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Germinating a Super Market clean coconut??


JASON M

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Hi, I live a 5-10 minute bikeride away from Pick N Save, and they have coconuts... what would I have to do to get it to sprout? I am possibly going today, (and supposedly Stein Garden and Gifts, :D)

Thanks,

Jason

Milwaukee, WI to Ocala, FL

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Hi Jason,

I would guess it's dehusked, right? If not, you can plant it in a pot with very sandy soil. Let it roll on the ground and plant it on the same orientation where it comes to rest, and about halfway into the soil.

If it IS dehusked (like most they sell at the supermarket), put it in a bucket of water overnight, then you can place it inside a ziplock bag, or just plant it halfway into the soil with the embryo eye just outside of the soil surface (this eye usually is located in the largest third of the coconut and looks a little different than the other two) then throw a piece of plastic on top to hold the moisture. Keep it a little on the dry side, but you should see condensation in the plastic surface.

Remember, coconuts NEED warmth and humidity to sprout; especially warm nights above 68°F. Check it daily and spray fungicide as needed. Good luck!

PS- Remember to select one that has no cracks on the outside! Also, the one with the most water content slushing inside, and healthy eyes.

Edited by Trópico
  • Like 1

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

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I've heard from People that try to do this and DON'T live where its tropical, give up. INSTEAD they go to Wal-Mart or the box stores and get a little sprouted coconut for $25 when they are available.

Good luck either way.

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Hi Jason!

I know some Cocos "supermarket" in Austria and Germany - they have a good chance, when th nuts where stored warm - try it :winkie:

Greetings from a litte village near Salzburg/Austria

Moni

11152.gif

USDA 5b (up to -26° C)

It is very hard for me to see, how many plants are growing around the the world, which I don't have in my collection!!!!

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Hi Jason,

I would guess it's dehusked, right? If not, you can plant it in a pot with very sandy soil. Let it roll on the ground and plant it on the same orientation where it comes to rest, and about halfway into the soil.

If it IS dehusked (like most they sell at the supermarket), put it in a bucket of water overnight, then you can place it inside a ziplock bag, or just plant it halfway into the soil with the embryo eye just outside of the soil surface (this eye usually is located in the largest third of the coconut and looks a little different than the other two) then throw a piece of plastic on top to hold the moisture. Keep it a little on the dry side, but you should see condensation in the plastic surface.

Remember, coconuts NEED warmth and humidity to sprout; especially warm nights above 68°F. Check it daily and spray fungicide as needed. Good luck!

PS- Remember to select one that has no cracks on the outside! Also, the one with the most water content slushing inside, and healthy eyes.

What if I just put a humidifier in my room? :blink:

Milwaukee, WI to Ocala, FL

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If you place a de-husked coconut up to the eye in a pot of moist soil with full sun on it, it will crack. Been there, done that. mrlooney.gif

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If you place a de-husked coconut up to the eye in a pot of moist soil with full sun on it, it will crack. Been there, done that. mrlooney.gif

No full sun! It will explode! (Been there done that) :lol:

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

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What if I just put a humidifier in my room? :blink:

Mesa, Arizona

 

Temps between 29F and 115F each year

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Jason,

I have tried about 6-7 different ones and i finally got one to germinate. I read from Kostas that you need to bury it eyes up in vermiculite and keep warm. Like others have said, not TOO warm like in full sun. Your room will be too cold. My greenhouse gets to 110f and the vermiculite acts like the protective husk does.

Good luck,

Mark

Orlando, Florida

zone 9b

The Pollen Poacher!!

GO DOLPHINS!!

GO GATORS!!!

 

Palms, Sex, Money and horsepower,,,, you may have more than you can handle,,

but too much is never enough!!

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Dumb bum question here, but the coconuts that get the shoots are the big greenish smooth ones and the supermarket coconuts are tiny little hairy things....well at least they are here. Which ones are under discussion may I ask ?

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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When they fall coconuts often lay in full sun. The husks are great insulators and also retain warmth when the sun goes down. You need to replicate that.

One of the problems with "supermarket coconuts" is you don't know how they've been stored. Whether they've been chilled or knocked around. It'll be just a matter of luck whether you'll get the right one. Probably better off to get someone in the USA to send you one.

