruit) until you posted pics.

There's always been interest at this forum (for many of us, anyway) of the geographical limits where coconut palms can be grown. It's pretty much an agreed upon consensus that wintertime heat is a criterion for coconut palms to survive. In Florida, that sees broad temperature swings during the winter, coconut palms can survive in the upper end of USDA hardiness zone 9b, whereas they won't survive in a California zone 11 (like Catalina Island and other coastal southern California locations); the difference is that Florida's dry season is in the wintertime, plus it has more wintertime heat.

With respect to Florida, when I say coconut palms can survive in the upper end of zone 9b, those 9b areas are really zone 10a areas, and are only 9b due to maybe one, possibly two days each winter where the low temperature might fall one or two degrees (for a very short duration) below 30 degrees F (-1C).

Another Florida distinction of a zone 9b climate is the difference between a coastal 9b area and an inland 9b area. A coastal 9b area will typically be much farther in latitude north, and the relative heat of ocean or Gulf water will hold the nighttime low temperature up. Whereas an inland zone 9b, where there is no water influence, we be much farther in latitude south. But being inland, daytime high temperature were be higher as there is no large body of water to hold the temperature down (just the reverse of night). The upshot is, there's a tradeoff one way or the other depending on water and non water locations.

[Cluster]

I see what you mean a zone by itself might not be enough to predict a coconut survivability those zones are almost frost free and yet there is just not enough heat to keep the coconut from dying. In the case of Madeira I think they are "blessed" with such a weather so far away to the north, 57f low and 68f high during the coldest month in Funchal.

Since the coconut is in a public place I do not know if someone actually goes there and picks up the mini cocos :\. If it was a Jamaican tall instead that would be way harder:P.

[Walt]

To update this thread, I harvested two coconuts this past summer (2015). However, this summer my dwarf coconut has set many more nuts than in the past. If I get through this winter without a hard freeze I should be able to get many more edible nuts next year. So far this fall and winter (only two days into it) has been unseasonably warm. As of yet no potassium deficiency is showing on my coconut palm, which it always does after each winter. My local weatherman is forecasting mid 80 (F) high temperatures through January 1, 2016. Nothing in my garden is acclimated to a surprise cold front. I'm hoping for the best.

 

 

[Walt]

Developing fruits:

 

[Cluster]

Walt that is a very fine looking coconut, looks very beautiful. You should feel proud, looking forward to hearing how good those coconuts taste like.

[Kai]

Wow that's amazing! You should propagate the coconuts from that tree. Maybe the offspring will be more "cold hardy"... worth a shot right?

[Moose]

22 minutes ago, Kai said:

Wow that's amazing! You should propagate the coconuts from that tree. Maybe the offspring will be more "cold hardy"... worth a shot right?

Hmmmmm, not likely but possible. Yes worth shot.

We won't mention the controversal " myth" of global warming here.           . 

[Walt]

Nothing amazing about my coconut palm. It's no more cold hardy than other varieties, IMO. Over the years on some hard freeze (and light freeze) winters the entire canopy has been 90% defoliated to varying lesser degrees of defoliation. My coconut palm would have been history for sure during the month of January 2010 and again in December (even more so) 2010 when I recorded 20.8 F (-6.16 C) degrees in my open yard (my coldest low ever since moving to Florida in 1997) -- had I not installed thermostatically controlled heating coils around the trunk and meristem, and then wrapped over everything with heavy mover's quilts. That keep the trunk and meristem from going below 55 degrees F (12.65 C). I know this as I installed a hi-lo thermometer under the wraps (but away from heating coil so that it wouldn't be unduly influenced). The canopy was mostly fried but once winter was over it regrew almost 3/4 of a full canopy by the following winter. And the fronds were not stunted or showing any sign of deformity like many palms do after freeze trauma. Fortunately, the past three winters were relatively mild, and mostly my coconut palm only incurred some potassium deficiency to it's oldest, bottommost fronds.

[Danilopez89]

That's way cool Walt! 

All your hard work keeping your coco protected from the cold has really paid off big time.

I hope I can do the same here with my coconut palms.

[Walt]

40 minutes ago, Danilopez89 said:

That's way cool Walt! 

All your hard work keeping your coco protected from the cold has really paid off big time.

I hope I can do the same here with my coconut palms.

Using heating coils can be harmful if one doesn't know what they are doing (I learned the hard way on an adonidia palm and a bottle palm). I use EasyHeat coils (available on Amazon). They run warm, not hot. But if the coils run for hours and hours in contact with green foilage or petioles, these surfaces will eventually get scorched, and the tissue will die. So I aways cover the peitoles (where the cables cross) with flannel sheets or towels, etc. so that their is no direct cable contact. The cables contacting the trunk (which I spirally wrap the cables around) don't hurt the trunk. However, if the cables were just going to be used for a very short period of time, then perhaps direct contack won't hurt the foliage. In any event, I know how to use these cables so that I can have a Cocos nucifera in my low zone 9b location. In my neighborhood, I'm the only game in town (only one with a coconut palm), and that makes it worth it to me to take a little time each winter (if needed) to protect it.

