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Xenon

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Where in Tejas?

In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

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This palm is growing in an abandoned lot (note the queen palm)... it somehow managed to survive two freezes...This part of Texas gets about 20-30 inches of rain annually.

post-4112-0-93360600-1383793979_thumb.jp

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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Nice pics, I've said it before, but I think deep south Texas is the unsung hero of palm growing. Some of those actually look decent, that last one looks a little beat up, I think you've posted pics of that one before and if anything it looks a little better than last time.

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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Amazing, every California Coconut thread gets a gazillion reply's no matter how many new posts get started and hardly anybody is interested in coconuts in Texas?

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Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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Amazing, every California Coconut thread gets a gazillion reply's no matter how many new posts get started and hardly anybody is interested in coconuts in Texas?

We rarely see any threads about Texas coconuts, maybe that's why, more please. If Cocus nucifera grows well enough there, makes you wonder what other interesting species must be growing there. I can't recall seeing many Cali Coconut threads for that matter, just the same old Newport one, which is more shrine than palm tree according to the posters :D

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Happy Gardening

Cheers,

Wal

Queensland, Australia.

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These palms have about 20 feet of trunk, but could use more irrigation

attachicon.gifNew Pictures 262.jpgattachicon.gifNew Pictures 264.jpg

Xenon, about what percent of the coconuts in South Texas do you think survived the 2010-2011 freezes? I know there were highs in the 30s and much of the area received a coating of ice.

Edited by displaced_floridian
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Is a zone 10a area, on the coast in the most southern TX counties, generally accepted on this forum?

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Andrei W. Konradi, Burlingame, California.  Vicarious appreciator of palms in other people's gardens and in habitat

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These palms have about 20 feet of trunk, but could use more irrigation

attachicon.gifNew Pictures 262.jpgattachicon.gifNew Pictures 264.jpg

Xenon, about what percent of the coconuts in South Texas do you think survived the 2010-2011 freezes? I know there were highs in the 30s and much of the area received a coating of ice.

I think most survived, even young Malayan types. Probably only a few dozen coconuts of any size in Texas though the nurseries down there are starting to sell them from what I heard. Most royal, foxtail, and bottle palms looked fine. Most devastating damage was to the tropical trees (Ficus, Delonix, Schefflera etc.). Most large F. benjamina and Scheffleras froze to the ground while most F. elastica and F. nitida had significant branch loss or froze to the main trunk. Delonix regia fared better, they looked okay in inner Brownsville and the coast.

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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Is a zone 10a area, on the coast in the most southern TX counties, generally accepted on this forum?

I calculated the average annual extreme minimum temperature from 1990-2012 to be 33.3F. The Arbor Day map, the new USDA map, and all of the old pre-1990 USDA maps put Deep South Texas in zone 10, only the 1990 map has zone 10 just to the south due to the freezes of the 80s. Brownsville has not been below 35F the last two winters and South Padre hasn't dipped below 40F! Lowest average monthly mean temperature in Brownsville for 2012 was 66.2F (January)! Zone 10 palms, especially royals, are everywhere yet coconuts are pretty much nonexistent...

Edited by Xenon
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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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Pretty impressive considering what kind of temps they saw a few years ago. It kind of looks like the barrier islands off of Central Florida with the flora growing there. Not entirely tropical like South Florida, but getting pretty close.

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Keith 

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

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  • 1 month later...

I'll be down there this week coming. I will certainly try to find them.

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In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

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Has everyone overlooked the fact that they are fruiting. That is most impressive!

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Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Has everyone overlooked the fact that they are fruiting. That is most impressive!

I did not overlook that, and with my palm ID skills, how else would I tell it was a Coconut?

In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

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Amazing, every California Coconut thread gets a gazillion reply's no matter how many new posts get started and hardly anybody is interested in coconuts in Texas?

Probably more posts than a Florida coconut thread! I didn't know coconuts could look that good in Texas!

Florida coconuts don't excite anybody ;)

November2013066_zps97561a82.jpg

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Adam 

 

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They excite my Mother-in-law from Iowa. When she visits she has me collect as many dried ones as I can find. Then I have to remove all the husks. They took home about 80 last trip. Plus a cooler full of frozen mango.

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Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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  • 7 years later...

I don't think the coconuts in Texas will taste as good as Florida, but it's still cool that they fruit.

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Nothing to say here. 

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On 11/7/2013 at 5:26 PM, Xerarch said:

Amazing, every California Coconut thread gets a gazillion reply's no matter how many new posts get started and hardly anybody is interested in coconuts in Texas?

So very true!!!

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If I lived down there I would be growing every variety of coconut palm I could get! Can’t it get into the 80’s in the winter fairly regularly? 

