Coconut Palm in North Carolina Experiment

[ZPalms]

Saturday, October 9th, 7:08PM, 2021. 

Moved it inside for the night, looking beautiful!

Edited October 10, 2021 by ZPalms

[Palmy Pal]

Looking good! Are you having to bring yours in? My coconut palms are still outside 24/7 as of now

[Palmy Pal]

Here’s an update on one of mine. Pushed out a new frond and another on the way. Still loving the 85f weather here so I’ll keep it out until it gets constantly cold at night. It has been out a couple nights when it got below 50 at night and it was perfectly fine. 

[ZPalms]

13 hours ago, Palmy Pal said:

Looking good! Are you having to bring yours in? My coconut palms are still outside 24/7 as of now

Thanks! It seems to do fine with the low temperatures but it sits out in the open and I'm playing it safe and when it gets into low 60s is when I bring it in and tonight it will be 54 degrees and I don't even wanna try to play with that but so far so good, I take it out everyday to get heat cause the days are still pretty warm! I just wish the weather would stop jumping back and forth 

13 hours ago, Palmy Pal said:

Here’s an update on one of mine. Pushed out a new frond and another on the way. Still loving the 85f weather here so I’ll keep it out until it gets constantly cold at night. It has been out a couple nights when it got below 50 at night and it was perfectly fine. 

Looking great! I'm jealous of your pennate leaves, I'm so excited to get some eventually! mine is pushing 2 straps at the same time right now

[Palmy Pal]

14 hours ago, ZPalms said:

Thanks! It seems to do fine with the low temperatures but it sits out in the open and I'm playing it safe and when it gets into low 60s is when I bring it in and tonight it will be 54 degrees and I don't even wanna try to play with that but so far so good, I take it out everyday to get heat cause the days are still pretty warm! I just wish the weather would stop jumping back and forth 

Looking great! I'm jealous of your pennate leaves, I'm so excited to get some eventually! mine is pushing 2 straps at the same time right now

Thanks! They started to split so I may or may not have helped it out a bit with the splitting I couldn’t help myself!! 

[PalmatierMeg]

@ZPalms, your coconut looks pristine. Good work.

[ZPalms]

The coconut has been indoors for a while now, I decided to stop taking it outside cause it was getting too much and it wasn't warm long enough for me to really take it outside cause I'd have to bring it back in soon as I put it out

It's still pushing new growth indoors under my grow light and I open the windows occasionally to let sunlight in, I'm unsure when I should water it cause I don't know when a plant of this size needs water indoors, I think I need one of those sensor things so I can tell how much moisture is in the soil cause I just don't know.

I'm very happy with how it's looking! 

Also that plant in the back is my cherry tomato's but my grow light isn't strong enough so it's only putting off a couple branches of tomatoes but I'm fine with it cause now I know that if I wanna grow more that I should either get more lights or plant outdoors but I'm still proud of it 

Edited November 5, 2021 by ZPalms

[Palmy Pal]

@ZPalms looks great! I have to say, I have had a greenhouse for a few years now but with no heater and it got pretty cold in there but this year I finally picked up a small oil filled heater to put in it and I have to say it works amazing. It has dropped down to about 32f here in the past few nights and with the heater running in the greenhouse it has not dropped below 55 in there. And it’s on the low setting so it could get even warmer at night in there. Makes me really want to put my coconut palms in there to see if they do well in there. Because temperature is on point so far. But I’ll monitor the temperature for a few weeks before I do anything. But that being said it might be worth trying over there. I am growing tomatoes too in the greenhouse and they are thriving no damage at all. But it seems like it would be great for them over winter! 

[ZPalms]

13 minutes ago, Palmy Pal said:

@ZPalms looks great! I have to say, I have had a greenhouse for a few years now but with no heater and it got pretty cold in there but this year I finally picked up a small oil filled heater to put in it and I have to say it works amazing. It has dropped down to about 32f here in the past few nights and with the heater running in the greenhouse it has not dropped below 55 in there. And it’s on the low setting so it could get even warmer at night in there. Makes me really want to put my coconut palms in there to see if they do well in there. Because temperature is on point so far. But I’ll monitor the temperature for a few weeks before I do anything. But that being said it might be worth trying over there. I am growing tomatoes too in the greenhouse and they are thriving no damage at all. But it seems like it would be great for them over winter! 

