back from the dead- the big Coconut is alive !!!

[Eric in Orlando]

Our tall Cocos nucifera 'Green Malayan' has begun growing again. It was seemingly dead after this past cold winter. All of our coconuts were killed. This specimen was our tallest. It was planted in Nov. 2001 and survived a dip to 27F one night in Jan. 2003 with just moderate burn. This past winter we had 6 nights at 32F or below, the coldest being 29F. And the night it dropped to 29F it was below freezing for 12 hours!!!. It didn't show much damage for awhile then around early April it started declining and by June most leaves had died and the center had collapsed. About 3 weeks ago the last frond that was still green died and fell over. No growth had emerged the entire summer. Last week it was put on the "to remove list". Yesterday I happened to notice what appeared to be new growth. I got the ladder out and sure enough, its growing! So I cut away the dead leaf bases and fiber and gave the palm a good fertilizing. Hopefully this winter is gentle on it so that it can recover fully.

[Zeeth]

Oh wow, that one's a trooper for sure

[Tilto]

Wow,great news,I keep finding more dead palms every time I head to my small nursery .good luck!!

Our tall Cocos nucifera 'Green Malayan' has begun growing again. It was seemingly dead after this past cold winter. All of our coconuts were killed. This specimen was our tallest. It was planted in Nov. 2001 and survived a dip to 27F one night in Jan. 2003 with just moderate burn. This past winter we had 6 nights at 32F or below, the coldest being 29F. And the night it dropped to 29F it was below freezing for 12 hours!!!. It didn't show much damage for awhile then around early April it started declining and by June most leaves had died and the center had collapsed. About 3 weeks ago the last frond that was still green died and fell over. No growth had emerged the entire summer. Last week it was put on the "to remove list". Yesterday I happened to notice what appeared to be new growth. I got the ladder out and sure enough, its growing! So I cut away the dead leaf bases and fiber and gave the palm a good fertilizing. Hopefully this winter is gentle on it so that it can recover fully.

[DCA_Palm_Fan]

WOW! That is awesome! You will have a great story to tell when it is fully recovered and looking beautiful again, with pics to prove it! I would have thought for sure those temps/ duration of temps would have killed Cocos outright. Congrats on the survivor!

[JASON M]

You should keep it protected for the next few winters, just to be safe. That's amazing, that's the new Zombie palm!

[Joe palma]

Excellent! That is certianly good news Eric!

I agree w/ Jason, you should give it extra attention during weather stressing periods, till it completely comes back.

[Trópico]

w000t!!!!

Very encouraging news!

I'll check on Fishbones Cocos #2 before they get around to chopping it for lumber...

By the way, on a sadder note, this morning they completely removed the Lee Road Spindle. It looked really bad, but who knows if it was still alive.

[Eric in Orlando]

Normally none of the palms in the collection here get any winter protection but the coconut will this winter. Its still reachable by ladder so will get wrapped if any freezes are coming. It will also get extra fertilization in the coming months.

[Kumar]

The coconut is very hardy no doubt but the loss of most or all of its leaves may cause a structural narrowing of the stem which can make the plant unstable, especially tall palms. This I have noticed in the specimens growing beside railway tracks - the railwaymen cut off all the fronds to prevent accidents and the result is a palm with a narrow zigzag stem.

[Eric in Orlando]

Here it is in "healthier" days

[peachy]

It took me years to get my coconut sp unknownbutwhocaresitsabloodycoconut and it really needs to go in the ground but I am so terrified of one of our every 4 or 5 year frosts arriving that I keep upgrading the pots , well tubs now I guess for the sake of accuracy, so I can drag it under cover the instant I feel a nip in the air. Was it a frost that did the harm or just the cold nights ? It goes below freezing here a few times every winter and coconut (aah my precious) doesnt blink at the temperature. I really hope he recovers for you, he was so beautiful in the past.

Peachy

[BS Man about Palms]

Normally none of the palms in the collection here get any winter protection but the coconut will this winter. Its still reachable by ladder so will get wrapped if any freezes are coming. It will also get extra fertilization in the coming months.

Having gone thru the similar event here in So Cal a few years back, may I suggest only a slight step up in the fertilizer. I noticed that many survivors if left on their own came back OK. About half that had an "aggressive recovery program" carked off.

Slow and easy, thats the ticket.

[Trópico]

It took me years to get my coconut sp unknownbutwhocaresitsabloodycoconut and it really needs to go in the ground but I am so terrified of one of our every 4 or 5 year frosts arriving that I keep upgrading the pots , well tubs now I guess for the sake of accuracy, so I can drag it under cover the instant I feel a nip in the air. Was it a frost that did the harm or just the cold nights ? It goes below freezing here a few times every winter and coconut (aah my precious) doesnt blink at the temperature. I really hope he recovers for you, he was so beautiful in the past.

Peachy

This was an atypical as in LONG, SUSTAINED, COCONUT KILLING California (Oregon?) type stream of freezing nights (probably a week) with very cold days as in daytime highs staying in the 30s or 40s with a freezing rain/sleet/snow day. Our usual radiational frost/freeze events last only 1 to 2 days with highs reaching the mid 50's worst case, and third day highs in the mid 70s to the rescue.

[Zeeth]

It took me years to get my coconut sp unknownbutwhocaresitsabloodycoconut and it really needs to go in the ground but I am so terrified of one of our every 4 or 5 year frosts arriving that I keep upgrading the pots , well tubs now I guess for the sake of accuracy, so I can drag it under cover the instant I feel a nip in the air. Was it a frost that did the harm or just the cold nights ? It goes below freezing here a few times every winter and coconut (aah my precious) doesnt blink at the temperature. I really hope he recovers for you, he was so beautiful in the past.