[Alicante]

Hard to believe that you live on a 9b zone while I live on a 10b/11a zone and I can't even dream about that 

[Walt]

3 hours ago, pRoeZa* said:

Hard to believe that you live on a 9b zone while I live on a 10b/11a zone and I can't even dream about that 

The key factor is that my zone 9b has wintertime heat as compared to higher zones (like in southern California, i.e., 10a, 10b, and 11) that don't have wintertime heat. If you strike out the coldest one or two days of winter, my zone would be a solid zone 10. I once Googled the average January temperature of Long Beach, California, to my location, and my average January daily temperature was more than 10 degrees higher. So I have higher soil temperatures and drier soils as my area is in the dry season, and Long Beach is in the wet, cool season. But again, had I not protected my coconut palm of many nights over the last 12 years or so, I'm sure it would have been killed.

Now, if I had Long Beach, California's low temperatures but my high temperatures (during the winter) my coconut palm would have it made.

[palmsOrl]

Your coconut looks amazing and by far the best it ever has Walt!  My garden and palms are almost in summer mode and I just gave everything a full strength fertilizing.  I am almost thinking it is better to have everything healthy and growing leading up to a cold/freeze event versus somewhat dormant and already a bit stressed from sub-optimal temperatures.  I don't know the answer to this, but I should have a better idea be February or March.  We will undoubtedly have at least one freezing to near freezing event in the next 7 weeks.

[Walt]

5 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

Your coconut looks amazing and by far the best it ever has Walt!  My garden and palms are almost in summer mode and I just gave everything a full strength fertilizing.  I am almost thinking it is better to have everything healthy and growing leading up to a cold/freeze event versus somewhat dormant and already a bit stressed from sub-optimal temperatures.  I don't know the answer to this, but I should have a better idea be February or March.  We will undoubtedly have at least one freezing to near freezing event in the next 7 weeks.

Yes, the past three winters were mild enough not to hurt my coconut palm too much, although it did get the typical potassium deficiency on maybe the oldest six fronds. But once temps warm up all new fronds are nice and green. This weather we've had now for the past week or two is unprecedented. The Sebring FAWN recorded a high today of 88.57 degrees. All my grass (and weeds) are kicking into new growth. Further, I drove up into town today, and on the way home I spotted a pink tabebuia tree full of blooms!

Yes, nothing is acclimated now for a freeze. However, I see the forecast is finally going to change by week's end, but nothing near freezing. More like January normal. I just hope all this warm December weather isn't all for naught, and we get a freeze in January or February.

 

[Alicante]

8 hours ago, Walt said:

The key factor is that my zone 9b has wintertime heat as compared to higher zones (like in southern California, i.e., 10a, 10b, and 11) that don't have wintertime heat. If you strike out the coldest one or two days of winter, my zone would be a solid zone 10. I once Googled the average January temperature of Long Beach, California, to my location, and my average January daily temperature was more than 10 degrees higher. So I have higher soil temperatures and drier soils as my area is in the dry season, and Long Beach is in the wet, cool season. But again, had I not protected my coconut palm of many nights over the last 12 years or so, I'm sure it would have been killed.

Now, if I had Long Beach, California's low temperatures but my high temperatures (during the winter) my coconut palm would have it made.

Technically you enjoy a bordering Humid Subtropical / Tropical Savanna climate, and you're also in a tropical zone (27ºN) hahaha your climate is far better than the entire West coast. The same applies to my climate (the thing about Long Beach that you were saying), I live on the Mediterranean, with 18/8ºC (64.4/46.4ºF) averages on the coldest month and 32/22.5ºC (89.6/72.5ºF) on the hottest.

One thing I don't understand in Florida is why the winter averages remain relatively cold (9-10ºC/48.2-50ºF) in a place like Sebring, FL located at 27ºN, while in places like Canary Islands (Spain) located at basically the same latitude (28-29ºN) the winter lows are about 16-17ºC (60.8/62.6ºF) I love meteo and weather but I don't know about it all I want to haha! Is there a phenomenon to explain this? Both places are near the Atlantic Coast. 

Anyways the amazing high averages from Florida will maintain your coco healthy  also you pass from spring to summer in a blink !

Edited December 29, 2015 by pRoeZa*

[Bill H2DB]

One thing I don't understand in Florida is why the winter averages remain relatively cold (9-10ºC/48.2-50ºF) in a place like Sebring, FL located at 27ºN, while in places like Canary Islands (Spain) located at basically the same latitude (28-29ºN) the winter lows are about 16-17ºC (60.8/62.6ºF) I love meteo and weather but I don't know about it all I want to haha! Is there a phenomenon to explain this? Both places are near the Atlantic Coast. 