Edited by PalmTreeDude
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PalmTreeDude

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In the RGV we get in the 80s or above at least one day every month of winter. We reached 90 degrees one day January don't remember what day it was though. We are going to be in the 80s this coming Wednesday and Thursday.  There are years that we get 10b winters.  I remember this one year where we didn't get any cold fronts that lowered the temperatures that much.  It was Christmas and it was close to 90 degrees.  People here don't grow coconuts as much because they are afraid that if they plant them that that is the year that we are going to get the big freeze.  People are very superstitious down here me included.  I did just buy a coconut sprout off eBay crossing my fingers that I can get to grow big.

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38 minutes ago, Reyes Vargas said:

In the RGV we get in the 80s or above at least one day every month of winter. We reached 90 degrees one day January don't remember what day it was though. We are going to be in the 80s this coming Wednesday and Thursday.  There are years that we get 10b winters.  I remember this one year where we didn't get any cold fronts that lowered the temperatures that much.  It was Christmas and it was close to 90 degrees.

Can't remember what year exactly ( late 90's/ early 2K's ) but there was at least one year it was already  hitting 100 down there in early/mid? March. ( think parts of central / Nor. TX also hit upper 90s on a day or two around the same time.. recall hearing of record readings though. ) ..Remember that because the warmth got shoved north into western KS, and helped spur a pretty big Tornado outbreak out there, while it was stuck in the 50s/ low 30s in Topeka. Took almost a week for the "heat" to reach the eastern half of the state ( Kansas )

 

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34 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Can't remember what year exactly ( late 90's/ early 2K's ) but there was at least one year it was already  hitting 100 down there in early/mid? March. ( think parts of central / Nor. TX also hit upper 90s on a day or two around the same time.. recall hearing of record readings though. ) ..Remember that because the warmth got shoved north into western KS, and helped spur a pretty big Tornado outbreak out there, while it was stuck in the 50s/ low 30s in Topeka. Took almost a week for the "heat" to reach the eastern half of the state ( Kansas )

 

It's difficult to pin point what year your talking about.  My best guess is that your talking about 2005 where we hit close to 100 in the middle of March.  We have also hit close to 100 in other years.  2000 we hit close to 100 in the beginning of March I believe the 1st and also in 2001 but that was at the end of March.  Down here in the valley wJen we get to March we skip spring and go straight to summer.  

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2 minutes ago, Reyes Vargas said:

It's difficult to pin point what year your talking about.  My best guess is that your talking about 2005 where we hit close to 100 in the middle of March.  We have also hit close to 100 in other years.  2000 we hit close to 100 in the beginning of March I believe the 1st and also in 2001 but that was at the end of March.  Down here in the valley wJen we get to March we skip spring and go straight to summer.  

Yea, can't remember the exact year.. Definitely before 2001, and not in 2003 -04 when i'd moved back there for a short time. .

S. TX is roughly a month ahead of us as far as skipping " spring " a good %'age of years.. Always watch whats going on down there, and just south of us down in Sonora to get an idea of how quickly we might see our first 100s/ first stretch of mid spring mid 90s. Quicker each area heats up right about now/ early March, faster we heat up shortly afterwards.

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51 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Can't remember what year exactly ( late 90's/ early 2K's ) but there was at least one year it was already  hitting 100 down there in early/mid? March. ( think parts of central / Nor. TX also hit upper 90s on a day or two around the same time.. recall hearing of record readings though. ) ..Remember that because the warmth got shoved north into western KS, and helped spur a pretty big Tornado outbreak out there, while it was stuck in the 50s/ low 30s in Topeka. Took almost a week for the "heat" to reach the eastern half of the state ( Kansas )

 

McAllen hit 101 degrees on 2/23/2017 and 2/27/2009. 103 in Starr and Zapata counties during the same event in 2017. 

6 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

If I lived down there I would be growing every variety of coconut palm I could get! Can’t it get into the 80’s in the winter fairly regularly? 

Away from the immediate coast usually averages 5-10 days in January with a high of 80 or above. In an exceptionally warm year like 2017, Brownsville and McAllen both recorded 19 days with a high of 80 or above and a January mean temperature of 66.3F and 67.7F respectively. February of the same year, McAllen recorded an average high of 87.3F and a mean temperature of 75.3F (just crazy!!). 

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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2 hours ago, Reyes Vargas said:

People here don't grow coconuts as much because they are afraid that if they plant them that that is the year that we are going to get the big freeze.  People are very superstitious down here me included.  I did just buy a coconut sprout off eBay crossing my fingers that I can get to grow big.

I used to think this was true but royal palms, bottle palms, and many other tender palms sell like hotcakes. Royal palms especially have flooded residential and even commercial landscapes in the past 15 years. Not too much hesitation in planting royal poinciana (even along the freeway) and Ficus everywhere either. I think if coconuts were more available, people would plant them. Definitely not the "safest" landscaping choice but neither is some of the stuff that is already very common. 