Thanks!!! I actually have a small electric radiator, I don't know if theirs oil or water in it but it keeps my room pretty toasty and this room is pretty large so it does pretty good job! As far as I know the temperature in my room doesn't get below 68 but with the heater on it reaches about 80s but I still plan on building a pvc box around the coconut. which I have all the parts I just need to buy the clips so I can trap the heat in the tarp and allow me to use my fan because these past couple of nights I've just had to keep the fan off and everything and just deal with being hot for the coconut and I need to separate our comforts cause I can't deal with one or the other

Edited November 6, 2021 by ZPalms

[JLM]

Thats a really nice looking palm! Awesome job!

[ZPalms]

It's time for an update before spring kicks into action and it heads back outside finally. My last update was back in November, and it's working on its 7th leaf and has pushed out 2 since then. I just recently handled spider mites on the leaf with the damage on the tip, but I got it in time before they could spread. I don't really see any more spider mites, so I'm hoping they are gone for the time being, and hopefully I won't see any at all. I didn't really do anything specifically to get rid of them. It was time to water the coconut, so I just took it to the shower and gave it multiple spray downs. I'm not sure where they could have come from, but my banana also had some, but none of my other plants had any, so I don't really know.

Just to be sure that the white stuff is natural on the coconut on pictures 8-11 and it's not spider mite webbing or anything? I don't see any bugs crawling and it seems to be on every leaf fold, so it must be natural on the coconut?

The smallest first leaves look like they are getting reabsorbed by the coconut, and I've noticed some spotting on one of the leaves, but I'm not worried since I don't see any signs of bugs and the leaf still looks healthy. I haven't had any humidifier or anything, so even with a few brown tips, I'm still very happy with how it came out of winter.

I'm planning to build a greenhouse and want to plant my green Malayan dwarf coconut in the center, but I need to know how tall a mature green Malayan dwarf coconut is. I would really appreciate it if anyone who owns any at a mature height could give me a size comparison or a measurement so I can figure out the logistics of what I need and how giant are the fronds? I would also appreciate it if anyone is familiar with greenhouses or similar structures. I would really love some help to figure out the best solution to get the height I need in a greenhouse or adapted structure without it getting overly expensive. 

I'm very excited about getting it back outdoors and letting nature rebalance everything along with my other plants.

Wednesday, March 3rd, 10:25PM, 2022. 

 

Edited March 3, 2022 by ZPalms

[ZPalms]

Can anyone with a mature green malayan coconut give me a size comparison to anything? or a specific measurement but a visual would be great!

[PalmsandLiszt]

On 3/3/2022 at 10:26 AM, ZPalms said:

Just to be sure that the white stuff is natural on the coconut on pictures 8-11 and it's not spider mite webbing or anything? I don't see any bugs crawling and it seems to be on every leaf fold, so it must be natural on the coconut?

They look like ramenta. You find them on the undersides of many palm leaves. I'm not sure what their purpose is; perhaps to help water droplets run off. Spider mites tend to put their webbing between the gaps where the leaflets meet the rachis.

On 3/3/2022 at 10:26 AM, ZPalms said:

I haven't had any humidifier or anything, so even with a few brown tips, I'm still very happy with how it came out of winter.

It looks very good. The fact it's in a room full of other plants will act as a natural humidifier, as they all get watered and transpire some of the water. Best humidifier I've come across is Sphaeropteris (Cyathea) cooperi; I give it several pints of water every day and most of it goes straight out into the air by the next; it is quite literally a solar-powered humidifier, and grows at a rate of knots (downside is that I can hardly see some of my plants now obscured by an enormous fern).

I was tempted to buy a sprouting seed of a green Malayan dwarf I found on ebay not that long ago, but didn't in the end; I look forward to seeing photos of yours (hopefully) taking off this growing season.

[ZPalms]

9 hours ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

They look like ramenta. You find them on the undersides of many palm leaves. I'm not sure what their purpose is; perhaps to help water droplets run off. Spider mites tend to put their webbing between the gaps where the leaflets meet the rachis.