Florida is at the SE end of a large continental land mass.  When the jet stream guides the Cold Front north winds from NW to SE , the cold can reach even into the  Bahamas and Cuba .  In many years the northern portion of the country has a snow cover , and therefore the air mass is not modified very much by day time heating and sweeps on in.  At times they are coming straight from the Arctic .  As soon as the High pressure center moves eastward enough , the winds switch to a more NE direction , and are passing over relatively  warm ocean waters , and we begin the warm up .

Sebring is dead inland , and does not have nearly the influence from the sea as those on the coasts . Coastal areas at the same latitude have higher lows , but lower highs in the winter , and generally in the summer too .

    There's a lot of details that go along with this , but generally that is the set up .

[Bigfish]

1 hour ago, pRoeZa* said:

One thing I don't understand in Florida is why the winter averages remain relatively cold (9-10ºC/48.2-50ºF) in a place like Sebring, FL located at 27ºN, while in places like Canary Islands (Spain) located at basically the same latitude (28-29ºN) the winter lows are about 16-17ºC (60.8/62.6ºF) I love meteo and weather but I don't know about it all I want to haha! Is there a phenomenon to explain this? Both places are near the Atlantic Coast. 

 

 One huge factor is there are no mountain ranges to block the arctic air from plunging south from Canada.  It has a clear, uninhibited path.  You really can't compare an island climate with Florida's.  Even though it is a peninsula, there's a whole lot of cold continent to the north (cold in the winter), and that is where the cold fronts come from.

 

Edit:  Bill beat me to the punch as I was typing, LOL!

Edited December 29, 2015 by Frank - Knoxville

[Walt]

The January average temperature for Sebring is approximately 49F low and 73F high. But after living here 18+ years I've found low temperatures on the coldest nights (and 95% of those nights are radiational cooling nights with clear sky and little or no wind) the temperatures can very 20 degrees plus, depending if the location is down off the Lake Wales ridge in the boondocks compared to areas on high ground (on top of the Lake Wales Ridge) and around or close to large lakes. Two winters ago my wife pulled out of our driveway and the car thermometer read 31 degrees. She started driving uphill to US27 (that runs down the center of Highlands County along the Lake Wales Ridge) and by the time she got to the top it was 39 degrees. It only took a minute to drive up the hill. I have topographical maps of my area, and the elevation change was only about 70 feet from my driveway to US 27. So that shows temperature inversion and stratification in a 70 feet altitude layer.

As far as around the lakes, it's a solid zone 10. In fact, in some years it doesn't drop below 40 degrees, as I've placed hi-lo thermometers on lakefront property and left them there all winter long. On February 14, 2006 the temperature dropped to 27 degrees at my place during a radiational cooling event. That same day I drove over to the lake to check my thermometer (located on my parent's property) and it had bottomed out at 41 degrees (in their back yard about 40 feet from the lake)! Same for a buddy of mine that lived just up the street from my parent's house. That's why at my parent's lakefront community they have lots of fruiting coconut palms, but in my subdivision there are none -- except for mine (because I protect it). 

As far as comparing Florida lows to that of islands, it's apples and oranges. Years ago I made a post about Midway Island Atoll which lies farther north than Tampa, Florida. The lowest official temperature there is 54 degrees F/12.1C. That my friends equals high zone 12A -- compared to Tampa 9b (at best). On Google earth street scene you can see lots of tall coconut palms on Midway Island, also on YouTube videos.

[palmsOrl]

Walt,

My lawn and weeks are starting to kick up too!  That is interesting that you had a freeze to 27F in Feb. '06, as that is right in the middle of the 7 year period Orlando went without an official freeze (Feb. '03 - Dec. -09).  Sebring's averages for January are what one would expect, same for the lows as here but a couple degrees higher for the average high temperatures.

Midway Island Atoll has a very similar climate to Bermuda, though the latter is even further north and full of coconuts.  I believe Bermuda's lowest temperature on record is 43F, and it is most likely a zone 12a, whereas Midway should be a 12b or 13a (since the zones are in reference to average annual lows, rather than all-time record lows)

 Much cooler weather is in the forecast, but nothing below 50F so far so just a nice break from these almost hot temperatures.

[Walt]

1 hour ago, palmsOrl said:

Walt,

My lawn and weeks are starting to kick up too!  That is interesting that you had a freeze to 27F in Feb. '06, as that is right in the middle of the 7 year period Orlando went without an official freeze (Feb. '03 - Dec. -09).  Sebring's averages for January are what one would expect, same for the lows as here but a couple degrees higher for the average high temperatures.

