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Coconuts


empireo22

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55 minutes ago, IHB1979 said:

Visited Fairchild for the first time over the weekend with my family. Loved the coconut section, especially the Fiji Dwarf. Here are some photos.

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IMG_0566_zpslsjfdldj.jpg

 

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IMG_0596_zpsufuehc67.jpg

Very nice. Fairchild was on "must visit" list before the move but ran out of time..  If only we could slow down time, lol:rolleyes:

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21 hours ago, mistifarang said:

1. an opened and shelled coconut used to plant miniature plants

2. a shelled and later closed coconut used as a birds-nest

3. coconut mulch (for certain plants)

4 an broom made out of the leaves

all used in Thailand

Very interesting.  Thanks.

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17 hours ago, mistifarang said:

Pampanga - Olaguapa, the Philippines

 

beach resort verbeterd.jpg

Wow!  It looks too perfect to be real.  Paradise!

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15 hours ago, Zeeth said:

I've never tried any F1 Maypans, so I'm not sure how the real ones are, but the offspring of Maypans are highly variable in all of their traits, including cold hardiness. I had another one sprouting at the same time as my orange one when my yard saw 32˚ and a light frost. The other Maypan offspring had heavy spotting, but the orange one had no damage. 

Selby gardens is in north Sarasota right by the water. I emailed the plant curator once about the coconuts, and they told me that they're a "Lethal yellowing resistant variety", but they're not sure which one (probably Maypan), and they were planted sometime between 1986-1988. 

Coconuts sometimes wash up onto the shore, but very rarely. The ones that do usually aren't viable. This one was washed up on the same location, but it wasn't viable.

IMG_4965.thumb.JPG.64fea2e791354faed21d0

Out of the 1,000+ we get washed up on Texas beaches each year, only a few seem to be viable.  In a good year, my Palm Society buddy and I may get about 25% to sprout, but in a bad year, only about 10% to sprout.

Edited by Mr. Coconut Palm
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15 hours ago, Zeeth said:

Nice! I went to Selby yesterday as one of my stops while exploring the area while I'm on spring break. I got some good pics of the duo as well. They look pretty good compared to other coconuts in the bi-county area. 

 

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Nice.  I would be happy if any of mine get even 1/3 that size.

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14 hours ago, IHB1979 said:

Visited Fairchild for the first time over the weekend with my family. Loved the coconut section, especially the Fiji Dwarf. Here are some photos.

IMG_0550_zpsizktgqdt.jpg

IMG_0566_zpslsjfdldj.jpg

 

IMG_0564_zpsk4zslleu.jpg

IMG_0567_zps4dehepxd.jpg

IMG_0572_zpsewgujvjp.jpg

IMG_0575_zps2jvask0d.jpg

IMG_0596_zpsufuehc67.jpg

Bob, I love Fairchild.  I have only been there once about 15 years ago.  Did you take one of those sprouted nuts with you?

Edited by Mr. Coconut Palm
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13 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Very nice. Fairchild was on "must visit" list before the move but ran out of time..  If only we could slow down time, lol:rolleyes:

Nathan, it is definitely worth it.  If you ever get back to Florida, be sure to go there.  You could easily spend days exploring there!  Speaking of Fairchild, I wish someone with some clout and influence would start a similar tropical botanical garden in Brownsville, which is a borderline 10B Climate, and the rich delta soil there would be the perfect place to have something like Fairchild.

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On ‎3‎/‎2‎/‎2016‎ ‎5‎:‎15‎:‎40‎, mistifarang said:

Coconut trees in 1961 in previous Netherlands New Guinea, now West Papua

 

biak0018.JPG

Nice Coconut Palms.  I bet it was a really beautiful peaceful place back then.

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Yes, Mr. Coconut Palm, it was. Since "we" have left there is was getting worse and worse, now more then 50 years! :(

A view left from the KLM-hotel in Biak to the isle of Japen

 

japen fast.jpg

Edited by mistifarang
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Here are some nice ones I saw while I was in the keys this weekend.

 

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Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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6 hours ago, Zeeth said:

Here are some nice ones I saw while I was in the keys this weekend.