It looks very good. The fact it's in a room full of other plants will act as a natural humidifier, as they all get watered and transpire some of the water. Best humidifier I've come across is Sphaeropteris (Cyathea) cooperi; I give it several pints of water every day and most of it goes straight out into the air by the next; it is quite literally a solar-powered humidifier, and grows at a rate of knots (downside is that I can hardly see some of my plants now obscured by an enormous fern).

I was tempted to buy a sprouting seed of a green Malayan dwarf I found on ebay not that long ago, but didn't in the end; I look forward to seeing photos of yours (hopefully) taking off this growing season.

I've been keeping a close eye on the new leaves and old leaves and so far I haven't seen any changes or signs of spider mites so I think I'm good but I had no idea what ramenta is so that's something new for me to read about, I would love to try a tree fern but I feel like they may be expensive or hard to get for me but I don't actually know anything about them 

I definitely recommend getting one of these coconuts if you like fast gratification because all this growth is just from last June and I can't even imagine what kind of growth its gonna get this year since it will get a full growing season from the earliest warm temperatures into scorching summer and back into fall 

Thank you! 

Edited March 29, 2022 by ZPalms

[ZPalms]

@NOT A TA Don't mean to bother, but do you know how old your green Malayan is and how tall it is? And what object could its size be compared to? And how long do the leaves spread?

[NOT A TA]

14 hours ago, ZPalms said:

@NOT A TA Don't mean to bother, but do you know how old your green Malayan is and how tall it is? And what object could its size be compared to? And how long do the leaves spread?

The one I get the seeds from is probably about 22- 25 years old. Trunk is about 15' and crown about 20' wide. The fronds are longer than 10' but because they curve when still attached the crown isn't as wide as it would be if the fronds stuck straight out.

Your Coco looks better than the ones that spend winter outdoor here, good job!

[NOT A TA]

On 3/29/2022 at 3:09 AM, PalmsandLiszt said:

I was tempted to buy a sprouting seed of a green Malayan dwarf I found on ebay

Although I sell palm seeds on Ebay  I haven't been listing sprouted Coconuts there yet. I do have them listed on my website and currently have several available if you're interested. I have the inventory set to only sell one at a time which gets shipped in a USPS Medium flat rate box. So if you see it show up as not available on the website just check again later and another will be available. If you or anyone else wants more than one shipped at the same time send me a PM. https://lab-14.myshopify.com/products/zz29-green-malayan-dwarf-sprouted-coconut-seedling

[ZPalms]

16 hours ago, NOT A TA said:

The one I get the seeds from is probably about 22- 25 years old. Trunk is about 15' and crown about 20' wide. The fronds are longer than 10' but because they curve when still attached the crown isn't as wide as it would be if the fronds stuck straight out.

Your Coco looks better than the ones that spend winter outdoor here, good job!

Thank you!!! This really helps me get an idea of the dimensions of what I need and it's honestly a relief because 22-25 years and it's only 15 is great because I was thinking much taller but I can work with that! 

20ft would be a crazy so thankfully that curve helps me out with size because that would be really interesting to work with and what honestly makes me nervous about it the most is that I want the fronds to be free, but creating a space large enough for the canopy alone is crazy. 

Thanks I appecaite it, I don't know how I'm keeping it maintained but I just leave it alone and water it every 2 months and check the leaves periodically 

Edited April 16, 2022 by ZPalms

[NOT A TA]

Water more often once you put it outside. Plan to move south if you're ever gonna plant it in the ground. hahaha

They grow slower in pots than in ground so it'll take longer to reach a size where you can't move it inside for winters.

[Palmy Pal]

I’d be curious if it is actually possible to grow cocos in the ground here in Nc. Like putting in a in ground heating system and a greenhouse on top of it and everything. Ground temperature would be the issue with it. It would take a lot of effort for sure but I bet you could do it. Maybe making like a deep in ground pool type thing out of bricks or something like that and filling it with soil. Not sure if that would keep it too much warmer though. Just fun to think about the things you could do LOL. 

[ZPalms]

1 hour ago, NOT A TA said:

Water more often once you put it outside. Plan to move south if you're ever gonna plant it in the ground. hahaha

They grow slower in pots than in ground so it'll take longer to reach a size where you can't move it inside for winters.