Midway Island Atoll has a very similar climate to Bermuda, though the latter is even further north and full of coconuts.  I believe Bermuda's lowest temperature on record is 43F, and it is most likely a zone 12a, whereas Midway should be a 12b or 13a (since the zones are in reference to average annual lows, rather than all-time record lows)

 Much cooler weather is in the forecast, but nothing below 50F so far so just a nice break from these almost hot temperatures.

I remember I referred to that day (February 14, 2006) as the St. Valentine's Day massacre (on my tropicals). I had heavy frost. It killed my Syagrus botryophora I had just bought the October before at the Searle's Bros. sale. You must remember, low temperatures are all over the place down here in Highlands County. There's nothing monolithic about the temperatures (at least on radiational cooling nights) due to the topography and various soil conditions. The coldest areas are outlying low areas down off the Lake Wales Ridge. But around the lakes and on the highest ground with good air drainage around it the low temperatures can be markedly higher.

I always consult FAWN (link below) to compare my property with the FAWN weather tower site. This site is southeast of the town of Sebring and about eight miles north of me. It's on higher ground than my property and generally averages 3-5 degrees higher in low temperature than at my place. In the case of the morning of February 14, 2006, I went to the FAWN website (report generator) and pulled up the low temperature for that date. Sebring FAWN recorded a low of 33.75 degrees (I had 27 degrees in the open field area of my property). I also checked the Avalon (west Orlando in the boondocks with no heat island influence) and it recorded 32.71 degrees that morning.

And again, around the lakes it was above 40 degrees due to the thermal effect of the lake. Had I bought on a large lake down here my property would look like a south Florida property right now after 18 years. Right now the Sebring FAWN is reporting 89 degrees!

http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/

[GottmitAlex]

Hi Walt. I am just wondering how your coconut is doing?

Regards

[Walt]

2 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Hi Walt. I am just wondering how your coconut is doing?

Regards

Well, my coconut palm got frost burned on one night in February. It was very odd, as so many other plantings that would normally get frost burned (like my Brazilian red cloak shrub that was 10 feet tall, and just 20 feet away from my coconut palm didn't get hurt. In any event, my coconut palm also went into K deficiency and the lower fronds started dying back quickly. I cut all the dead or near dead fronds off. I figure by summer's end my coconut will have a fuller crown. 

[Walt]

I figure these two lower bunches of coconuts should ripen sometime this summer..

[Walt]

The below coconut palm is one I grew from seed I sprouted from my mother tree. I sprouted it over the winter of 2016-17. I placed some nuts up against the south block wall of my house where they would absorb the sun's radiation during the day, also the block and soil. Two nuts sprouted and sent down a root about 8 inches. I carefully dug them up and potted them. I planted this one below about 5 weeks ago in a more protected spot than my mother coconut palm. It will also get a little less sun where it is, but it should get adequate sun.

[Walt]

This small coconut palm was given to me by a neighbor that picked it up down in Key Largo. I have no idea what the variety is. He asked me if I wanted it (free), so no way was I going to turn it down. I planted it about  10-12 feet away from my green Malayan dwarf. This way I can protect it if need be. 

[GottmitAlex]

Thank you Walt.  Your Malaya dwarf should be back to its splendor in no time!

Seems your neighbor gave you a golden Malayan or pacific. I don't know. But it does not look like a dwarf.  But hey, the more the merrier! And if anyone can pull off the amazing feat of successfully growing Cocos nucifera in a wet 9b climate, it's you Walt. Hope you had a nice memorial day weekend.

Keep up updated whenever you can.

Alex

Edited May 29, 2018 by GottmitAlex
Autocorrect

[Walt]

56 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

Thank you Walt.  Your Malaya dwarf should be back to its splendor in no time!

Seems your neighbor gave you a golden Malayan or pacific. I don't know. But it does not look like a dwarf.  But hey, the more the merrier! And if anyone can pull off the amazing feat of successfully growing Cocos nucifera in a wet 9b climate, it's you Walt. Hope you had a nice memorial day weekend.

Keep up updated whenever you can.

Alex

Okay, Alex. I will post back in a couple of months. All three of my coconut palms can be reached with electric extension cords, so I can protect them using heating cables and insulation blankets. I haven't had to protect anything now for the past four winters, but I had one cold night this past February with frost. As for the coconut palm my neighbor gave me, I look forward to seeing it grow more so that it can be more positively I.D.ed. My neighbor also gave me two 3 gallon sized Pandanus utilis. He didn't care for the serrated leaf edges. Again, they were offered to me for free, so no way was I going to turn them down. I planted both last week. 

[Cluster]

Hey Walt,

Congratulations protecting all those coconuts they look really healthy, even the big one is not looking that bad and is full of cocos, amazing, good work!

[GottmitAlex]

Thank you Walt.