preparing coconut for the coming winter

[sandgroper]

Just getting my coconut ready for the coming winter, it's a bit early to be doing anything just yet but I want to be ready for when it gets cool. I've placed four 50 litre black plastic tubs around the base of the palm which I've filled with water to act as a heat trap. These should help keep the palm warm over the cooler nights, in two of the tubs I've placed aquarium heaters set at 32c, these are very cheap to run and are thermostatically controlled so they'll only run when the water temp drops below 32c, they probably wont run during the daylight hours at all. I've also pushed six 19mm diameter metal tubes into the ground spaced at 860mm apart, this is the same size as clear polycarbonate sheeting that I'm going to cable tie to the poles. The palm is now way too big to cover but I'm hoping that this will help it fend off the coming winter as my theory is hot air rises so it should rise up through the fronds and just help a bit. I'll pick up the polycarbonate sheets next weekend and fix them in place, I'll put up a couple of pics of it completed then.

[sandgroper]

Polycarbonate sheeting now in place, the top is open to the elements but most of the palm is well protected so we'llsee how it looks in three months time.

[PalmatierMeg]

That's quite a setup and well thought out. How cold do you get?

[sandgroper]

Thanks mate. We get day time temps around 19c and nightime temps around 8c although these temps can be higher or lower by another 3c -4c. The coconut has been in the ground for around five years now and has grown a lot in that time so hopefully it has toughened up enough to be able to cope with the cooler weather. Time will tell, I've certainly tried hard to please it!

[The Palm Nut]

I remember my first germinated coconut, I did much like you to protect it. I build a small pond close to it, the pond was heated and I had tropical fish in it. I had that palm for about 25 plus years and it reach about 30 feet overall. Some years it looked great particularly the first 10 years but pretty much most years after that it slowly went down hill. I eventually cut it down, I expect it would still be struggling along but looking awful much like the betel nut which was planted around the same time and is still struggling along looking pretty bad. Enjoy it as I did with mine, it was one of the first palms in my garden.

Mike 

[Tyrone]

You're doing very well with that coconut mate. Reminds me of my coconut growing days. 

[sandgroper]

16 hours ago, Tyrone said:

You're doing very well with that coconut mate. Reminds me of my coconut growing days. 

Thanks Tyrone, it's been in for about 5 -6 years now and has grown a lot. You probably won't remember but I actually asked your advice on how to go about it several years ago. How is your coconut going? Have you seen it since moving to Albany?

[Tyrone]

On 04/05/2018, 9:54:51, sandgroper said:

Thanks Tyrone, it's been in for about 5 -6 years now and has grown a lot. You probably won't remember but I actually asked your advice on how to go about it several years ago. How is your coconut going? Have you seen it since moving to Albany?

 It died mate, back after the winter of 2016. The tenant turned the retic off for extended periods in the warm months. That's all I'll say about that as we knew the guy beforehand and were disappointed in his attitude toward the garden. It would have weakened it during the growing time and then it succumbed in the spring of 2016. I lost tonnes of things in the garden. Sad times.

[sandgroper]

2 hours ago, Tyrone said:

 It died mate, back after the winter of 2016. The tenant turned the retic off for extended periods in the warm months. That's all I'll say about that as we knew the guy beforehand and were disappointed in his attitude toward the garden. It would have weakened it during the growing time and then it succumbed in the spring of 2016. I lost tonnes of things in the garden. Sad times.

Really sorry to hear that mate, in the photos I saw it looked fantastic, what a shame.

[Tyrone]

I had many successes in that garden, but after about one year of renting it out the carnage became apparent. I've never been the same since.