I do water a lot more often in the summer, it gets so hot

Its so heavy now after I water it, I need to get a dolly so bad 

 

 

12 minutes ago, Palmy Pal said:

I’d be curious if it is actually possible to grow cocos in the ground here in Nc. Like putting in a in ground heating system and a greenhouse on top of it and everything. Ground temperature would be the issue with it. It would take a lot of effort for sure but I bet you could do it. Maybe making like a deep in ground pool type thing out of bricks or something like that and filling it with soil. Not sure if that would keep it too much warmer though. Just fun to think about the things you could do LOL. 

That’s actually what I’m planning on doing, I’m gonna run cables in the ground to keep the ground warm and build a structure tall enough for the future growth and greenhouse heater and it’s all in theory but I think it could work as long as I can more so keep the ground warm and keep the air warm and frost free

Edited April 16, 2022 by ZPalms

[Maltese coconut project]

I have a query. I wish to ask something to individuals living in areas with cool but non freezing winters similar to the Southern Mediterranean and California. In your experiences and opinions what is the number one killer during winter for coconut palms in those non freezing temperatures? Cool wind or having the soil too wet? What is your best advice when it comes to long cool winter's and watering during such season? Thank you in advance for answers

[ZPalms]

Saturday, May 5th, 7:55PM, 2022. 

I moved my coconut outside about a week ago and I've been slowly trying to acclimate it back into full sun and it feels like a thousand pounds when I lift it. It doesn't make it fun, but when it’s overcast and rainy, that definitely makes it easy. It’s finally starting to pick some speed back up after getting to enjoy some humidity and heat this past week and a new spear is about to come up. 

 

Edited May 23, 2022 by ZPalms

[JohnAndSancho]

3 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

Saturday, May 5th, 7:55PM, 2022.

Move my coconut outside about a week ago and slowly been trying to acclimate it back into full sun and it feeling like a thousand pounds when I lift it doesn’t make it fun but when it’s overcast and rainy that definitely makes it easy but it’s finally starting to pick some speed back up after getting to enjoy some humidity and heat this past week and a new spear is about to come up 

 

 

The weight is roots. I've learned that with so many of my palms, it's ready to be repotted. 

[ZPalms]

1 minute ago, JohnAndSancho said:

The weight is roots. I've learned that with so many of my palms, it's ready to be repotted. 

Repotted already? I usually see much bigger coconuts in pots this size, It must be the wet soil that makes it heavy because when it's on the dryer side it's still heavy but not as heavy as when it's freshly watered, I thought I could get at least another year or so out of this pot, which is scary because I'm not ready to up its pot size. 

[JohnAndSancho]

2 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

Repotted already? I usually see much bigger coconuts in pots this size, It must be the wet soil that makes it heavy because when it's on the dryer side it's still heavy but not as heavy as when it's freshly watered, I thought I could get at least another year or so out of this pot, which is scary because I'm not ready to up its pot size. 

Purely anecdotal but when shit gets heavy it's ready 

[ZPalms]

6 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Purely anecdotal but when shit gets heavy it's ready 

I'm unsure what I want to do because everything is going so good and repotting and soil making is not my forte. and bigger pot means more soil, which means even more heavy to take upstairs  

Edited May 23, 2022 by ZPalms

[JohnAndSancho]

On 5/22/2022 at 10:19 PM, ZPalms said:

I'm unsure what I want to do because everything is going so good and repotting and soil making is not my forte. and bigger pot means more soil, which means even more heavy to take upstairs  

The struggle is real. 

[ZPalms]

The whole structural and engineering stuff I've been thinking about all night but not sure how I could accomplish a greenhouse that is not only openable to fully expose the tree to the elements during the hot months but able to seal up during the winter months is mind bending, I thought of using fiverr to see if any engineers could figure it out but I feel like they would give me plans for a structure that would cost so much money as if I was doing a commerical project than it would be to just use wood or something but I think the health of a coconut tree not in a giant conservatory with tons of space would benefit seasonally to get rained on and shake in the wind because I also gotta think of how to control pest within the structure if theirs no predators.

I think it might be more feasiable if the root could slide open, kinda like a circular roof with a chain that could slide the panels open to allow rain, but if it's possible to be able to fully open a side of the greenhouse on a door track, that would be even better, but I'm always thinking of structure stability when it comes to hurricane winds.