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Hi

I always thought that once a coconut was dehusked it wouldnt grow? Is that not true?

I live in Cairns, Wet Tropics, Australia

Latitude: 16° 51', South

Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Annual Rainfall

29.0 °C (84°F) 20.1 °C (68°F) 2,222.9 mm(87.5in)

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Hi

I always thought that once a coconut was dehusked it wouldnt grow? Is that not true?

That is not true! I have germinated one before!

Peachy,

The ones we are talking about are the round hairy ones!!!! You are sooooooo cute!!! I bet you even have a cute accent!! :)

Orlando, Florida

zone 9b

The Pollen Poacher!!

GO DOLPHINS!!

GO GATORS!!!

 

Palms, Sex, Money and horsepower,,,, you may have more than you can handle,,

but too much is never enough!!

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Oh dear, looks like spring is in the air again... :winkie:

I've got one germinated from a dehusked coconut I bought at the supermarket. I basically treated it the same way as I would treat lytocarium seeds...

-buy a coconut which is still heavy and sloshing with juice. Look very carefully for tiny cracks in the shell, sometimes these are hard to spot.

-soak for 2 days (I also used nitrozyme in the soaking solution, but i don't know if the stuff is available in the US)

-bury it halfway in the earth (in a pot) and keep it warm. (my coconut germinated at about 25 degrees Celcius)

post-1050-12741207419235_thumb.jpg

post-1050-12741207807047_thumb.jpg

post-1050-12741208191914_thumb.jpg

post-1050-12741208438517_thumb.jpg

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www.facebook.com/#!/Totallycoconuts

Amsterdam,

The Netherlands

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Well, there you go! Easy Peasy!

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Hi

I always thought that once a coconut was dehusked it wouldnt grow? Is that not true?

That is not true! I have germinated one before!

Peachy,

The ones we are talking about are the round hairy ones!!!! You are sooooooo cute!!! I bet you even have a cute accent!! :)

When men say I'm cute and funny,

And my teeth aren't teeth but pearls,

I just lap it up like honey,

I enjoy being a girl.

Until Pearl wants her teeth back. :unsure:

Peachy

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I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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Oh dear, looks like spring is in the air again... :winkie:

I've got one germinated from a dehusked coconut I bought at the supermarket. I basically treated it the same way as I would treat lytocarium seeds...

-buy a coconut which is still heavy and sloshing with juice. Look very carefully for tiny cracks in the shell, sometimes these are hard to spot.

-soak for 2 days (I also used nitrozyme in the soaking solution, but i don't know if the stuff is available in the US)

-bury it halfway in the earth (in a pot) and keep it warm. (my coconut germinated at about 25 degrees Celcius)

When you look for your coco try take off the skin on the big eye with the finger. Many times you can see some yellow root start to growing if you take the skin off. Than you know you have very good coco. Buy only these. Some times you need to look for long time to find this, it depend of the climate where you live.

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TEMP. JAN. 21/10 C (69/50 F), AUG. 29/20 C (84/68 F). COASTAL DESERT, MOST DAYS MILD OR WARM, SUNNY AND DRY. YEARLY PRECIPITATION: 210 MM (8.2 INCHES). ZONE 11 NO FREEZES CLOSE TO THE OCEAN.

5845d02ceb988_3-copia.jpg.447ccc2a7cc4c6

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Jason,

If you're still looking for a coconut to grow, I'll mail you one from Hana. I have a tree in my garden that produces dwarf coconuts, i.e., the nut without the husk is about the size of a tennis ball or even smaller. I can simply write your name and address on the husk and mail it to you. Let me know. e-mail thru my profile info. Aloha, William :):hmm::D

Edited by hanapalms
  • Like 1

William

Hana, Maui

 

Land of the low lying heavens, the misty Uakea crowning the majestic Kauwiki.