 

IMG_5411.JPG

IMG_5325.JPG

IMG_5258.JPG

i noticed most coconut palm photos from Florida show trunks bottom are large corn shape but this trunking appear in few coconut trees 

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5 hours ago, User00 said:

i noticed most coconut palm photos from Florida show trunks bottom are large corn shape but this trunking appear in few coconut trees 

I'm not quite sure what you mean by corn shaped, could you explain?

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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This is a picture I took at Bahia Honda this past summer, and you can see with Keith's picture of the same spot, how even in the Keys winter makes things look a bit different. See the Sea Grape below one of the coconuts and how bronze it is. Even the coconuts look a bit ragged from the summer picture.

 

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IMG_5407_JPG_0b647a39cef3efcd2cb5e1ef6f6360ba.jpg

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Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

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On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2016‎ ‎11‎:‎16‎:‎15‎, mistifarang said:

Yes, Mr. Coconut Palm, it was. Since "we" have left there is was getting worse and worse, now more then 50 years! :(

A view left from the KLM-hotel in Biak to the isle of Japen

 

japen fast.jpg

Nice.  I should have been born many years ago before this fast paced overdeveloped rat race that is ruining this beautiful planet.

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21 hours ago, Zeeth said:

IMG_5253.jpg

IMG_5368.thumb.JPG.2ac749bcddb2a8b66c0da

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Bonus pic of a Key deer.

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Keith, is that palm in the first photo in this post the one you mentioned that has more leaves on it than any other you have seen?  I wish I would have seen some Key Deer when I lived down there, but never did see one.  If I ever get back down there, I need to snorkel the Gulf beach in the second photo.  I have always just snorkeled on the Atlantic side of the island for some reason.

John

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10 hours ago, Palmaceae said:

This is a picture I took at Bahia Honda this past summer, and you can see with Keith's picture of the same spot, how even in the Keys winter makes things look a bit different. See the Sea Grape below one of the coconuts and how bronze it is. Even the coconuts look a bit ragged from the summer picture.

 

20150818_130251.jpg

IMG_5407_JPG_0b647a39cef3efcd2cb5e1ef6f6360ba.jpg

Randy, my wife and I walked right along there in Dec. 2010 looking for viable coconuts, but unfortunately we didn't find any.  That was a chilly Dec.  As I recall, the high that day was only in the 60'sF and a day or two before we were there, the high only got into the 50's in the Keys in Dec.!  CHILLY!  I still went snorkeling that afternoon at the beach on the Atlantic side though with my wetsuit on and still froze my but off with the winds blowing. Bahia Honda is probably my favorite island in the Keys.

John

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1 minute ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Randy, my wife and I walked right along there in Dec. 2010 looking for viable coconuts, but unfortunately we didn't find any.  That was a chilly Dec.  As I recall, the high that day was only in the 60'sF and a day or two before we were there, the high only got into the 50's in the Keys in Dec.!  CHILLY!  I still went snorkeling that afternoon at the beach on the Atlantic side though with my wetsuit on and still froze my but off with the winds blowing. Bahia Honda is probably my favorite island in the Keys.

John

Yes John, a beautiful area there. We went snorkeling off of Marathon, hope to go back this summer.

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

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1 minute ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Keith, is that palm in the first photo in this post the one you mentioned that has more leaves on it than any other you have seen?  I wish I would have seen some Key Deer when I lived down there, but never did see one.  If I ever get back down there, I need to snorkel the Gulf beach in the second photo.  I have always just snorkeled on the Atlantic side of the island for some reason.

John

Yeah that's the one! It's funny because when I was stopping by Palmtalk member mnorell's yard, he mentioned that palm as one of the nicest coconuts in the area without me ever bringing it up, so it's definitely a stunner. 

The key deer seem to be everywhere on Big Pine Key. It was super cool to see them.

If you go out there again, see if you can get on the charter to snorkel Looe Key. I've been snorkeling and scuba diving there and it's really nice. The sea-life seems to actually be getting healthier as well. I didn't see a single lion fish on the reef, and the Elkhorn and staghorn coral seems to be repopulating. 

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Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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10 hours ago, Palmaceae said:

This is a picture I took at Bahia Honda this past summer, and you can see with Keith's picture of the same spot, how even in the Keys winter makes things look a bit different. See the Sea Grape below one of the coconuts and how bronze it is. Even the coconuts look a bit ragged from the summer picture.

