New Smyrna Beach, FL Coconut update

[Eric in Orlando]

I was over in New Smyrna Beach earlier today so I went by to see how the Coconut fared that is growing along Flagler Ave about a block from the beach. It looks great, the cold damage isn't bad. It is still even holding coconuts. Over on the beachside tropical plants look like they fared better than in Orlando. I saw quite a few Foxtail and Christmas palms with only minor burn. The Seagrapes still have lots of green leaves and the giant banyan only partially defoliated. I forgot to go south on A1A and see how the tall coconuts at that beachfront house did.

[Eric in Orlando]

[Eric in Orlando]

[Xerarch]

Not bad at all, especially for NSB, I’ll score that a big win for a bad winter. 

[Zeeth]

Nice! That one survived 2010 so it's not surprising that it fared well through this most recent freeze. 

[kinzyjr]

Wow, that is surprising!  Pretty far north for so little damage!

[Walt]

The coconut palms appears to be benefiting from a south exposure of a concrete block wall (which is a heat sink to absorb radiant heat and re radiate it at night-- at least for a while). Also, the wall serves as a wind block (as least for the meristem and trunk). Then there's the concrete parking area which absorbs radiant heat. No doubt these physical features around the palm serve to protect it to some degree, as opposed to the same palm planted in the open. 

Next month I plan on planting two coconut palms I grew from seed from my coconut palm. I may plant one near my house, on the south side of it, letting my house serve as a wind block, plus give the palm more heat than it would get planted farther out into the yard.

My coconut palm was badly frost burned by one of those two cold nights I had many weeks ago. A Roystonea borinquena 10 feet away was also burned. But a Veitchia joannis in the same vicinity wasn't damaged, but it had the benefit of live oak canopy. My second to largest A. alexandrae palm (also in the same vicinity) wasn't burned at all, yet my tallest one located in a different area did get frost/cold damaged. Also, my D. leptocheilos in the same vicinity was mostly fried. But my large Brazilian red cloak shrub in the same vicinity wasn't damaged at all, nor my Ixora super kings, or any of my Ficus trees. The damage and non damage to various palms and zone 10 plants seemed odd to me. 

I would have thought many of the plants and palms listed above would have gotten some frost damage -- judging how my coconut palm looks. Yet, snow on the mountain, sea grape, P. rupicola (planted along my storage shed) have no damage. The official low recorded as Sebring FAWN was 30.72 on January 18th. My place, IMO, couldn't have been much colder due that none of my ficus trees were hurt, no pothos vines and other frost indicator plants. But, my tallest jackfruit tree was 95% fried, and my tallest Shefflera actinophylla was mostly defoliated. Yet, my smaller S. actinophylla is pristine. I guess it was just due to a different exposure.

[Reeverse]

Yeah the beachside did pretty well all over Volusia county. It's been 8 years since we've had below 30degree temps on the islands. Still lots of damage but could be been worse. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Wow!  I would like some viable nuts off that palm.  If it can make it there and produce nuts, then one of its offspring should make it here where I live and produce nuts too!  We have a very similar wintertime climate.

[Eric in Orlando]

I wonder how the taller coconut in south Daytona Beach did, the one that survived 2009-10?

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

I wonder how the taller coconut in south Daytona Beach did, the one that survived 2009-10?

 

Yeah, we definitely need some photos and updates on it!

[ck_in_fla]

18 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Yeah, we definitely need some photos and updates on it!

Also, the coconut palms in Sanford, FL on the South side of Lake Monroe...

[Cindy Adair]

Glad to see some good news after all the cold and hurricane related losses!

[jreich85]

17 hours ago, ck_in_fla said:

Also, the coconut palms in Sanford, FL on the South side of Lake Monroe...

I don't know about the coconut palms, but the royals along I-4 just south of Lake Monroe got pretty badly damaged. There are some (1/3 to 1/2) that still show some green in the crown and leaves, so maybe they will pull through.

 

I was also in Winter Park last week, and most of the tropical palms there were toast. I did notice that there was a bit of variability in the damage that the royal palms were showing. Most bizarre was a business along one road (1400 Fairbanks Ave if I remember correctly) where all the royals seemed relatively unphased.