Visit my palms here

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Hey Jason,

If you're still looking for a coconut to grow, I'll mail you one from Hana. I have a tree in my garden that produces dwarf coconuts, i.e., the nut without the husk is about the size of a tennis ball or even smaller. I can simply write your name and address on the husk and mail it to you. Let me know. e-mail thru my profile info. Aloha, William :):hmm::D

Jason, people are hooking up on your thread?! See what coconuts do to people? Jason, the coconuts around here fall to the ground in very warm weather, not necessarily sun, and seem to germinate soon after. Find one with a lot of water inside, and if it germinates, the palm leaf will come out before the roots do. Good Luck.

Peachy, those little hairy things are the "seeds" inside the big, green, smooth ones. Peter

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Peter

hot and humid, short rainy season May through October, 14* latitude, 90* longitude

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You see, Peachy..

With the endosperm (coconut meat) connected

to the endocarp (the shell),

And the endocarp connected

to the mesocarp (the husk),

And the mesocarp connected

to the epicarp (the smooth, green outer surface),

Oh mercy how they scare!

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You see, Peachy..

With the endosperm (coconut meat) connected

to the endocarp (the shell),

And the endocarp connected

to the mesocarp (the husk),

And the mesocarp connected

to the epicarp (the smooth, green outer surface),

Oh mercy how they scare!

post-3769-12752700264087_thumb.jpg

And here we have a minicarp! :blink: it's full grown.

post-3769-12752700964266_thumb.jpg

it grew on this. The tree is very orangee as are the fruit until they dry. This variety of cocos is from New Guinea.

Send me your mailing address Jason and I'll mail you one.

William

Hana, Maui

 

Land of the low lying heavens, the misty Uakea crowning the majestic Kauwiki.

Visit my palms here

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My parents do not let me give my address out to others, thanks for the offer though!

Milwaukee, WI to Ocala, FL

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My parents do not let me give my address out to others, thanks for the offer though!

It's all good. :D

William

Hana, Maui

 

Land of the low lying heavens, the misty Uakea crowning the majestic Kauwiki.

Visit my palms here

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My parents do not let me give my address out to others, thanks for the offer though!

It's all good. :D

I really must look into a P.O. box, ohh. :rolleyes:

Milwaukee, WI to Ocala, FL

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  • 3 weeks later...

I really hope someone will be able to help me...I am truly cuckoo for coconuts at this point!

Okay...the story from the beginning...

In the Spring of 2008, I FINALLY saw coconut palms for sale at Home Depot in Daytona Beach. I got one. I think it was dead when I got it, honestly. I took it back and got another. This one looked good...until...

One day, I saw, literally, a "mess" of caterpillars (I'm not an entomologist, so I don't know genus/species)on top of the soil, and investigating found them in it as well. This was repotted with potting soil (from the bag), but there was so much soil attached to the root ball, and I didn't want to hurt it, so...

I guess this is where the caterpillars were. By the way, all of the coconut palms I'm going to talk about were inside. And the one with the caterpillars seemed fine at first-I never saw them until one day when watering it in my room...in Southern New Jersey. It made the trip fine, too.

Strike two.

So in the fall it went back-really really dead to Home Depot where it came from.

Now to coconut palm #3, a beautiful tree. This was gorgeous-it came from Lowe's in Ormond Beach. It went in my room in Florida with really high hopes of coming home here. This was last September it was purchased. We potted it the same way. Now I saw a caterpillar in the soil as soon as I brought it into my room. I didn't tell anyone. I secretly used to go through the soil and pick them out-I didn't use any organics like I did with the second one (the other caterpillar tree). I would do this on a daily basis. Oh, there were some ants too. And some other bugs, what they were I don't know, but they were a lot like gnats. But this thing looked incredible! Until March, that is...when all of the leaves one by one turned and the stalk cracked. We were told it had a weevil. It had the smell indicative of it.

By now my mother is really mad at me for this whole coconut fiasco, but agrees to let me try to get seedlings from somewhere-I found a place online in South Florida-they shipped me two-they looked "okay" and smelled fine, but they didn't make it-they cracked and then began to rot. Again, use the term "okay" loosely here.

HELP! I CAN'T FIND COCONUTS WITH HUSKS ANYWHERE AND I'VE TRIED...I've been to Spanish and Asian groceries, nothing. Central Florida doesn't have coconuts and my parents didn't want to take a trip, even though I begged-I've never even seen Key West!

If anyone knows where I can get coconuts with husks for less than e-Bay's highway robbery prices, please help!