 

20150818_130251.jpg

IMG_5407_JPG_0b647a39cef3efcd2cb5e1ef6f6360ba.jpg

It was a little overcast and windy the day we went to Bahia Honda, so the coconuts were a little windswept, but I definitely noticed the seagrapes having all red leaves. Your picture is super nice though, it's very Caribbean. 

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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2 hours ago, Palmaceae said:

Yes John, a beautiful area there. We went snorkeling off of Marathon, hope to go back this summer.

I haven't snorkeled off of Marathon, but I have snorkeled off of Islamorada when we were down there in 2010, and I was VERY disappointed.  I only saw one little patch of live star coral on the southwest side of a little island about 300 to 400 yards out from our hotel.  Also, the turtle grass looked horrible with an encrusting brown algae all over it.  The visibility wasn't nearly as good as what I remember the Keys having back in the '80's  either, even factoring in the lower winter time visibility.  I hope you found some good snorkeling at Marathon.  There used to be a nice healthy coral and algae covered limestone ledge rising up about 30" off the bottom in about 4 ft. of water about 100 yards off of Smather's Beach in Key West back in the '80's and lots of healthy turtle grass and healthy gorgonians and large sponges with lobsters hiding in them back then, but when I lived in South Florida in 2000 and 2001, I didn't see any of this anymore, and the visibility was only about half of what it used to be.

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3 hours ago, Zeeth said:

Yeah that's the one! It's funny because when I was stopping by Palmtalk member mnorell's yard, he mentioned that palm as one of the nicest coconuts in the area without me ever bringing it up, so it's definitely a stunner. 

The key deer seem to be everywhere on Big Pine Key. It was super cool to see them.

If you go out there again, see if you can get on the charter to snorkel Looe Key. I've been snorkeling and scuba diving there and it's really nice. The sea-life seems to actually be getting healthier as well. I didn't see a single lion fish on the reef, and the Elkhorn and staghorn coral seems to be repopulating. 

I've never had a chance to explore Big Pine Key, just passed through there on the way to Key West a few times.  I would like to explore it though one day.  Looe Key was always a place I wanted to see.  I got my PADI Open Water certification on summer vacation in Key West with my parents back in Aug. of 1985.  Back then the Keys were nice, like going back in time to the 1950's and the reefs were still alive and healthy, including the patch reefs and turtle grass beds just offshore, but when I lived in South Florida in 2000 and 2001 and when visiting the Keys in Dec. of 2010, I was EXTREMELY disappointed and felt like the Keys have been RUINED compared to what they used to be.  No more patch reefs, just dead coral rubble right off the shoreline, the turtle grass beds covered in some kind of brown encrusting algae that looked like it was killing the grass and no more nice beautiful sponges right off the shoreline with lobsters hiding in the holes of them.  Also, when my wife and I took the dive boat out to snorkel the reefs off of Islamorada in Dec. 2010, even the offshore reef they took us to looked HORRIBLE with very little healthy live coral compared to what the Keys used to have.  I am afraid the Keys are like the rest of South Florida, TOTALLY overdeveloped with way too much pollution and silt runoff that is killing everything .  It's a real shame. 75% to 80% of the Keys should have been declared a National Park or National Marine Sanctuary many years ago, in which NO DEVELOPMENT should have been allowed!

Edited by Mr. Coconut Palm
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2 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Randy, my wife and I walked right along there in Dec. 2010 looking for viable coconuts, but unfortunately we didn't find any.  That was a chilly Dec.  As I recall, the high that day was only in the 60'sF and a day or two before we were there, the high only got into the 50's in the Keys in Dec.!  CHILLY!  I still went snorkeling that afternoon at the beach on the Atlantic side though with my wetsuit on and still froze my but off with the winds blowing. Bahia Honda is probably my favorite island in the Keys.

John

John,

You bet it can get chilly in the lower keys, especially once you get spoiled to warmer temperatures. I spent four years in the U.S. Navy. My last duty station before I was discharged was in Key West, Florida. Prior to that my ship was home ported in Charleston, South Carolina, when we got the news that we would be changing home ports to Key West, Florida. I was elated and could hardly wait to steam down there. We left Charleston and arrived in Key West sometime in June of 1970. Naturally, at that time of the year it was hot and humid. However, when mid winter came we started getting a day here and there where it was overcast, windy, and quite chilly. Of course, they were few and far between.