If I have time later I'll create a 3d model of what I envision and how it would work, I'm just brain storming 

[Zeni]

Just saw that my nearest Lidl is selling sprouted Coconuts for just 6 euros.. I am tempted to give it a try, but from what I hear the Coconut Palm is very high maintenance. 

[ZPalms]

9 hours ago, Zeni said:

Just saw that my nearest Lidl is selling sprouted Coconuts for just 6 euros.. I am tempted to give it a try, but from what I hear the Coconut Palm is very high maintenance. 

With the right soil conditions, my coconut has been the least high-maintenance of all my palms. It just wants heat and water outdoors, but indoors, I water my coconut probably once every 1 to 2 months, so during the winter months I just get to stare at it and enjoy it and only have to lift that heavy pot once every couple weeks to move it in the shower to give it a good drink and clean the leaves. I thought having a coconut was going to be hard and that I was going to need to wrap it up in an indoor greenhouse because my A/C would make it too cold or something, but it didn't care at all. The only thing I didn't do when it was in my room was turn the fan on because I noticed that when the fan was on it would get cold spots.

This is just my experience with Green Malayan, so I'm unsure if different coconuts will require different things, but if you have a nice bright window or grow lights then it should be pretty easy. 

[Zeni]

On 6/4/2022 at 9:45 PM, ZPalms said:

With the right soil conditions, my coconut has been the least high-maintenance of all my palms. It just wants heat and water outdoors, but indoors, I water my coconut probably once every 1 to 2 months, so during the winter months I just get to stare at it and enjoy it and only have to lift that heavy pot once every couple weeks to move it in the shower to give it a good drink and clean the leaves. I thought having a coconut was going to be hard and that I was going to need to wrap it up in an indoor greenhouse because my A/C would make it too cold or something, but it didn't care at all. The only thing I didn't do when it was in my room was turn the fan on because I noticed that when the fan was on it would get cold spots.

This is just my experience with Green Malayan, so I'm unsure if different coconuts will require different things, but if you have a nice bright window or grow lights then it should be pretty easy. 

I think outside heat will be an issue. for me The summers here are very weak, but so are the winters (latter makes parts of northern-Western Europe get away with some palms surprising to the latitude). Also, energy prices got pricey lately. My energy contract will double or triple next autumn as it renews, so not sure if it is worthwhile for me to attempt it (my grow room is full and I would have to place an additional light/heat/humidity source for the new cocos project). I might have tried it if there wasn't this energy crisis.  

[ZPalms]

12 minutes ago, Zeni said:

I think outside heat will be an issue. for me The summers here are very weak, but so are the winters (latter makes parts of northern-Western Europe get away with some palms surprising to the latitude). Also, energy prices got pricey lately. My energy contract will double or triple next autumn as it renews, so not sure if it is worthwhile for me to attempt it (my grow room is full and I would have to place an additional light/heat/humidity source for the new cocos project). I might have tried it if there wasn't this energy crisis.  

I think you could make it work, I don't change the temperature in my room and the temperature never goes below indoors 69F/25C and if it does it's just brief and maybe about 64F/17C or something but we usally keep the temperature 72F/22C, so a comfortable temperature for you should probably be a decent temperature for it and other plants around it could give decent humidity. The tips may brown, but just the tips and no further. On the bright side, under a grow light, it will throw 1 set of leaves up a month, so you wouldn't have to worry about it outgrowing your space for a long time. Definitely a future project idea. 

[Zeni]

On 6/6/2022 at 11:07 AM, ZPalms said:

I think you could make it work, I don't change the temperature in my room and the temperature never goes below indoors 69F/25C and if it does it's just brief and maybe about 64F/17C or something but we usally keep the temperature 72F/22C, so a comfortable temperature for you should probably be a decent temperature for it and other plants around it could give decent humidity. The tips may brown, but just the tips and no further. On the bright side, under a grow light, it will throw 1 set of leaves up a month, so you wouldn't have to worry about it outgrowing your space for a long time. Definitely a future project idea. 

I just bought it anyway. Too tempting for that price. If it dies on me in a few months, oh well, at least I enjoyed it over the summer. 

It looks very nice and the next frond will be semi-pinnate. 