My project now: at the flea market there are many Mexicans and therefore Mexican foods. I bought two really nice looking coconuts five weeks ago tomorrow (Sunday). They were white, not even brown they were so freshly husked. They came from Mexico-I saw the box-and they didn't really look like they had been treated at all-they bore very little resemblance to the ones that are usually found in the supermarket. These things were fresh. I've been going back and forth from soaking in hot water to rinsing with hot water and putting in a plastic bag, blowing air into it and closing up the bag, placing it with eyes up sitting on top of a cup. They are filled with milk just as they were when I got them. It really may be possible that they will both sprout-the one really seems like the large eye is bulging more-the other's large eye is starting to crumble like something is pushing on it, though it is not really bulging like the other. If these things sprout, I really need to know how to plant them, please! And I really would like to be able to get coconuts in husks to grow them, I know this is how it is supposed to be done. Thank you, anyone that can help me. I'm new-I have to post a picture yet even!

Thank You,

Dawnne

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Hello Dawnne - You'll want to embed the coconuts about half way into well draining soil. The location should be sunny, hot (at least 20 deg Centigrade), humid and so long as the soil drains well you can water 2-3 times a day. There's no need for fertilizer for a while but the sun, heat and humidity are important. If all goes well, you should have a young plant in 2-5 months' time!

A photo of the coconuts would be helpful. Good luck!

____________________

Kumar

Bombay, India

Sea Level | Average Temperature Range 23 - 32 deg. celsius | Annual rainfall 3400.0 mm

Calcutta, India

Sea Level | Average Temperature Range 19 - 33 deg. celsius | Annual rainfall 1600.0 mm

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I also bought 3 coconuts from a big local super market, they are heavy and apparently full of juice. I put them half way into pots in a shady place with outside temps between 25 and 34C, average humidity around 40%. Let's see if they germinate...

Paleo Faliro, coastal Athens, Greece

Lat 37° 55' 33" N - Lon 23° 42' 34" E

Zone 9b/10a, cool winters, hot summers, coastal effect

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Hi Dawnne welcome to palmtalk. As you can see by my questions above I am no coconut expert. I was reluctant to pay the high prices that nurseries charge for them too. However if it sold from a nursery they are usually bug and wriggly things free. Getting them from chain stores etc is always a risk. They dont have professional gardeners and wouldnt really know if there were any nasty icky things lurking in the pots. Germinating anything is hit and miss too so to save yourself grief, save your money and get one from a reputable nursery, who should also be able to advise you on the best species for indoors etc. Not much help I guess !!

Peachy

I came. I saw. I purchased

 

 

27.35 south.

Warm subtropical, with occasional frosts.

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Hi Dawnne, welcome to Palmtalk. You and I both share the passion for coconuts, you definitely far more than I it appears. I believe this plant has to be the crown jewel of any palm collection. Being so that I like to grow stuff from seed, I embarked on this quest to germinate the proverbial king of the palms too. Back home in PR there were little mom & pop's places that sold coconuts fresh off the plant, they chilled them and cut them for you and put a straw. Here in Central Florida I haven't seen a single one. That's why I have been trying dehusked coconuts for a while, with mixed results. It's a hit and miss especially if they have to travel very far, like from Panama, the Dominican Republic, etc. The only place I've seen husked coconuts at all is at Bravo Supermarket, there are many in our area (Orlando). They don't have them all the time. I can check for you and let you know if they have them today.

Right now I have one, already in a clay pot, with a first pre-leaf. It's unfortunately battling constant fungus attacks as I didn't realize it had some mold when I picked it up, yet it was the one to germinate out of two. I know I have to go and pick up another one.

Daytona Beach may be in the limits of where you can grow coconuts but I think, barring one winter like this past one, you can enjoy it for many years. I suggest you get surrounded by many of them because one can die suddenly and you may have to start all over again, that's how we learn. Good luck, and you're not alone, we can help each other until we all become experts!

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

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Hello Dawnne - You'll want to embed the coconuts about half way into well draining soil. The location should be sunny, hot (at least 20 deg Centigrade), humid and so long as the soil drains well you can water 2-3 times a day. There's no need for fertilizer for a while but the sun, heat and humidity are important. If all goes well, you should have a young plant in 2-5 months' time!