Peachy

It wasn't the frosts, but the duration of the cold. I've seen some places get as low as 29F (-1.66C)and the coconuts were fine, but in those freezes the temps went back up after the freezes. This winter we had freezing rain and days where the HIGH of the day was 40F (4.4C), and that's what really damaged the coconuts.

[peachy]

The daytime temp was only 4 ? Oh I would have croaked too, thats unbelievably cold. No wonder the poor thing got so ill. Coldest day this winter here (actually the coldest day for 76 years) was 13. Average winter days here are 20 to 23 with a few nippy and nasty 19s scattered here and there. Thanks for the info. I guess my palm should be able to cope with a touch of frost every few years. I dont really feel up to sticking it an even larger tub...it would have to have wheels on it.

Peachy

[Tyrone]

It took me years to get my coconut sp unknownbutwhocaresitsabloodycoconut and it really needs to go in the ground but I am so terrified of one of our every 4 or 5 year frosts arriving that I keep upgrading the pots , well tubs now I guess for the sake of accuracy, so I can drag it under cover the instant I feel a nip in the air. Was it a frost that did the harm or just the cold nights ? It goes below freezing here a few times every winter and coconut (aah my precious) doesnt blink at the temperature. I really hope he recovers for you, he was so beautiful in the past.

Peachy

Peachy, plant it against a north facing wall where it will get winter sun. Your average temps are good for coconuts as you know, but the north facing wall of a house is the last thing to cool down to freezing on a cold night. I think that's why mine is doing OK, although it wants some 28C days with warm rain and 20C nights. I know, it told me. I can read it's thoughts and it can read mine.

[Tyrone]

The daytime temp was only 4 ? Oh I would have croaked too, thats unbelievably cold. No wonder the poor thing got so ill. Coldest day this winter here (actually the coldest day for 76 years) was 13. Average winter days here are 20 to 23 with a few nippy and nasty 19s scattered here and there. Thanks for the info. I guess my palm should be able to cope with a touch of frost every few years. I dont really feel up to sticking it an even larger tub...it would have to have wheels on it.

Peachy

That would move me to Darwin quicker than you can imagine. Peachy our coldest day this winter was 13.3C. You may not see a day colder than that for absolutely years. 4C would send me a long way away. I think the lowest max here was back in the 1940's when the climate was cooler and it was 9C. I think back in the 90's we had an 11C day. Thankfully it's more common to be hit by a cyclone than to get temps like that. 4C is unheard of.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Jeff Searle]

Remarkable! I know it's "just" another coconut, but to grow it under the conditions in your area is usually pretty tough. Hopefully it will continue to push leaves out. It will no doubt end up with a smaller, damage trunk in that area as it grows on.

Jeff

[Eric in Orlando]

Yes, it will probably have a constriction in the trunk from going a whole summer with no food producing leaves.

[NBTX11]

The daytime temp was only 4 ? Oh I would have croaked too, thats unbelievably cold. No wonder the poor thing got so ill. Coldest day this winter here (actually the coldest day for 76 years) was 13. Average winter days here are 20 to 23 with a few nippy and nasty 19s scattered here and there. Thanks for the info. I guess my palm should be able to cope with a touch of frost every few years. I dont really feel up to sticking it an even larger tub...it would have to have wheels on it.

Peachy

The average winter days in Orlando where this coconut is, are also 22-25C (72-77F). So you can see just how far below normal these temperaturs were.

[Walt]

I already replied to Eric about the back-from-the-dead coconut on another forum, so I won't repeat myself here.

Around my parts there are many dead coconut palms, and I'm talking about ones with 10-12 feet of trunk. On the other hand, there are other coconut palms with various degrees of cold damage, to almost no damage (but these are the minority exception).

I think most of the coconut palms fared well until the very last night of the 12-day cold spell. The 12th night was the coldest, officially bottoming out at just over 27 degrees F (-2.75C). While I recorded 27 degrees in my open yard near the house, I had a 23 degree F reading in one location farther away from the house.

Officially, Highlands County, Florida, had 12 straight nights below 40 degrees and 5 of those nights dropped below 30 degrees F. I saw damage to lakeside tropicals that rarily see damage from a 1-2 night radiational freeze event. But this time it was different as the lake water temperatures couldn't sustain itself for 12 straight days, and this was the difference. As it turned out, high ground locations seemed to fare better.

I have only one coconut palm, and it is a small one. Had I not protected it, it surely would have been killed. Even though my palm is relatively small, it was big enough that I didn't feel like trying to protect the fronds. So, I only provided what I call catastrophic protection. That is, I only protected the trunk and meristem. I wrapped the trunk up to the bases of the petiole attachments with EasyHeat heating cables, then wrapped quilted mover's blankets around the trunk for insulation,stuffing flannel rags around the petiole bases so cold air couldn't seep down into the meristem area.

In any event, my protection did the trick. The fronds were killed but the trunk and meristem were undamaged, allowing for regrowth of undamaged fronds. My palm has only regrown four fronds, with a fifth frond about halfway open. Hopefully, my palm will put out at least two more fronds before winter.

The above photo shows my small coconut palm as of today, August 14, 2010.

The above photo shows a more close-up view of the fronds. The center frond is the fifth new one of the year and is about halfway open.

http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3006939710042496162TCeocE

The above link is a grainy video (had my camera set at lowest resolution) of my coconut palm.