The coldest day during my time there was in January of 1971. Me and two shipmates were tent camping in Bahia Honda state park, right on the beach. We had a camp fire going and plenty of alcoholic beverages. As we sat around the camp fire I looked up at the swaying coconut palms and could hardly believe it felt so cold. According to the local radio station weather, it dropped down to 47 degrees by the following morning. That's six degrees higher than the all-time low temperature, but still, it was cold enough.

I remember another nasty, cool day when my ship made a short run over to the Dry Tortugas to Ft. Jefferson.

I used to go snorkeling at the navy base (now defunct), and also on Sugarloaf Shores, where I knew some people that had a home there on a canal. I must have limited that to the summer months as I don't recall the water feeling cold. The last time I was in Key West was in June of 1985, when my wife drove down there for a couple of days.

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Mad about palms

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5 minutes ago, Walt said:

John,

You bet it can get chilly in the lower keys, especially once you get spoiled to warmer temperatures. I spent four years in the U.S. Navy. My last duty station before I was discharged was in Key West, Florida. Prior to that my ship was home ported in Charleston, South Carolina, when we got the news that we would be changing home ports to Key West, Florida. I was elated and could hardly wait to steam down there. We left Charleston and arrived in Key West sometime in June of 1970. Naturally, at that time of the year it was hot and humid. However, when mid winter came we started getting a day here and there where it was overcast, windy, and quite chilly. Of course, they were few and far between.

The coldest day during my time there was in January of 1971. Me and two shipmates were tent camping in Bahia Honda state park, right on the beach. We had a camp fire going and plenty of alcoholic beverages. As we sat around the camp fire I looked up at the swaying coconut palms and could hardly believe it felt so cold. According to the local radio station weather, it dropped down to 47 degrees by the following morning. That's six degrees higher than the all-time low temperature, but still, it was cold enough.

I remember another nasty, cool day when my ship made a short run over to the Dry Tortugas to Ft. Jefferson.

I used to go snorkeling at the navy base (now defunct), and also on Sugarloaf Shores, where I knew some people that had a home there on a canal. I must have limited that to the summer months as I don't recall the water feeling cold. The last time I was in Key West was in June of 1985, when my wife drove down there for a couple of days.

Walt,

I really miss the Keys back in the '80's, which was the first time I saw them in person, first in '83 and again in '85 during summer vacation with my parents.  Back then the Keys were still nice and laid back and the coral reefs were still pretty healthy.  It was like going back in time to the 1950's or so I could imagine, since I was only in my teens in the '80's.

Anyway, the winds coming off the water in the winter time, sure can have a distinct wind chill effect, even though the actual temps are several degrees or more higher than other areas inland.  We have that same effect here on Padre Island and along the bay front in the winter.  The actual temp in the early morning may be about 50 to the mid 50's near the water on a January morning while the airport may be down in the low to mid 40'sF but that 50+F sure can feel like it's in the 30'sF with the wind blowing off the water and no wind break!  Galveston is another place like that.  On a cold winter morning, Galveston may only get down to 38F and on the same morning at the Houston airport on the north side of town, it might be 28F, but that wind coming off the water can make it feel colder than the areas further inland that actually have a colder real temperature.

John

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On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2016‎ ‎10‎:‎09‎:‎15‎, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Walt,

I really miss the Keys back in the '80's, which was the first time I saw them in person, first in '83 and again in '85 during summer vacation with my parents.  Back then the Keys were still nice and laid back and the coral reefs were still pretty healthy.  It was like going back in time to the 1950's or so I could imagine, since I was only in my teens in the '80's.

Anyway, the winds coming off the water in the winter time, sure can have a distinct wind chill effect, even though the actual temps are several degrees or more higher than other areas inland.  We have that same effect here on Padre Island and along the bay front in the winter.  The actual temp in the early morning may be about 50 to the mid 50's near the water on a January morning while the airport may be down in the low to mid 40'sF but that 50+F sure can feel like it's in the 30'sF with the wind blowing off the water and no wind break!  Galveston is another place like that.  On a cold winter morning, Galveston may only get down to 38F and on the same morning at the Houston airport on the north side of town, it might be 28F, but that wind coming off the water can make it feel colder than the areas further inland that actually have a colder real temperature.