A photo of the coconuts would be helpful. Good luck!

Hi!

I'm trying to figure out how to attach pictures here...it is difficult, my pictures seem to be over the amount of pixels allowed!

One of the coconuts, the one that looked like the eye was cracking, well it did. This coconut was huge, but you know what? It never browned, and the eyes were tiny. It stayed a whitish color, like when I had gotten it. The largest of these tiny eyes cracked all right, then the juice flowed out when I turned it over. I tossed it yesterday.

The other one was a lot smaller-and it browned pretty quickly, plus it has nice-sized eyes. All of the eyes are hard, but the bigger one is bulging, really, even my mother thinks so. My father thinks my entire idea is a bust. I'm going to stick with this one-I've been doing it since the Sunday that was two weeks before Memorial Day Weekend.

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Hi Dawnne welcome to palmtalk. As you can see by my questions above I am no coconut expert. I was reluctant to pay the high prices that nurseries charge for them too. However if it sold from a nursery they are usually bug and wriggly things free. Getting them from chain stores etc is always a risk. They dont have professional gardeners and wouldnt really know if there were any nasty icky things lurking in the pots. Germinating anything is hit and miss too so to save yourself grief, save your money and get one from a reputable nursery, who should also be able to advise you on the best species for indoors etc. Not much help I guess !!

Peachy

Hi Peachy!

Your pug is so cute...I have a Yorkie (I'm allergic to dogs-Skipper's hypoallergenic, which is why my mother really wanted him). I hear you about the private nurseries versus the chain stores. I saw one online in Australia, and it seems that they have some really nice ones. It's just a matter of money right now or I would have bought one already :(

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I really hope someone will be able to help me...I am truly cuckoo for coconuts at this point!

Okay...the story from the beginning...

In the Spring of 2008, I FINALLY saw coconut palms for sale at Home Depot in Daytona Beach. I got one. I think it was dead when I got it, honestly. I took it back and got another. This one looked good...until...

One day, I saw, literally, a "mess" of caterpillars (I'm not an entomologist, so I don't know genus/species)on top of the soil, and investigating found them in it as well. This was repotted with potting soil (from the bag), but there was so much soil attached to the root ball, and I didn't want to hurt it, so...

I guess this is where the caterpillars were. By the way, all of the coconut palms I'm going to talk about were inside. And the one with the caterpillars seemed fine at first-I never saw them until one day when watering it in my room...in Southern New Jersey. It made the trip fine, too.

Strike two.

So in the fall it went back-really really dead to Home Depot where it came from.

Now to coconut palm #3, a beautiful tree. This was gorgeous-it came from Lowe's in Ormond Beach. It went in my room in Florida with really high hopes of coming home here. This was last September it was purchased. We potted it the same way. Now I saw a caterpillar in the soil as soon as I brought it into my room. I didn't tell anyone. I secretly used to go through the soil and pick them out-I didn't use any organics like I did with the second one (the other caterpillar tree). I would do this on a daily basis. Oh, there were some ants too. And some other bugs, what they were I don't know, but they were a lot like gnats. But this thing looked incredible! Until March, that is...when all of the leaves one by one turned and the stalk cracked. We were told it had a weevil. It had the smell indicative of it.

By now my mother is really mad at me for this whole coconut fiasco, but agrees to let me try to get seedlings from somewhere-I found a place online in South Florida-they shipped me two-they looked "okay" and smelled fine, but they didn't make it-they cracked and then began to rot. Again, use the term "okay" loosely here.

HELP! I CAN'T FIND COCONUTS WITH HUSKS ANYWHERE AND I'VE TRIED...I've been to Spanish and Asian groceries, nothing. Central Florida doesn't have coconuts and my parents didn't want to take a trip, even though I begged-I've never even seen Key West!

If anyone knows where I can get coconuts with husks for less than e-Bay's highway robbery prices, please help!