[Josh-O]

glad to see things fared well over there

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

18 hours ago, ck_in_fla said:

Also, the coconut palms in Sanford, FL on the South side of Lake Monroe...

Yeah, updates on those too would be nice along with new photos.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

12 minutes ago, jreich85 said:

I don't know about the coconut palms, but the royals along I-4 just south of Lake Monroe got pretty badly damaged. There are some (1/3 to 1/2) that still show some green in the crown and leaves, so maybe they will pull through.

 

I was also in Winter Park last week, and most of the tropical palms there were toast. I did notice that there was a bit of variability in the damage that the royal palms were showing. Most bizarre was a business along one road (1400 Fairbanks Ave if I remember correctly) where all the royals seemed relatively unphased.

I think the ones in the photo are Foxtail Palms, and they have about the same cold hardiness as Royal Palms.

[jreich85]

18 minutes ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

I think the ones in the photo are Foxtail Palms, and they have about the same cold hardiness as Royal Palms.

Ha, true. Should have paid closer attention to their leaf structure. I am pretty sure this Google image is the same place that I saw while driving by last week. I didn't stop, so didn't get a real picture of the spot. Maybe foxtails are slightly hardier than royals? Anyways, not to derail the original topic of this thread...

[RedRabbit]

28 minutes ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

I think the ones in the photo are Foxtail Palms, and they have about the same cold hardiness as Royal Palms.

Yep, those are foxtails.

This time around the foxtails did better than the royals. Their foliage seems to be hardier. Ultimately though, I think royals are still more cold tolerant because they can bounce back from defoliation a lot better than foxtails can.

[Reeverse]

The pre 2010 Daytona Beach Shores coconut took some heavy damage but its still there. 

[Bill H2DB]

  Pretty much ditto for the Cocos up in Ormond Beach . There are a few here and there around town,

in some shelter , that are fairly green .   A middling freeze overall .

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

2 hours ago, Reeverse said:

The pre 2010 Daytona Beach Shores coconut took some heavy damage but its still there. 

I think it will recover.  Man, if mine could ever get that size over here with a few viable nuts on it, I would be very happy!  The winter climate there and my winter climate are almost identical temp wise, so if one could get that big over there, I should be able to get at least one or two over there to get that size too over time.  Actually, my Green Malayan that has about 20" of woody trunk at the base, has more green on it right now after 6 freezes this winter than this one in the photo.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

[RedRabbit]

Last year most of the coconuts had some degree of burn, but there was one that looked much worse than all the others. I don't know if it is in a cold spot or just genetically weaker.

Anyway, this year the coconuts in my area are fully defoliated for the most part. The only one I've seen to not take much damage was the same one that was most damaged  last year.  

The same plants seem to perform very differently depending on whether the freeze was radiational or advective.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

18 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Last year most of the coconuts had some degree of burn, but there was one that looked much worse than all the others. I don't know if it is in a cold spot or just genetically weaker.

Anyway, this year the coconuts in my area are fully defoliated for the most part. The only one I've seen to not take much damage was the same one that was most damaged  last year.  

The same plants seem to perform very differently depending on whether the freeze was radiational or advective.

Red Rabbit,

I think the coconuts in your area and throughout Central and South Florida generally look worse after less intense freezing weather than what our South Texas coconuts are exposed to because the ones over there are not exposed to cold and chill as much as our are each and every winter, which I think builds up a slight degree of resistance to the cold and chill in them over here, more so than yours over there.  At least this is my two cents worth.  I think the one over there that was more cold injured last year, as you said, recovered and developed more cold resistance to the winter this year.

John

[Eric in Orlando]

Here are a couple in Orlando. They are growing a couple miles east of downtown across from Fashion Square Mall. 

[Eric in Orlando]

Still holding some coconuts... 

[Reeverse]

That's great. January was one of the coolest on average and now February is going to be the all time warmest if this streak holds up. Weird weather for sure 

[Eric in Orlando]

I saw a house northeast of Winter Park towards Casselberry with 2 coconut palms about the size of the ones I posted pics of in Orlando. The foliage was totally brown but petioles were green. It is an open, cold area away from any lakes. It will be interesting to see if they leaf back out.