From what I can tell, pretty much every coconut in the RGV was planted as a seed/seedling from the beach, local palms, smuggled from Mexico, mail order, and very sporadically offered by local nurseries. Royals, foxtails, solitaire, bottle palms, etc are available at every big box store though. 

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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On 1/31/2021 at 6:29 PM, EastCanadaTropicals said:

I don't think the coconuts in Texas will taste as good as Florida, but it's still cool that they fruit.

I think Texas coconuts would taste like smoked brisket :floor:

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Just now, JohnAndSancho said:

I think Texas coconuts would taste like smoked brisket :floor:

In that case, I'm eating them.

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Nothing to say here. 

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10 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

If I lived down there I would be growing every variety of coconut palm I could get! Can’t it get into the 80’s in the winter fairly regularly? 

I think there are several varieties that would do well there (some already do well there), and these include the ones already doing well there:  Mexican Talls, Maymex Hybrids, Green Malayan Dwarfs, Golden Malayan Dwarfs, and in the southeast part of Cameron Country ( Brownsville, Port Isabel, and South Padre) the Yellow Malayan Dwarf, and the Green Variety of Hawaiian Tall, but in addition, I think the Panama Tall, Maypan, and Jamaican Tall, and in Port Isabel and South Padre, the Fiji Dwarf.

John

P.S.  There is a LOT of desire for them in the Rio Grande Valley, but a distinct lack of regular availability of any variety there, which is REALLY dropping the ball on the part of local nurseries there!  If I lived there, I would have a small ALL ORGANIC Palm and Tropical Plant Nursery, and offer the above varieties of Coconut Palms for sale on a  regular basis.

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10 hours ago, PalmTreeDude said:

If I lived down there I would be growing every variety of coconut palm I could get! Can’t it get into the 80’s in the winter fairly regularly? 

And yes, even though the normal high in Brownsville in January is 71F, daytime highs in the 80'sF off and on throughout the winter are not uncommon.  Even up here in Corpus Christi, 3 hours north of Brownsville, we occasionally have highs in the 80'sF off and on throughout the winter, like yesterday at my place it got up to 85F, but my normal high now is 67F.

John

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5 hours ago, Reyes Vargas said:

In the RGV we get in the 80s or above at least one day every month of winter. We reached 90 degrees one day January don't remember what day it was though. We are going to be in the 80s this coming Wednesday and Thursday.  There are years that we get 10b winters.  I remember this one year where we didn't get any cold fronts that lowered the temperatures that much.  It was Christmas and it was close to 90 degrees.  People here don't grow coconuts as much because they are afraid that if they plant them that that is the year that we are going to get the big freeze.  People are very superstitious down here me included.  I did just buy a coconut sprout off eBay crossing my fingers that I can get to grow big.

Reyes,

They were justified in thinking that way back in the 1980's with the SEVERE Coconut Palm killing freezes then, but since 1990, the winters there have become significantly milder and much more supportive of successful Coconut Palm growth, including getting them to produce ripe viable nuts on a regular basis now!  There should be THOUSANDS of them planted throughout the Lower Valley from McAllen to the coast!!!

John

P.S.  The local nurseries there are REALLY dropping the ball on not supplying them on a regular basis, as I personally know there is a LOT of desire for them there, so whenever you visit any nurseries there, be sure to mention this fact to them!!!

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10 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

And yes, even though the normal high in Brownsville in January is 71F, daytime highs in the 80'sF off and on throughout the winter are not uncommon.  Even up here in Corpus Christi, 3 hours north of Brownsville, we occasionally have highs in the 80'sF off and on throughout the winter, like yesterday at my place it got up to 85F, but my normal high now is 67F.

John

Those winter highs are definitely a big help for coconut palms. 

Edited by PalmTreeDude
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PalmTreeDude

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  • 1 month later...
2 hours ago, Arturo Boston said:

Any updates to these palms post freeze?

I'm not too optimistic but it's still way too early to tell. Won't know if any coconuts in Texas are alive at all at least until June or July. Royals and foxtails are showing signs of life...so maybe a coconut miracle is not impossible haha

 

Edited by Xenon
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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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On 3/11/2021 at 1:22 PM, richtrav said:

All the coconuts I’ve seen look pretty bad, can’t tell if they’re going to make it or not. 

Cocos.jpg

Cocos close.jpg

 

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Jonathan

Katy, TX (Zone 9a)

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I hate to use a phrase like "pretty good" when referring to the above photo of a badly roasted coconut, but I was expecting worse.  There is still green on that midrib and the crown isn't collapsed.  I won't say I'm optimistic, but based on those photos I'm still holding a small amount of hope.

Corpus Christi, TX, near salt water, zone 9b/10a! Except when it isn't and everything gets nuked.

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