On developing a cold-tolerant Coconut palm

[Ben in Norcal]

45 minutes ago, stone jaguar said:

Before everyone pats themselves on the back too much, let’s see what this sample looks like in July of 2018. Hate to remind people banking thier success that the US winter may still have some arrows in its quiver yet, and some of the depicted palms look iffy after Round One.

I think it's now safe to say winter is done here.  70s all through the 10-day, and not even a frost this winter.  Bananas still pristine.  Woo hoo!

[LF-TX]

20 hours ago, Palmaceae said:

John,

Wow, your coconuts don't look too bad considering what they went through. The ones in Central Florida look worse! 

I agree! They really do look amazing after all that they went through! Even the ones here in Cameron County don’t look as healthy as Mr. John’s. One of the closest cocos here in my area has browned miserably... but luckily the inner crown is still green and seems to be coming foward. I honestly don’t know what variety it’s of. If my neighbor’s Mexican Tall is doing substantially better than this one, then it must be of another vartiey. It has been a bad winter for the RGV, but I have yet to see any coco deaths thankfully! 

And thankfully we have surviving cocos up in Corpus too!

[Umbrae]

Sooner or later a 1983/89 event will level them, doubtfull any "selective breeding" is going to make them immune to that type of cold 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Umbrae said:

Sooner or later a 1983/89 event will level them, doubtfull any "selective breeding" is going to make them immune to that type of cold 

The 1989 freeze was the last across the board coconut palm killing freeze in the Rio Grande Valley, which I think was the last mass coconut palm killing freeze in Florida too, so they have been doing fairly well for 29 years, and as far as I am concerned, that qualifies them as long term viable for an area!

[Silas_Sancona]

On 1/31/2018, 7:59:54, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Speaking of successfully growing Coconut Palms to maturity with even some nuts on them, I have a friend that used to live near Guadalajara, Mexico for a while, which is at a fairly high elevation and routinely gets down into the 40'sF, maybe even into the upper 30'sF several times each winter, and he said he saw mature Coconut Palms with small to medium sized nuts on them at an elevation, as I recall of 4,000ft. to 5,000ft.!  They are probably Pacific Talls.  The next variety for cold hardiness would probably be the Panama Tall or Maypan hybrid.

In light of this comment  back at the end of  Jan. of this year from John (@Mr.Coconut Palm) and subsequent searches of areas near the region suggested in the quote, i thought it might be time to share some findings some might find interesting.. This falls in line with the quick thread i started last night in the "Tropicals" section titled "The highest Royals".. anyway,  while, as i said, i couldn't spot any Coconuts in that area.. i did find some, in other places..  

Coming back to thoughts shared in this thread, the obvious question would be " ...Are any fruiting at such elevation"     Well...,

Take a look for yourself.. 

@Zeeth, @GottmitAlex, @kinzyjr, @Josue Diaz @Xenon @Mr. Coconut Palm, ...and the rest of the Coconut curious, this one's for you..

*** All Images courtesy of / credited to Google Earth***

Various coconut specimens around the San Antonio Tlayacapan region of Jalisco State, Mexico.. just west of the Golf Course there. Found smaller ones around here as well, and other stuff inc. Adonida, Dypsis lutescens, & Traveler's Palm in some of these neighborhoods. Elevation here ranges between 5100- 5300 ft. Spotted others in the Chapala Haciendas area north of Chapala, Mexico along the Mex. 23 Hwy.. Elevation there ranges between roughly 5150- 5400 ft




..And then there were Fruit..  1 & 2 are from Jocotepec, N.W. side of the Laguna De Chapala @ elevation above 5000 ft. Several other specimens in that area that may be fruiting by now ( Google Earth images are from 2012-13) Found the other in the Chapala Haciendas area, at an elevation of 5436 ft. Image is dated, back to 2012. Overhead images are more up to date and not sure if it is still growing or was killed / taken down. Regardless, there's another potential fruiting specimen at the following coordinates: 20 19 41.61N 103 11 28.96W ..or just up the street. Both are present all the way back to 2012 and now. That particular specimen may qualify as the highest-growing Coconut i have found to -date. Ground level elevation there is 5450 ft above Sea Level, or roughly 170 ft higher than Denver, CO.

Fruiting..and forming fruit Jocotepec, Mex. ( Pic. 1 @ 5021 ft along the Rivera del Lago; Pic. 2 @ 5026 ft along the Cristobal Colon ) Theres a Dypsis decaryi visible across the road from picture #1 also. Many other Coconuts to spot around this area also.



Chapala Haciendas area,  neighborhood just north of the Mex.23 Hwy. A little tough to see the fruit from the image angle. If you look from different angles, mature / near mature fruit are easier to pick out. Elevation here is 5436 ft.  The other specimen at 5450 ft is in another yard, to the west of this specimen. 


-Nathan

[kinzyjr]

@Silas_Sancona Nice finds!

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

@Silas_Sancona Nice finds!

 
  Just located another at 5891 ft..  GPS: 21 06 09.09 N  101 40 12.09 W. Prados Verdes area of Leon, Mexico.  Husky looking full crown ( minus the apparent burnt fronds) but no fruit. 

[climate change virginia]

On 12/10/2017 at 9:55 PM, PalmTreeDude said:

If someone genetically modified coconuts to be cold hardy they would probably end up being commercially grown in places like South Carolina and Georgia. 

We could make them even more cold tolerant that they could grow in DC with gene editing

Edited October 30, 2020 by climate change virginia

[Aleitalyyy]

On 12/12/2017 at 11:00, CroToni said:

Nella maggior parte degli inverni, ma Palermo è spesso più calda di Los Angeles, inoltre ci sono segnalazioni di loro crescenti sul lato sud dell'isola e su Lampedusa (con un successo minimo, ovviamente).

hello do you have a photo? both of the one in Palermo and both of those in other areas that you say?

[dekaoxtoyra]

out of tropics

here is a sample in New Zealand Raoul island

It can succeed in cool

[dekaoxtoyra]

You must try fruits from other places worldwide not the ordinary

they will produce  seeds more flexible 

 

[dekaoxtoyra]

I suppose it can live in South Greece & Cyprus 

Here is a subject from cyprus