John

John, It happened again. I didn't get a notification of your reply. This morning I went on Palmtalk to answer a PM and got a message that your replied to a posting of mine, but didn't get the standard email notification.

As we've discussed before, I've always loved palms and most plants and trees of the tropics. Of course, palms are my favorite. My first duty station in 1967 was at Norfolk, Va. I had a good buddy (Don) I met who was from San Diego. He was somewhat of a bragger and he always talked about how cool (nice, great, etc) southern Cal. was, and all the palms. At that time I had little knowledge of palms, like most folks my age at the time.  Oft times we would go to Virginia Beach and also down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I can flat out state there were no palms (like Sabal palmettos or Butia) in Virginia Beach back then. I looked wherever I could and never saw nary a one. Same for the Outer Banks, but I probably missed some Sabal minor there. But I saw no Sabal palmetto from Kitty Hawk all the way to Ocracoke (not saying there may have been some where I didn't travel (and I had been going down there since 1963).

Anyway, when I got orders to Charleston, S.C., the first thing I saw were lots of Sabal palmetto and Butia. The butia impressed me as that was the first time I ever saw any and they had a more tropical look about them. In my spare time I would drive around south Charleston down by the waterfront homes and look for palm other than S. palmetto and butia. That's when I saw my first Cycas revoluta. I really thought they looked so neat, so uniform, and so dark green. But I had no idea what they were at the time. FInally, I saw what I now know is trachycarpus. I only saw one, but it was a good size with lots of skirt. I also saw my first Canary Island date and Washingtonia robusta. But at that time there were no where near those species as they are there now.

On February 1, 1969 my ship left Charleston to steam down to Puerto Rico for exercises (Operation Springboard) with other ships. When I got there I felt like a kid in a canday store, just taking everything tropical in.

But getting back to Key West, I used to drive around and look at all the palms and tropical stuff and all the interesting architecture of the historic homes, etc. Some of my buddies were snorkeling and found quite a few silver coins (I think Spanish pieces of eight). Of course, they wouldn't divulge the location (naturally) where they were finding them.

When my wife and I drove down to Key West in June of 1985, I was surprised to find that the navy base had closed down in 1973 (two years after I left and went back to civilian life). The old defunct base was open to the general public to walk around. It was like a ghost town, all the buildings in a state of disrepair and boarded up. It was sad for me to see this as I had a good time there. I know most of the base was sold to developers and it's built up now with condos and homes for the most part. The old administration building is now a condo (it still has the granite inscribed Key West Naval Station over the front entry doors, though). This building and area appears in the 1959 movie Operation Petticoat starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. The movie with the pink submarine in it. I knew a guy who was there during the making of the movie, who was in a distant shot. The movie was set to be in the South Pacific during WWII.

And BTW, when the base maintenance workers would use cherry picker bucket trucks to trim the coconut palms, sometimes they would give us fresh coconuts. I have lots of good memories of those bygone days.

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Mad about palms

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Too many coconuts here in Recife's urban beach of Boa Viagem. They're all overpruned and show no fruit at any stage...And they're still planting more...The old real tallies from the old days are mostly gone today...

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Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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6 hours ago, Walt said:

John, It happened again. I didn't get a notification of your reply. This morning I went on Palmtalk to answer a PM and got a message that your replied to a posting of mine, but didn't get the standard email notification.

As we've discussed before, I've always loved palms and most plants and trees of the tropics. Of course, palms are my favorite. My first duty station in 1967 was at Norfolk, Va. I had a good buddy (Don) I met who was from San Diego. He was somewhat of a bragger and he always talked about how cool (nice, great, etc) southern Cal. was, and all the palms. At that time I had little knowledge of palms, like most folks my age at the time.  Oft times we would go to Virginia Beach and also down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I can flat out state there were no palms (like Sabal palmettos or Butia) in Virginia Beach back then. I looked wherever I could and never saw nary a one. Same for the Outer Banks, but I probably missed some Sabal minor there. But I saw no Sabal palmetto from Kitty Hawk all the way to Ocracoke (not saying there may have been some where I didn't travel (and I had been going down there since 1963).

