Cocos nucifera

[ruskinPalms 543]

32.2F for ultimate low with temps below 33F for 2 hours. No wind, sheet thrown over palms, dewpoint about 30F, no overhead canopy. Frost on rooftops, cartops and grass in lower lying and exposed areas, no frost on palms observed. Minimal damage so far. Some yellowing spotting from extended 3 to 4 week cool period with lows in 40s and one other event to 36F air temp similar to this one prior to this event.

[ruskinPalms 543]

This is worth posting too as this little baby Cocos probably saw less than 32F (maye even upper 20'sF) that near to the ground. Fried banana indicates temps less than  32F.

[spockvr6 22]

I have a pair of Golden Malayans in a 20 gallon pot that have been outside all winter with no protection other than sitting under a pair of Royals and they have been undamaged so far with temps down to 34F.

A pair of tiny green Malayans (literally sprouted nuts with strap leaveswhich have been outside in pots this winter and which I planted 2 weeks ago) came through this morning's cold with only very minor browning on some small areas.  Since I measured 29F at ground level at 6AM this morning, I am sure these palms saw less than freezing.  

My largest Coconut (geren Malayan with about 4 ft of trunk) has made it through winter without any issues at all so far.

But, there also has not been frost (as the air last night was too dry).

[Tyrone 2,106]

(ruskinPalms @ Feb. 17 2007,22:57)

QUOTE

This is worth posting too as this little baby Cocos probably saw less than 32F (maye even upper 20'sF) that near to the ground. Fried banana indicates temps less than  32F.

That bottle palm is looking alright for those sort of temps. Those Cocos's you have will just breeze thru the cold IMO.

Best regards

Tyrone

[spockvr6 22]

(spockvr6 @ Feb. 17 2007,23:32)

QUOTE

A pair of tiny green Malayans (literally sprouted nuts with strap leaveswhich have been outside in pots this winter and which I planted 2 weeks ago) came through this morning's cold with only very minor browning on some small areas.  Since I measured 29F at ground level at 6AM this morning, I am sure these palms saw less than freezing.  

As an update------

It took about a month after the cold, but both of these sprouted nuts croaked.

[ruskinPalms 543]

I guess I should update this. One of my Cocos has since picked up a funky crown rot. I think it came more from a spider building a water trapping web over the emerging spear combined with the prolonged cool rather than this this one cold event. The palm pushed one deformed spear that opened into little frond. Much to my dismay, it seems to be pushing another rotten spear. I guess I need to treat it again with antifungal. However, its sister palm looks great (ok, not great, but good for this area) and is set to have a fantastic growing season. I guess that is why you should plant more than one of anything experimental  ::

Rotton one:

[ruskinPalms 543]

Decent one: Has already opened one good frond this growing season and is pushing another one fast.

[Tropicalken 1]

I saw the coconut palm in Newport Beach, California this past weekend and there was no damage that I could see. It looked much better than the last time I saw it two years ago. I would have thought that there would have been extensive damage since our winter temperatures had not been this low since the early 90s.

[ruskinPalms 543]

Went below 32F at 330am, went back above 32F by 830am. 5 total hours of freezing temperatures. Ultimate low of 29.7F with 7.6 "freezing degree hours" calculated as discussed in the weather forum. Moderate winds varying from NNW to NNE all night, dewpoints in low teens, no frost. No overhead canopy in my yard. No protection provided. Photos from 4 days after the freeze event.

Yellow Malayan Dwarf

Southern, western and northwestern exposure. Other growth to the north and northeast:

Neighbor's Malayan dwarf:

[falcon1988 4]

has minor damage due to the frost at temps 37.2 with frost covered it up with frost blanket where the blacket was shows the burn

results.

[tikitiki 12]

I have two fiji dwarfs both got no cover last night after the 2nd night at 32f with the second having heavy frost .one has some brown on the fronds the other is perfectly fine. they are about 4 feet tallOA and 10 ft away from each other. My two arger golds with 4 feet of trunk both have some frost damage but not much.

[Dave-Vero 656]

My neighborhood was at 32-31 degrees from 9:30 pm until dawn (briefly at 30). Dry air. The assorted coconut palms in the neighborhood look maybe a little bit yellowish, but whatever damage there might be seems minimal. Tonight looks to be a bit less cold, but with frost.

[ruskinPalms 543]

Low of 27.3, radiational freeze, no wind, unprotected. below freezing from approximately 12:30 AM to 8:15 AM. Lots of frost. Pictures 36 hours after the freeze.

Critical condition....90% to 100% Browning.

[Guest LeftCoastAngler]

Lookie my poor little seedlings...

If they make it I'd be really surprised...

~LCA.

[Paul The Palm Doctor! 9]

Lookie my poor little seedlings...

If they make it I'd be really surprised...

~LCA.

Arghhh! Photos look as one would have pretty much thought probable with that temperature range; dry winds after don't help either.

Hope that the palm family gets to look better soon!

Paul

[Walt 1,233]

Lookie my poor little seedlings...

If they make it I'd be really surprised...

~LCA.

I would bet money those seedlings are history. They may linger on but they will eventually die. I had two golden malayans far larger than those seedlings of yours and both got zapped hard in separate freeze. At that point they went into the typical slow growth mode, maybe growing at best 1/4 their normal speed. They both lasted for more than one year and eventually died.

[Guest LeftCoastAngler]

Yeah Walt. It's not looking good.

They've seen better days.

~LCA.

[Zeeth 2,286]

Frost really makes the difference with these.

Coconut Palms at local K-Mart. Outside, subjected to a low of 28F with 5 days of freezing temps, and rain at 34F. Bifid leaves in a 3 gallon pot, but protected from any frost by an overhead screen. No damage. I suspect that if they see no frost at all they can see as low as 26-27 when in ground, but there being no frost is critical.

Coconut palms as tall as 20 feet, even those on the gulf, saw frost, so there is anywhere from 10-90% burning, depending on height. The taller the palm, the less frost it saw, so the less it is burned. These guys despise frost.

[RedRabbit 1,678]

My area saw a low of around 32f this winter and all the coconuts saw some damage. To the best of my knowledge there was no frost. Damage ranges from about 30% - 70% burn.

The damage is remarkable because nothing else seemed to take any damage from the cold. Undamaged species in the area include Roystonea regia, Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, Ravenea rivularis, Dypsis lutescens, Adonidia merrillii, Beccariophoenix alfredii, etc. 

[Walt 1,233]

Up to this point (February 11, 2017), this is the warmest winter I've ever experienced since moving here in 1997. No freeze, no frost. Yet, my coconut palm has shown just as much K deficiency in its fronds as if I had a much colder winter. I made a deliberate effort to fertilize about every two weeks using 8-2-12 palm special. I started that regime back in early November. So far this winter I've removed 5-6 fronds (totally dead from K deficiency). The deficiency has progressed now to just above the fronds in the 9 to 3 o'clock positions. But I know, if history holds, once April comes around, my coconut palm will grow right out of its K deficiency. I actually think my palm (due to the warm winter) will look better than it ever did come late summer.

[CodyORB 175]

Last winter St. Augustine airport (zone 9a) recorded 7 nights below 40F spread over 3 months, with an absolute low of 34F. My juvenile Cocos saw around 80% leaf burn, and I trimmed it down to its only decently healthy leaf. There was a spear in early development that almost completely stalled through 2020's first half and didn't take off until June (temps in low 70's - 90's and ample rainfall).

These past 2 winters have been very mild for this zone, but nature has its ways and I'm sure we'll get another kick into the mid-low 20's sometime in the next few years.

Here's how it looks today (July 9):

Edited July 9, 2020 by CodyORB