Growing coconut from store bought seed

[Will]

Hi,

I know thats a somewhat sensible topic, since some sites will tell you, dont even try to grow a coconut from a store bought coconut. But I thought I wanna give it a try. Does somebody have experience in growing coconuts and can give some advice in how to prepare and eventually germinate one? 

I know, it will probably not work but than I can say, at least I tried haha

Cheers,

Will

[ZPalms]

8 hours ago, Will said:

Hi,

I know thats a somewhat sensible topic, since some sites will tell you, dont even try to grow a coconut from a store bought coconut. But I thought I wanna give it a try. Does somebody have experience in growing coconuts and can give some advice in how to prepare and eventually germinate one? 

I know, it will probably not work but than I can say, at least I tried haha

Cheers,

Will

I tried once but wasn't successful but it can happen, I've watched a few videos on youtube but from what I understand at least from what this guy says is that if you pick a coconut from the store and one of the 3 eyes has a a bulge it most likely wants to germinate. I'll probably try again in the future but It's good to get a couple coconuts cause it's a very 50/50 thing to do since a bad coconut will just start rotting which mine did and it smells bad!

 

[oasis371]

Can you buy one locally that is still green (unhusked), should have a better chance with one of those.  They can take as long as six months to germinate.

You need to provide tropical warmth, they will just rot at room temperature.  I rooted one from a fresh nut found on a street in Florida. It was half planted in sandy soil in July and germinated in December in a south facing, warm, sunny window.  I get a lot of autumn and winter sun and I'm sure that extra heat helped. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by oasis371

[Will]

Cant get any fresh ones here in Austria, Central Europe I think unfortunately. Trying my luck with store ones^^

[oasis371]

In the States, they sell green/unhusked ones in Northern/ethnic markets pretty commonly.

[Will]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:31 PM, oasis371 said:

In the States, they sell green/unhusked ones in Northern/ethnic markets pretty commonly.

Gonna check out some markets here too then. Thanks!

[NOT A TA]

On 9/29/2021 at 5:31 PM, oasis371 said:

n the States, they sell green/unhusked ones in Northern/ethnic markets pretty commonly.

Years ago I used to sell some of the nuts from my trees to a couple different guys who would collect them from people like me here and then ship them north.  I cut down most of my mature trees because they were liabilities (or about to become) from getting too tall, so I don't sell the immature nuts anymore.  Be aware when buying unhusked nuts at stores, they were not allowed to mature on the tree (because of taste) so germination rates are much lower than nuts allowed to fully mature on the trees.

[Nomad NYC]

          It is pretty difficult to grow a coconut palm from a store bought coconut, but not impossible! I find that if you wish to go that route,  you tend to get about one good viable coconut out of four ( But things may be different in your part of  the world ).

At the grocery store, I first shake the coconut to see if it has water inside,  then check the eyeholes to see if they look good, etc.

 After I bring them home, I then pre soak the coconuts in water for three days.  If they float, they are good, if they sink, they are bad (  quite the opposite method when determining the viability of other types of palm seeds ).

After that, I put them in a plastic baggy with around two ounces of water, and place them on an electric germinating heating mat, calibrated to  about 90 degrees Fahrenheit  ( with a temperature regulator device ).

One should ( hopefully ) see some signs of germination after one to two months time....