My project now: at the flea market there are many Mexicans and therefore Mexican foods. I bought two really nice looking coconuts five weeks ago tomorrow (Sunday). They were white, not even brown they were so freshly husked. They came from Mexico-I saw the box-and they didn't really look like they had been treated at all-they bore very little resemblance to the ones that are usually found in the supermarket. These things were fresh. I've been going back and forth from soaking in hot water to rinsing with hot water and putting in a plastic bag, blowing air into it and closing up the bag, placing it with eyes up sitting on top of a cup. They are filled with milk just as they were when I got them. It really may be possible that they will both sprout-the one really seems like the large eye is bulging more-the other's large eye is starting to crumble like something is pushing on it, though it is not really bulging like the other. If these things sprout, I really need to know how to plant them, please! And I really would like to be able to get coconuts in husks to grow them, I know this is how it is supposed to be done. Thank you, anyone that can help me. I'm new-I have to post a picture yet even!

Thank You,

Dawnne

Welcome to Palmtalk! Why not try Cocoa Beach/Merrit Island the next time you're in Central Florida?

:) Jonathan

Edited by Xenon

Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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Hi Dawnne, welcome to Palmtalk. You and I both share the passion for coconuts, you definitely far more than I it appears. I believe this plant has to be the crown jewel of any palm collection. Being so that I like to grow stuff from seed, I embarked on this quest to germinate the proverbial king of the palms too. Back home in PR there were little mom & pop's places that sold coconuts fresh off the plant, they chilled them and cut them for you and put a straw. Here in Central Florida I haven't seen a single one. That's why I have been trying dehusked coconuts for a while, with mixed results. It's a hit and miss especially if they have to travel very far, like from Panama, the Dominican Republic, etc. The only place I've seen husked coconuts at all is at Bravo Supermarket, there are many in our area (Orlando). They don't have them all the time. I can check for you and let you know if they have them today.

Right now I have one, already in a clay pot, with a first pre-leaf. It's unfortunately battling constant fungus attacks as I didn't realize it had some mold when I picked it up, yet it was the one to germinate out of two. I know I have to go and pick up another one.

Daytona Beach may be in the limits of where you can grow coconuts but I think, barring one winter like this past one, you can enjoy it for many years. I suggest you get surrounded by many of them because one can die suddenly and you may have to start all over again, that's how we learn. Good luck, and you're not alone, we can help each other until we all become experts!

Hi!

Money is really a factor right now for me...plus all of the "duds" that I've gotten from Lowe's and Home Depot (they didn't have any in April when I was still in Florida in Daytona Beach or Ormond, or Port Orange either) have really made my mother angry (being kind in language here). A relative said that he used to find them in parks along rivers in SW Florida but he's not there right now, and I've never even been there!

Daytona is too cold-I've never seen any growing outside there. This winter took care of all of our Dragon Trees (Dracaena Marginata), a tropical houseplant that my dad had growing in pots-you wouldn't believe how many we got from one small piece that we brought down. They were huge, too. Looking around you could see that the Canary Island Date Palms (I'm pretty sure that's what they were) didn't make it, either.

I've seen them first in Melbourne Beach-I think this may be the furthest North that they would possibly get planted; However, Vero Beach had quite a few that were killed off a few years ago in the winter, and that's south of Melbourne.

One of my two coconuts had some sort of fungus, (it didn't have it when I got it) I believe-it was a strange coconut-it had tiny eyes but it was full of juice and it was huge, but it never browned. The other, the smaller one browned and the eyes are large-this one seems okay. I have been trying so hard to find ones with husks. There are Bravo markets here in New Jersey-I will see if there is one around here. I tried a huge Asian market-I was told to check Thai markets with no luck. It's great to have partners in coconuts.

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I really hope someone will be able to help me...I am truly cuckoo for coconuts at this point!

Okay...the story from the beginning...

In the Spring of 2008, I FINALLY saw coconut palms for sale at Home Depot in Daytona Beach. I got one. I think it was dead when I got it, honestly. I took it back and got another. This one looked good...until...

One day, I saw, literally, a "mess" of caterpillars (I'm not an entomologist, so I don't know genus/species)on top of the soil, and investigating found them in it as well. This was repotted with potting soil (from the bag), but there was so much soil attached to the root ball, and I didn't want to hurt it, so...

