My Corpus Christi, Texas Zone 10A Coconut Palms

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Here are some photos of my Corpus Christi,  Zone 10A Coconut Palms.  The first one I think is a Maymex Hybrid cross between a Golden Malayan Dwarf and a Mexican Tall.  The second one is what I think is a pure Mexican Tall.  They were both sprouted from nuts collected off the beach at North Padre Island here back in 2016.  The Maymex Hybrid is about 2.5 years old (it sprouted in November 2016) and has big robust leaves and the trunk is about 6.5 inches in diameter at the base (hybrid vigor), and is about 7.5 ft. tall in overall height with no signs of transplant shock-growing like a weed!  The Mexican Tall is 3 years old (sprouted in the summer of 2016) and has about 6 inches of trunk diameter at the base, and is about 7 ft. tall in overall height, also with no signs of transplant shock and growing like a weed.  My wife helped me plant both of them the end of March, then a few days later around April 1st, we had a strong very unusual late season cold front blow through in which the temp in my yard in the middle of the afternoon was only 46.5F when it should have been about 76F that time of day!  This didn't even really seem to effect them, as I had hardened them off to several nights of lows from 33F to 39F with no protection, and I like to expose my young Coconut Palms to a little frost too before putting them in the ground.  This really seems to help harden them off for planting in marginal climates for them, like my climate.  Also, I no longer plant any younger Coconut Palms under7 ft. tall in my climate because the younger ones just have too hard of a time making it through our winters.  The last palm is my big Green Malayan Dwarf that has been in the ground for 3 years and 3 winters.  The first two winters here were bad winters for this area (got down to 27.2F one morning and 28.5F the next morning in Jan. 2017).  That winter I wrapped it in a blanket all the way around the trunk from ground level up to the lower leaves in the crown, but just in the blanket on the coldest nights.   Then, the second winter, I wrapped it in small incandescent Christmas lights, NOT the LED ones because they give off no heat.  Then I wrapped the blanket around the Christmas lights.  But I only wrapped the blanket around it on the nights it was predicted to get down to freezing.  That winter, we had 6 freezes, 3 of which were from 28.5F to 29.9F, which is very rare for my area, as my yard normally doesn't get below about 33.0F on the coldest morning of the winter.  This last winter was so mild, I didn't have to protect it at all.  We got down into the 30'sF 5 or 6 times this past winter from 33F to 39F, which is pretty much normal here.  It is about 12.5 ft. tall in overall height and has about 22 inches of woody trunk height and 9 inches of trunk width at its base (it would have more trunk and be more robust if it hadn't been neglected at the local nursery I bought it from and was penciling at the top of its trunk).  I nursed it back to health and is really growing now.  Oh, also in early December 2017, the winter in which it got hit by 6 freezes total, it was exposed to a very rare snowstorm here with temps of 31.8F totally unprotected.  It had 3.5 inches of snow on it, but didn't even look very phased at all because I grow everything 100% ORGANICALLY and that strengthens tropical trees and plants and adds some degree of cold hardiness to them.  It wasn't predicted to get that cold that night or for us to have anything more than flurries, but there it was unprotected, and none the worse for it; probably helped strengthen it up some.

John

P.S.  They look even better now.  These were pics back in late March, when I planted the first two.  I will post updated photos in a few months, that will show significant progress.

 

[GottmitAlex]

John,

Just capital! Spectacular!  They are growing fast for ya. Love the color on the hybrid.  Splendid job John!

 

Alex

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 minute ago, GottmitAlex said:

John,

Just capital! Spectacular!  They are growing fast for ya. Love the color on the hybrid.  Splendid job John!

 

Alex

 

Thanks, Alex.  I love the color of it too, and the hybrid vigor.  It is about 5 months younger than the other one yet outpacing it in size of leaves and in trunk diameter at the base.  Yours look really good too, but what I think gives me a little more edge in my marginal climate over yours in your marginal climate is our consistent heat here from late April till late October.

John

[HtownPalms]

They look great! 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Looks great!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

4 hours ago, HtownPalms said:

They look great! 

Thanks.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

2 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Looks great!

Thanks.

[RedRabbit]

Nice job @Mr. Coconut Palm! Glad to see they’re doing well after those harsh winters.

[Fusca]

2 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Thanks.

Looking good John!  The fertilizing must be doing the job!  I noticed that Padre Palms had some coconuts (no idea of the variety) and small bizzies the last time I was down there several months ago.  Of course they didn't have any bizzies when I was looking high and low for them, but I finally found one in Lake Jackson last month!  By the way, I finally planted the sea grape seedling you gave me and it's doing great.   

Jon

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

3 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

Nice job @Mr. Coconut Palm! Glad to see they’re doing well after those harsh winters.

Thanks.  Yeah, me too.  I just planted another one today that is a little over 8 ft. tall in overall height at one of our city parks at North Padre Island.  I planted it at Douden Park there with the help of a couple of friends.  I will post photos in a little bit.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Fusca said:

Looking good John!  The fertilizing must be doing the job!  I noticed that Padre Palms had some coconuts (no idea of the variety) and small bizzies the last time I was down there several months ago.  Of course they didn't have any bizzies when I was looking high and low for them, but I finally found one in Lake Jackson last month!  By the way, I finally planted the sea grape seedling you gave me and it's doing great.   

Jon

Thanks.  Yes, I think it is the all organic MicroLife fertilizer I use on them and everything that makes a world of difference in this marginal climate for them.  Yeah, I just got one of the last 2 that Padre Palms had and donated it to one of the city parks (Douden Park) on North Padre Island.  I planted it with the help of a couple of friends this morning.  It is just barely starting to produce woody trunk (about 1.5 inches of it at the base), with a trunk base width of about 6.5 inches and an overall height of a little over 8 ft. tall.  There are several nice BIG Bismarcks right across the street from where I planted the Coconut Palm at today.  I am glad that your Sea Grape is doing well.  My Sea Grape is about 12 ft. tall in overall height with a crown width of about 15 ft. now, and there are babies popping up at the base.  I dug up about 15 of them last fall and need to dig up the others.  Sea Grapes and Coconut Palms go hand in hand, and I need to donate some of them to go with the Coconut Palm at the park!

John

[Palmaceae]

Looking good John, great job!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

8 minutes ago, Palmaceae said:

Looking good John, great job!

Thanks.  I still want to be the Johnny Appleseed of the Coconut Palm on the South Texas Coast and in the RGV!

John

[palmfriend]

John,

my congrats from here as well!! Looking good your babies - all the best for them!

By mentioning that they were from the beach - I went to one of our ones just once during this winter

and collected five promising looking coconuts:

The result is spectacular: four sprouts out of five, I think you can see the dots of the one on the right and the second from left, too. (That one on the right had 

already more than two main roots developed, so I got a bit concerned and helped the spear to break through with peeling back a bit of the shell.) The one on 

far left in the back has still a lot of water/milk inside, so there should be a good chance for that one, too. (I am still hoping to find a red spicata on our shores )

 

John , no hijacking intended - please keep us posted,

 

best regards 

Lars