Anyway, when I got orders to Charleston, S.C., the first thing I saw were lots of Sabal palmetto and Butia. The butia impressed me as that was the first time I ever saw any and they had a more tropical look about them. In my spare time I would drive around south Charleston down by the waterfront homes and look for palm other than S. palmetto and butia. That's when I saw my first Cycas revoluta. I really thought they looked so neat, so uniform, and so dark green. But I had no idea what they were at the time. FInally, I saw what I now know is trachycarpus. I only saw one, but it was a good size with lots of skirt. I also saw my first Canary Island date and Washingtonia robusta. But at that time there were no where near those species as they are there now.

On February 1, 1969 my ship left Charleston to steam down to Puerto Rico for exercises (Operation Springboard) with other ships. When I got there I felt like a kid in a canday store, just taking everything tropical in.

But getting back to Key West, I used to drive around and look at all the palms and tropical stuff and all the interesting architecture of the historic homes, etc. Some of my buddies were snorkeling and found quite a few silver coins (I think Spanish pieces of eight). Of course, they wouldn't divulge the location (naturally) where they were finding them.

When my wife and I drove down to Key West in June of 1985, I was surprised to find that the navy base had closed down in 1973 (two years after I left and went back to civilian life). The old defunct base was open to the general public to walk around. It was like a ghost town, all the buildings in a state of disrepair and boarded up. It was sad for me to see this as I had a good time there. I know most of the base was sold to developers and it's built up now with condos and homes for the most part. The old administration building is now a condo (it still has the granite inscribed Key West Naval Station over the front entry doors, though). This building and area appears in the 1959 movie Operation Petticoat starring Cary Grant and Tony Curtis. The movie with the pink submarine in it. I knew a guy who was there during the making of the movie, who was in a distant shot. The movie was set to be in the South Pacific during WWII.

And BTW, when the base maintenance workers would use cherry picker bucket trucks to trim the coconut palms, sometimes they would give us fresh coconuts. I have lots of good memories of those bygone days.

Walt,

I bet it was really nice back then.  As I recall, in the '80's, there was an active Navy base there with I think a sub base.  The Truman Annex too, as I recall, was part of the active base then.  Also, there was an airstrip at Stock Island that Harriers flew out of.  So, I guess they reactivated the base or part of it after closing it down in the 70's.

I fell in love with the Keys in particular and with the Tropics in general during our first trip there in the summer of '83 and didn't want to come back to Texas.  In the summer of '85, when we made our second trip down there, I REALLY didn't want to come back to Texas.  It was so depressing coming back here.  In the '80's, there were no Coconut Palms growing in South Texas, except for a Hawaiian Tall I sprouted from a  BIG nut sent to me from Kauai in 1986 that I sprouted in a 5gal. pot and gave to a nursery owner in Brownsville in Mar. of 1987.  He planted it in his yard, and he told me it grew well for 2 years till the '89 freeze hit, which killed it.  I was told that before the '83 freeze, there were quite a few of them in the RGV (by Texas standards, anyway), but the back to back coconut killing freezes of '83 and '89 wiped all of them out, and people lost interest in growing them till about the mid to late '90's, then they started growing them again.  The '89 freeze was the last across the board coconut killing freeze in the RGV, though the 2011 freeze killed probably about 1/3 to 1/2 of them there and all but 1 here in Corpus Christi (most likely young ones and ones that were weaker due to lack of watering in the hot dry summers).  Anyway, I absolutely LOVE the Coconut Palms, as they are the quintessential symbol of the Tropics.  There is nothing like the fascinating rattling of their leaves in the sea breeze!  It is nice that they can again be grown to maturity in the RGV with nuts on them and here in Corpus Christi too between bad winters.

By the way, did you see in my thread on Coconut Palms in the Rio Grande Valley, that Oliver has a mature one at his office in Brownsville that he planted 10 years ago?  He told me that he has gotten 3 viable nuts from it in 2 years, so now we know that they CAN produce viable nuts there.  It remains to be seen though, if any of ours here in Corpus Christi can eventually produce viable nuts too.  Even though they can occasionally grow to maturity and even fruit here between bad winters, I don't know if the nuts can ever reach enough maturity to produce viable embryos here like they can in the RGV.

John

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6 hours ago, Gileno Machado said:

Too many coconuts here in Recife's urban beach of Boa Viagem. They're all overpruned and show no fruit at any stage...And they're still planting more...The old real tallies from the old days are mostly gone today...

