Going Coco Loco In Corpus Christi Over Coconut Palms

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Here are some photos of one of the last 2 Coconut Palms that a local nursery had, so I donated one of them to a local park, Douden Park on North Padre Island, Corpus Christi, Texas.  It is at approximately 27.7N latitude in a solid Zone 10 A Climate, but a cool 10 A Climate with average highs/lows in January of about 64F/52F, but it warms up quickly here in March and April.  It is a little over 8 ft. tall in overall height, with a trunk diameter at its base of about 6.5 inches, and about 1.5 inches of woody trunk starting to form at its base.  Initially, I thought it was a Golden Malayan Dwarf, but the petioles don't have the true golden orangish color of the Golden Malayan, yet aren't green enough to be a Green Malayan, so maybe one of your Coconut Palm experts (like Zeeth-Keith in Florida) can chime in and help me out with id ing it.  The local nursery that occasionally sells them, gets them from Florida, if that helps.  Thanks to John Srubar, a fellow Flour Bluff, Corpus Christi resident and Dave Dunseath, a Padre Island resident for help in planting, staking, and watering it.

John

 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

Wow!  What happened to all the Coconut Palm lovers on this forum???  I started this thread 3 days ago, and still no reply!  Usually, I get at least a couple of replies to my threads in the first few hours after posting it.

John

[The Gerg]

I’m just now seeing this. I am a coconut palm lover though I can not grow them. So I just View these threads with envy.

Nice gesture with the donation.

[GottmitAlex]

1 hour ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Wow!  What happened to all the Coconut Palm lovers on this forum???  I started this thread 3 days ago, and still no reply!  Usually, I get at least a couple of replies to my threads in the first few hours after posting it.

John

John, it would be nice to who you are in the pic!!! Love your cocos.... no questions asked.   And yes, I am officially a coconut lover.

[sandgroper]

Another coconut lover here, I think they're the nicest of all palms.

[GottmitAlex]

And yes. John! I saw you! Keep up the amazing work!

[palmfriend]

John,

that is a very nice specimen you donated. Nicely developed leaves and already trunking - the right time to be planted out.

To have someone close by to look after is perfect, so if the weather and especially the winters play along, there should be 

a good chance to get this baby grown up successfully.

All the best for it and thank you for letting us know -

best regards 

Lars

PS: Having now all of our kids in school and preschool with club activities afterwards is keeping my wife and me 

pretty busy - personal time starts now at 9:30pm... sry for the delay!

 

[Jeff985]

21 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Wow!  What happened to all the Coconut Palm lovers on this forum???  I started this thread 3 days ago, and still no reply!  Usually, I get at least a couple of replies to my threads in the first few hours after posting it.

John

I saw this shortly after you posted it and I started to reply, but then jealousy got the best of me. This is one of the many reasons I wish I could move to. Corpus Christi. 

[Rickybobby]

I love coconuts as well. Doesn’t matter where your from. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

23 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

John, it would be nice to who you are in the pic!!! Love your cocos.... no questions asked.   And yes, I am officially a coconut lover.

Alex,

I am the taller one in the blue shirt in the first photo, and the one putting out the mulch in the other photo.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

22 hours ago, sandgroper said:

Another coconut lover here, I think they're the nicest of all palms.

Yes, they are, and of ALL plants for that matter, LOL!

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

21 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

And yes. John! I saw you! Keep up the amazing work!

Thanks, Alex.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

14 hours ago, palmfriend said:

Hi John,

that is a very nice specimen you donated. Nicely developed leaves and already trunking - the right time to be planted out.

To have someone close by to look after is perfect, so if the weather and especially the winters play along, there should be 

a good chance to get this baby grown up successfully.

All the best for it and thank you for letting us know -

best regards 

Lars

PS: Having now all of our kids in school and preschool with club activities afterwards is keeping my wife and me 

pretty busy - personal time starts now at 9:30pm... sry for the delay!

 

Hi Lars,

Thank you.  No worries.  I understand, but I hope you and your wife still take time to relax in your beautiful tropical yard among your Coconut Palms.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

4 hours ago, Jeff985 said:

I saw this shortly after you posted it and I started to reply, but then jealousy got the best of me. This is one of the many reasons I wish I could move to. Corpus Christi. 

Jeff,

I can sympathize.  I moved here to grow them.  I would have preferred to move to Brownsville, of course, where I could grow multiple different varieties to maturity with nuts on them, but I couldn't find any steady work there, so I settled for Corpus Christi, but I still plan on buying some land and starting an organic coconut farm there and a palm and tropical plant nursery there that specializes in Coconut Palms one day.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

3 hours ago, Rickybobby said:

I love coconuts as well. Doesn’t matter where your from. 

Rob, 

I once lived in an area too where I could only dream about growing them outdoors.  Once in a while, dreams come true!

John

[OC2Texaspalmlvr]

I haven't been down to Corpus yet but i never would've guessed you could grow coconut palms there. What a pleasant surprise =) 

[Jeff985]

11 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Jeff,

I can sympathize.  I moved here to grow them.  I would have preferred to move to Brownsville, of course, where I could grow multiple different varieties to maturity with nuts on them, but I couldn't find any steady work there, so I settled for Corpus Christi, but I still plan on buying some land and starting an organic coconut farm there and a palm and tropical plant nursery there that specializes in Coconut Palms one day.

John

I’ve been trying to find a job there. No luck. I thought it was looking good a few months ago. We even found a house we liked in Rockport but I didn’t get the job, so I guess I’ll be stuck in Houston for a while longer. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

18 hours ago, OC2Texaspalmlvr said:

I haven't been down to Corpus yet but i never would've guessed you could grow coconut palms there. What a pleasant surprise =) 

I feel like I need to qualify that statement with a yes and no.  Yes, we CAN grow them on the east side of town near the water, but even here near the water, they are marginal.  With that said,  they have occasionally been known to grow to maturity and even produce some small to medium sized nuts between bad winters that can wipe them out.  I live in Flour Bluff, just 6/10 of a mile inland from the Laguna Madre, but go 7 or 8 miles inland from me and forget it, the wintertime overnight lows there are just too cold for them, though Royal Palms can be grown about 10 to 12 miles inland from me.

John

P.S.  What really gives me a significant edge over others around here who try to grow them, is that I grow everything 100% ORGANIC, and when you do that it can add as much as 2F to 5F in cold hardiness to tropical trees and plants!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

11 hours ago, Jeff985 said:

I’ve been trying to find a job there. No luck. I thought it was looking good a few months ago. We even found a house we liked in Rockport but I didn’t get the job, so I guess I’ll be stuck in Houston for a while longer. 

Don't give up Jeff, it took me over a year of job hunting to finally be able to move here, and my wife and I got an owner financed home (the way to go in my opinion, and there are a lot more of them in South Texas than in other parts of Texas).  If you want to grow the really exotic tropical palms like Coconuts, Royals, Foxtails, Arecas, Kings, Christmas, etc. you need to move to Flour Bluff, the east end of Ocean Dr., or North Padre Island, or go even further south to the RGV where you can grow all sorts of exotic tropicals to a really nice size!

John