I guess this is where the caterpillars were. By the way, all of the coconut palms I'm going to talk about were inside. And the one with the caterpillars seemed fine at first-I never saw them until one day when watering it in my room...in Southern New Jersey. It made the trip fine, too.

Strike two.

So in the fall it went back-really really dead to Home Depot where it came from.

Now to coconut palm #3, a beautiful tree. This was gorgeous-it came from Lowe's in Ormond Beach. It went in my room in Florida with really high hopes of coming home here. This was last September it was purchased. We potted it the same way. Now I saw a caterpillar in the soil as soon as I brought it into my room. I didn't tell anyone. I secretly used to go through the soil and pick them out-I didn't use any organics like I did with the second one (the other caterpillar tree). I would do this on a daily basis. Oh, there were some ants too. And some other bugs, what they were I don't know, but they were a lot like gnats. But this thing looked incredible! Until March, that is...when all of the leaves one by one turned and the stalk cracked. We were told it had a weevil. It had the smell indicative of it.

By now my mother is really mad at me for this whole coconut fiasco, but agrees to let me try to get seedlings from somewhere-I found a place online in South Florida-they shipped me two-they looked "okay" and smelled fine, but they didn't make it-they cracked and then began to rot. Again, use the term "okay" loosely here.

HELP! I CAN'T FIND COCONUTS WITH HUSKS ANYWHERE AND I'VE TRIED...I've been to Spanish and Asian groceries, nothing. Central Florida doesn't have coconuts and my parents didn't want to take a trip, even though I begged-I've never even seen Key West!

If anyone knows where I can get coconuts with husks for less than e-Bay's highway robbery prices, please help!

My project now: at the flea market there are many Mexicans and therefore Mexican foods. I bought two really nice looking coconuts five weeks ago tomorrow (Sunday). They were white, not even brown they were so freshly husked. They came from Mexico-I saw the box-and they didn't really look like they had been treated at all-they bore very little resemblance to the ones that are usually found in the supermarket. These things were fresh. I've been going back and forth from soaking in hot water to rinsing with hot water and putting in a plastic bag, blowing air into it and closing up the bag, placing it with eyes up sitting on top of a cup. They are filled with milk just as they were when I got them. It really may be possible that they will both sprout-the one really seems like the large eye is bulging more-the other's large eye is starting to crumble like something is pushing on it, though it is not really bulging like the other. If these things sprout, I really need to know how to plant them, please! And I really would like to be able to get coconuts in husks to grow them, I know this is how it is supposed to be done. Thank you, anyone that can help me. I'm new-I have to post a picture yet even!

Thank You,

Dawnne

Welcome to Palmtalk! Why not try Cocoa Beach/Merrit Island the next time you're in Central Florida?

:) Jonathan

I went to school (post-college) in Cocoa!

I did ask around if anyone knew where one could get a growable coconut (as I called it then)-some people lived in Melbourne, Indialantic, Indian Harbour Beach-and thought I was crazy for asking. I was told that Palm Beach County had some garden centers that sold them from someone who was originally from Lake Worth-that was a bit far (I've never been there).

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I also bought 3 coconuts from a big local super market, they are heavy and apparently full of juice. I put them half way into pots in a shady place with outside temps between 25 and 34C, average humidity around 40%. Let's see if they germinate...

You are in the same exact boat as me! I've got to get another to replace the one I lost yesterday.

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I picked up three last night from Publix. They had them at the front of the store and looked very fresh. One of them already had a sprout! The cashier just smiled when I told her to be gentle with that one since a coconut palm is already growing. That one is already growing in my clay pot to replace the one that got killed by the fungus. The other two are taking a bath.

Frank

 

Zone 9b pine flatlands

humid/hot summers; dry/cool winters

with yearly freezes

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I picked up three last night from Publix. They had them at the front of the store and looked very fresh. One of them already had a sprout! The cashier just smiled when I told her to be gentle with that one since a coconut palm is already growing. That one is already growing in my clay pot to replace the one that got killed by the fungus. The other two are taking a bath.

Awesome! I honestly didn't go to check out all of the Publix Supermarkets when I was there, I was so concerned with getting one in the husk or a seedling. And I can think of three-one of which I can walk to from my house. Shoot!

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