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Gileno,

I love the Coconut Palms there and the pretty pinkish colored sand!  Was Lethal Yellowing ever a problem there like it was in the Caribbean, South Florida and the Yucatan back in the '70's and '80's?  Do you have any idea which varieties of Coconut Palms are grown there?

John

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Hi John,

we haven't really had any widespread coconut disease in Northeast Brazil so far. Cocos nucifera of many varieties and cultivars are seen all around here for centuriões and the local agriculture universities are still hybridizing them in search of the most precocious and productive types. In Recife, these palms are seen everywhere and coconut water (and other coco products) are commonly found and offered for sale, especially at the beaches.

Since the Science finally realized what has been obvious for decades: Cocos nucifera is native to Northeast Brazil, where all the other similar cocosoid cousin palms are from, I believe that the species in habitat is more resistant to diseases found in other places where the Palm has been introduced in the past.

my love for palms begun some 25 years ago when I started collecting and planting coconuts (of some 17 different varieties) in my beach house in Sirinhaém. 

Sirinhaém beach, 80 Km south of Recife - Brazil

Tropical oceanic climate, latitude 8° S

Temperature extremes: 25 to 31°C

2000 mm average rainfall, dry summers

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  • 2 months later...

Nice photo capturing a tall coconut, Royal poinciana and a small Plumeria by my house.

9A29F65A-7FC8-4933-985F-825685D0FB0F_zps

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  • 2 months later...

Coconuts in Indialantic (Melbourne, Florida barrier island)

56C2DACE-F8BA-4218-A468-6D7840B4DD09_zps

 

Found this in my photos, lots of coconuts in Islamorada.

IMG_0744_zpsoh5f6tsl.jpg

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2 hours ago, IHB1979 said:

Found this in my photos, lots of coconuts in Islamorada.

IMG_0744_zpsoh5f6tsl.jpg

How's your sprout from this group doing? 

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Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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  • 2 months later...
On 8/31/2015, 10:19:54, IHB1979 said:

This coconut is in an empty lot next to my doctors office in Satellite Beach. I get a kick out of it because it has always looked very well with zero care.

 

82D6D475-05C6-4943-BA0A-FA831AE1B802_zps

That is in my neighborhood and I used to have the same doctor until I moved to Orlando for a job three years ago, now I am only home on the weekends. There is another very similar tree just out of the picture, next to the road. I was lucky enough to get three nuts off of that particular tree shown and sprouted them all, but I planted them in too much shade and now there is only one left. I checked that tree again about three weeks ago and was saddened to see it died this summer ...I'm guessing due to this extremely dry summer with almost no rain in July.

After the hurricane this week I went looking for fallen nuts around all of my favorite talls in the neighborhood that survived the 09-10 and 10-11 winters, I got three more off of the neighboring tree not shown, so there is still hope I can keep the line alive...

Indeed that used to be a nursery I used to frequent, I've been in that area since 1993 ...

 

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12 minutes ago, guygee said:

That is in my neighborhood and I used to have the same doctor until I moved to Orlando for a job three years ago, now I am only home on the weekends. There is another very similar tree just out of the picture, next to the road. I was lucky enough to get three nuts off of that particular tree shown and sprouted them all, but I planted them in too much shade and now there is only one left. I checked that tree again about three weeks ago and was saddened to see it died this summer ...I'm guessing due to this extremely dry summer with almost no rain in July.

After the hurricane this week I went looking for fallen nuts around all of my favorite talls in the neighborhood that survived the 09-10 and 10-11 winters, I got three more off of the neighboring tree not shown, so there is still hope I can keep the line alive...

Indeed that used to be a nursery I used to frequent, I've been in that area since 1993 ...

 

That's awesome you have a sprouted coconut from that tree! I noticed it had died too. Could have been the drought or a lightning strike. It had a full crown one day and a week later all the fronds were hanging down and recently the fronds all fell to the ground. 

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Thank you for telling me how it ended, I was incredibly sad to see that tree had died, I visited it often. If you look up on Pine Street that intersects with South Patrick at the the doctors office you will see it had a twin. I am hoping those two cross-pollinated before the one in the picture died, and I will be able to sprout the 3 nuts that fell from it after the hurricane, although October isn't really a good time to start. I have them potted in rough sand on my back porch facing south. I will keep you updated.

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