It is about the size/height of this image (yours), but I doubt I will be able to keep up with you (you have better growing conditions for it over the summer).  

On 5/23/2022 at 4:58 AM, ZPalms said:

Saturday, May 5th, 7:55PM, 2022. 

 

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Zeni

[ZPalms]

15 hours ago, Zeni said:

I just bought it anyway. Too tempting for that price. If it dies on me in a few months, oh well, at least I enjoyed it over the summer. 

It looks very nice and the next frond will be semi-pinnate. 

It is about the size/height of this image (yours), but I doubt I will be able to keep up with you (you have better growing conditions for it over the summer).  

 

 

Yay! It should be very fun and rewarding, I'm sure youll find its way easier than you'd expect, I have no idea what species your coconut is but hopefully it's one thats forgiving and it does very well for you! I'm really hoping to get pinnate fronds this year, It's been humid and rainy this week which I'm sure it's extremely happy to feel right at home again. 

[Zeni]

3 hours ago, ZPalms said:

I have no idea what species your coconut

Damn, so there are different subspecies (excuse my newbness). I have noticed that the fronds are huge compared to yours. Lmao, I might just have the most common agricultural coconut that they sold. All it says is Cocos nucifera.  

[Zeni]

@ZPalms

I just measured the biggest frond (the newest one, excluding spear), and it is 44 inches (111 cm) tall from trunk (start of petiole) to the top of the frond.

Can you measure your top frond and see if it is of a similar size? If your top frond is significantly smaller, I might not have the dwarf variant. Sounds like this one will become too huge for me soon, lol. It almost is touching my ceiling (8.2 feet / 2.5 meters) if I put it on a regular table, but on the floor of course still far away from that.

Edited June 10, 2022 by Zeni

[ZPalms]

4 hours ago, Zeni said:

Damn, so there are different subspecies (excuse my newbness). I have noticed that the fronds are huge compared to yours. Lmao, I might just have the most common agricultural coconut that they sold. All it says is Cocos nucifera.  

I didn't know their were other types either until I recieved my first one, I didn't even know dwarfs existed, I always thought of coconut trees were just always tall no matter what, I did search up that dwarf varietys are most common probably since harvest and coconut production is easier and quicker in less time.

3 hours ago, Zeni said:

@ZPalms

I just measured the biggest frond (the newest one, excluding spear), and it is 44 inches (111 cm) tall from trunk (start of petiole) to the top of the frond.

Can you measure your top frond and see if it is of a similar size? If your top frond is significantly smaller, I might not have the dwarf variant. Sounds like this one will become too huge for me soon, lol. It almost is touching my ceiling (8.2 feet / 2.5 meters) if I put it on a regular table, but on the floor of course still far away from that.

When I can, I'll go outside and measure the leaves.  I'm unsure if the leaves coming up on my coconut are going to be pinnate this round or next round because I know indoor growing delays it a bit until it gets all the things it loves, but I'm guessing once it starts going pinnate it won't stop. 

Edited June 10, 2022 by ZPalms

[Zeni]

@ZPalms

Small update: I gave it a bigger pot (not sure about the exact measurements, but a bit smaller than your pot). It was originally in a 3 L pot (0.8 GL), but now in probably something like ~20 L / 5.2 GL. Should have noted down the pot size.. but just used one of the medium sized plastic pots I had..

It was sold with cocopeat as the soil type. I didn't mess with the original soil, kept that as is, but the new added soil was pure sand (lol.. well, they grow in sandy beaches?) to avoid rot.

So far so good.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Zeni

[ZPalms]

11 hours ago, Zeni said:

@ZPalms

Small update: I gave it a bigger pot (not sure about the exact measurements, but a bit smaller than your pot). It was originally in a 3 L pot (0.8 GL), but now in probably something like ~20 L / 5.2 GL. Should have noted down the pot size.. but just used one of the medium sized plastic pots I had..

It was sold with cocopeat as the soil type. I didn't mess with the original soil, kept that as is, but the new added soil was pure sand (lol.. well, they grow in sandy beaches?) to avoid rot.

So far so good.

I haven't gone outside yet to do measurements and it's raining right now but coconuts aren't picky with soil just as long as it drains quick, when I mixed the soil I had from scratch I used dollar store soil and some play/beach sand and it's just as happy